Pennsylvania State University Park Campus

Agricultural and Biological Engineering offers students the opportunity to gain expertise in areas of engineering for biological/agricultural systems corresponding to their professional interests. Graduate students select research projects (and supporting course work) from a wide range of interest areas that match faculty research expertise. Research projects are available in:

• physical properties of biological materials
• plant and animal production systems
• food engineering
• wood engineering
• agricultural structures
• agricultural safety
• food safety
• bulk solids handling and storage
• agricultural systems engineering
• agricultural by-product utilization
• forage processing and handling systems
• electronics instrumentation
• online computer control systems
• erosion and sedimentation control
• waste management
• water quality
• natural resources management and conservation

Excellent facilities, including equipment and instrumentation, are available for research in the designated areas. Among the special facilities are:

• field plot areas
• a full-scale sedimentation basin test facility
• hydraulic flumes
• sedigraph
• gas and ion chromatography units
• atomic absorption unit
• rainfall simulators
• food properties lab
• food equipment and processing lab
• microbiological engineering lab
• fermentation lab
• computer vision systems
• hydraulic and pneumatic test stands
• fabrication shop
• electronics instrumentation
• microcomputer laboratory
• controlled environment chambers
• composite characterization labs
• wood structures lab
• wood mechanics lab

Collaborative arrangements allow access to a large variety of other resources:

• Penn State Institutes of the Environment and Energy
• Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
• Materials Research Institute
• Materials Characterization Laboratory
• Nanofabrication Facility
• Penn State Institute for CyberScience
• PA Housing Research Center
• Center for Food Manufacturing
• USDA Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Lab
• a mushroom research and demonstration facility
• a 1,500-acre agricultural research center for cooperative work with agronomic and horticultural production systems as well as animal production systems