On November 1, 2023, Dr. Vetria Byrd was honored by Purdue with the Seeds of Success award. The award recognizes Purdue principal investigators and co-investigators who obtain their first research grants with external funding of $1 million or more for a single proposal project. This year’s ceremony honored winners from the past three years, because award ceremonies were cancelled in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to COVID-related restrictions. Dr. Byrd, Associate Professor and Associate Department Head of Computer Graphics Technology, is part of a multidisciplinary research team awarded a five-year $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a new institute for geospatial data-driven scientific research. Purdue research investigators are responsible for $2.5 million. Dr. Byrd is the first CGT faculty to receive an Acorn Award.