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Thomasson honored with professional award for cotton research
Alex Thomasson (Photo By: Office of Public Affairs)
08/03/2026
By: Meg Henderson
Alex Thomasson, agricultural and biological engineering professor, director of Mississippi State's Agricultural Autonomy Institute and scientist in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, was honored with the Mayfield Cotton Engineering Award at the annual international meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, held July 12-15 in Indianapolis.
Established in 1985, the Mayfield Cotton Engineering Award recognizes ASABE members who have at least five years of experience working with cotton and have made a recent outstanding engineering-related contribution to the industry.
"Dr. Thomasson's career is marked by a deep commitment to advancing the cotton industry," said incoming ASABE President Travis Tsunemori. "His research has addressed critical challenges across the value chain, from harvesting to production. And his academic leadership has impacted thousands of students. For over 20 years, he advised graduate students and taught undergraduates, many of whom are now university faculty members or productive members of corporations in the agricultural industry."
Thomasson's cotton research ranges from developing functional robotic harvesting prototypes and autonomous machinery to advancing ginning instrumentation. His work in precision agriculture includes the development of harvester-based micronaire mapping—a detailed analysis of cotton fiber quality across the field—and the use of drones for high-throughput phenotyping and disease identification in cotton fields. He also holds a patent for an optical-reflectance-based mass-flow sensor, which uses light to create field maps and calculate crop yield in real time.
Beyond his research, Thomasson has made important contributions to the science in his profession. He has authored numerous publications, including over 110 refereed journal articles, 61 of which focus specifically on cotton and have been cited more than 6,000 times. He has also served in positions that help shape national agricultural policy, including president of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology and a member of the Federal Communications Commission Precision-Agriculture Connectivity Task Force.
"I am truly humbled by this honor," Thomasson said. "I began my career in cotton ginning research, and while my research program has evolved over the years from precision agriculture to, more recently, autonomous systems, the primary crop my research has always concentrated on is cotton. The cotton industry is made up of an extraordinary group of dedicated people, and I am proud to count myself among them."
The Mayfield Cotton Engineering Award is sponsored by Deere & Company. It is named after William Donald Mayfield, an extension agricultural engineer who dedicated his career to the application of engineering fundamentals.
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