Dr. Anil Shrestha, professor in the Department of Plant Science, received a lifetime Honorary Member Award from the California Weed Science Society at its recent annual convention.

A past president of the association, he received the organization’s Award of Excellence in 2014, and recently served on the board of directors.

In his 17th year on campus, he is highly regarded in the industry for his research, academic and industry ties throughout the Central Valley, and projects in his native Nepal with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development where he spent his sabbatical leave twice.

Joy Hollingsworth, a plant science alumnus and president of the state organization said, “I was one of Anil’s first graduate students and he was a very supportive mentor who always pushed me to be my best, and to take on new challenges. Even today, more than 10 years since I graduated, he still pushes me. In fact, it is thanks to his encouragement that I joined the CWSS Board of Directors. His dedication to his students and his commitment to this society make him well-deserving of this award.”

This spring, Shrestha mentored Pauline Victoria Estrada, a Clovis North High School senior who developed a unique technique of identifying herbicide-resistant weeds with the help of artificial intelligence.

With his help, Estrada authored a research article titled “Rapid Detection of Acetolactate Synthetase Inhibitor Resistant Weeds Utilizing Novel Full-Spectrum Imaging and a Hyperparameter-Tuned Convolutional Neural Network [CNN]” in the peer-reviewed journal "Weed Technology."

Her co-authors included graduate student Jennifer Valdez-Herrera; John Benedict Estrada, a freshman at UC Berkeley; and Shrestha. Estrada has been accepted to MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and several other universities for the fall 2025.

John and Pauline Estrada are the son and daughter of Shrestha’s fellow plant science faculty Maria Estrada.