Two Auburn professors selected for Grainger Foundation symposium
Published: Jul 28, 2026 9:00 AM
By Phillip Tutor
Vrishank Raghav, left, and Brendan Higgins will participate in the Grainger Symposium at the University of Texas.
Two Auburn University professors have been selected as participants in The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) 2026 Symposium, a keystone annual event of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
Vrishank Raghav, the Walt and Virginia Woltosz associate professor in Aerospace Engineering, and Brendan Higgins, biosystems engineering professor, are among 74 early-career engineers who will gather Sept. 21-22 at the University of Texas at Austin for two days of collaboration and professional networking.
This year’s symposium will concentrate on four themes: innovation in bioengineered materials, hypersonics, compute challenges for artificial intelligence and agriculture as a system-of-systems.
"I am deeply honored to be selected for the National Academy of Engineering's Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Symposium,” Raghav said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from and engage with outstanding early-career engineers from academia, industry and national laboratories who are advancing the frontiers of engineering in diverse fields. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues, mentors and Auburn Engineering, which has made this opportunity possible.”
With their selections, Raghav and Higgins will become the seventh and eighth early-career engineers from Auburn to participate in the FOE symposia since it began in 1995, said program director Stephanie Houser. Their selections also mark Auburn’s first representation in the prestigious program in nearly a decade.
“It is an honor to be selected to participate in the Grainger Foundation Frontiers in Engineering,” Higgins said. “I look forward to presenting our lab's research on circular agriculture and food systems and networking with other participants.”
FOE attendees come from a variety of professional backgrounds, including roles in academia, government and industry, and are selected following a rigorous nomination process by leaders in engineering professions and professional organizations.
“Engineering has always been a force for progress, but its role is becoming even more vital as society faces increasingly complex and interconnected challenges,” NAE President Tsu-Jae Liu said. “The NAE aims to strengthen engineering leadership to benefit the nation and improve lives by advancing excellence, fostering collaboration across sectors and disciplines and preparing engineers to lead with creativity, rigor and purpose.”
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