PhD Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Overview

The ABE graduate program is designed to produce professionals that have a thorough understanding of advanced engineering principles in the areas listed below:

• Irrigation Engineering
• Water Quality
• Agricultural Water Resource Engineering
• Soil-Water-Plant Relationships
• Controlled-Environment Plant Systems
• Plant Tissue Cultures
• Bioreactor Design
• Sensors and Control Systems
• Decision Support Systems
• Biological Modeling
• Waste Management and Pollution Control
• Energy Issues and Thermal Science
• Turfgrass and Landscape Irrigation

For M.S. students, graduates are expected to acquire increased professional experience over the course of their graduate program so that they can be better prepared for a successful industrial career. Both their coursework and the development of a research project will help them attain this future success. Graduates should be capable of applying knowledge of the biological, physical, and engineering sciences to the formulation of problem statements, experimental design, hypotheses testing, and problem solving in agricultural and biological areas.

ABE Ph.D. graduates should have similar outcomes as the M.S. graduates, but with particular emphasis on a deeper understanding of problem formulation (to be able to recognize and formulate problem statements) and higher mathematical skills. In particular, graduates should be able to independently conduct original research at and beyond the boundaries of current state of the art. Graduates must have a background in a different discipline through selection of a minor area, so that they can easily be assigned to interdisciplinary research teams. In addition, Ph.D. graduates should be ready to pursue academic careers.

Outcomes:

Upon completion of the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering graduate program, graduates should possess the following skills:

• Subject matter expertise in key areas listed above
• Critical thinking
• Effective communication, both oral and written
• Teamwork and leadership
• Numeracy
• Problem-solving
• Cultural and global awareness

 

Educational Objectives
1. Prepare students to independently conduct original research in agricultural and Biosystems engineering and related topics.
2. Prepare students to create knowledge and provide innovative approaches to solve problems in agricultural and biosystems engineering and related topics.
3. Give students a strong background on the fundamental principles and applications of agricultural and bisosytems engineering.
4. Give students a background in a different discipline, so that they can be incorporated into interdisciplinary research teams.
5. Prepare students to pursue academic and/or careers.
6. Prepare the students to deliver public presentations of their research work and to write scientific papers.
7. Prepare the students to specialize in topics that are representative of agricultural and biosystems engineering applications in Arizona and the Southwestern US, such as those involved in water resources, agriculturally related industries, federal or industrial research in natural resources and biosystems, biotechnology and environmental engineering.

Educational Objective Matrix

Educational Activities Matrix

Outcome Assessment Matrix

Assessment Results

Ways assessment results have been used to improve the degree program