The first installment of Penn Today’s 2025 President’s Prize winner roundup highlights a Penn graduate who is using his President’s Sustainability Prize of $100,000 to reduce fertilizer use on farms.
2025 President’s Sustainability Prize winner Piotr Lazarek has developed a system that uses satellite data to pinpoint inefficiencies in farmers’ fields, conducts real-time soil analysis with autonomous drones to understand why they occur, and generates precise fertilizer application maps. His startup Nirby aims to increase productivity in farm areas that are underperforming and reduce fertilizer in high-performing ones.
“Piotr’s precision agriculture solution is making farming smarter and more sustainable,” says President J. Larry Jameson.“ The result? Reduced cost, increased crop yield, and less pollution.”
Nirby, a Penn-born venture, has been able to help users achieve “up to 40% lower fertilizer expenses and up to 15% higher yields.”
Why it Matters
Excess fertilizer use leads to about 2.6 billion tons of carbon emissions per year—more than aviation and global shipping combined—and puts a financial strain on farmers. In addition, many have also been forced to juggle many different agricultural technologies and products. Nirby offers a unified system, allowing farmers to integrate useful data on a single platform.
The Prize
The President’s Sustainability Prize is a competitive prize awarded to Penn fourth-year students who have ambitious proposals for environmental projects and are committed to making a positive, lasting difference in the world. The prize includes $50,000 for living expenses for each recipient plus up to $100,000 for project implementation expenses.
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