October 11, 2017 – MIE alumnus Ahmed Mahmoud (MechE 1T1, MASc 1T6) and his former supervisor Professor Amy Bilton have won a $50,000 prize for Innovative Agricultural Solutions in Nepal, for their startup company, Spero Analytics. The USAID/Feed The Future Data-Driven Farming Prize recognizes innovative solutions that help Nepal’s smallholder farmers improve productivity and make informed decisions using actionable data insights. Spero Analytics won the award for demonstrating significant potential for their wireless solar mesh network to communicate soil moisture data to agricultural extension services and research organizations.