宾州州立大学帕克分校

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

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

All candidates for the M.S. degree must complete a minimum of 30 credits at the 400, 500, 600, or 800 level, with at least 6 credits in thesis research (600 or 610). All candidates for the M.S. must write a thesis. The thesis must be accepted by the advisers and/or committee members, the head of the graduate program, and the Graduate School, and the students must pass a thesis defense.