Challen Waller

“Challen Waller’s work, and his way of going about his work, is a reminder of the importance of believing in and supporting our students’ ingenuity and stubborn insistence on a specific question; they might be on to something,” said one of Challen’s nominators.

When an English class required a research paper on any topic that interested him, Challen chose to write about hyper-local agriculture, food security, and the educational gap that might prevent a shift towards new ways of growing produce.

He threw himself into his research, surpassing the professor’s expectations and the course requirements. A nominator said, “He studied the issues from numerous angles, redrafting and rethinking before finalizing his research in a pitch to class that was not only compelling and mature, but inspiring and positively motivating.”

Challen's research was nominated by the University Writing Program committee to appear on Hokies Write as an outstanding example of undergraduate work in research.

“His research was driven by a question and by factual evidence,” a nominator said, “but more importantly by unusual curiosity, desire to learn, to play with ideas, to find answers, and to craft an argument for change.”

Challen’s curiosity drove him to co-found and serve as president of the Innovative Agriculture Club at Virginia Tech. The club offers hands-on opportunities for students to learn non-traditional agricultural methods and collaborate with the community to promote sustainable agriculture.

Challen's efforts with the club have helped establish an on-campus greenhouse facility dedicated to student-led research and design. He and his co-founders have recruited dozens of students to the club. Challen has inspired members to pursue projects including 3-D printed vertical farm window units, a mushroom growing chamber, insect-based composting, and hydroponic and aquaponic growing systems.

He is passionate about connecting student members to faculty-led research and actively organizes events and industry tours to expand student access to innovative agriculture.

“Challen's innate curiosity, paired with his hard work and determination, have rippled out to the larger campus and local communities,” said a nominator.

A Research and Extension Experiential Learning undergraduate research fellow since 2023, Challen’s recent work has focused on building visual indicators of gene expression in the leaves of apple trees.

Challen is a valued team member who rapidly picks up knowledge and skills to contribute to complex projects, said a nominator, and who “always asks clarifying questions and has a keen understanding of what he knows and what he still needs to learn.”

Among the many new projects he has proposed, Challen recently initiated a collaboration with a fellow research team to evaluate using fly larvae frass compost as a soil supplement for plant growth, and he is pursuing fellowships to study possible methods of using fly larvae to break down plastic waste.

A senior studying biological systems engineering in the College of Engineering, Challen plans to continue applying his curiosity with an additional year to complete his master’s program.

For his insatiable drive to understand living systems and to help them improve our world, I am proud to present the Aspire! Award for Commit to Unwavering CURIOSITY to Challen Waller.