The CEA Summit’s Annual Graduate Student Poster Competition continued its mission of supporting the next generation of talent, giving emerging researchers a platform to showcase their work and connect with industry leaders. Presented by Dr. Kaylee South, Virginia Tech (center), this year’s winners included:

• First Place (tie): Samuel Mattia, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, and Ellie Gregoire, Virginia Tech (not pictured)

•  Second Place: Yuna Gaire, University of Georgia

In addition to celebrating these outstanding students, the CEA Summit also featured a special Scholarship recognizing the contributions of Extension personnel. The Cooperative Extension System plays a vital role in supporting greenhouse and vertical farm producers — identifying their needs, sharing research, and providing practical solutions that drive the CEA industry forward. The CEA Summit Extension Personnel scholarship program covered registration fees for 10 specialists to attend the 2026 edition.

 CEA Summit East 2026 is pleased to announce the 2026 Annual Graduate Student Poster Competition.  The competition will be held during our September 15-16, 2026 edition, at the IALR Conference Center in Danville, Virginia. Focused on bringing the CEA Industry and academia together, CEA Summit East is co-hosted by Indoor Ag-Con, the premier global gathering of the vertical farming | CEA sector, and the CEA Innovation Center,  a partnership between IALR and the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The key goals of the competition are to provide an opportunity for graduate students to share high quality controlled environment agriculture (CEA)-related research; to expose commercial companies to qualified candidates; and to enhance collaboration opportunities between individuals in academia and private industry.

Poster Competition Guidelines

 Selected entrants may present only posters on original research they have conducted.   

Selected poster presenters may submit only one poster and must handle poster printing and bring poster to be displayed at the conference. All posters will be judged and scored at the conference and winners will be announced during the conference breakfast gathering/keynote session on day 2- September 16, 2026

Access poster competition GUIDELINES HERE. 

 Questions:

Contact Kaylee South, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Controlled Environment Agriculture, Virgina Tech at kasouth@vt.edu or phone 434.766.6618