Biological systems engineering

Biological systems engineering or biosystems engineering is a broad-based engineering discipline with particular emphasis on non-medical biology. It can be thought of as a subset of the broader notion of biological engineering or bio-technology though not in the respects that pertain to biomedical engineering as biosystems engineering tends to focus less on medical applications than on agriculture, ecosystems, and food science. The discipline focuses broadly on environmentally sound and sustainable engineering solutions to meet societies' ecologically related needs. Biosystems engineering integrates the expertise of fundamental engineering fields with expertise from non-engineering disciplines.

Products of biological systems engineering

Some biological molecular machines

Background and organization

Many college and university biological engineering departments have a history of being grounded in agricultural engineering and have only in the past two decades or so changed their names to reflect the movement towards more diverse biological based engineering programs. This major is sometimes called agricultural and biological engineering, biological and environmental engineering, etc., in different universities, generally reflecting interests of local employment opportunities.

Since biological engineering covers a wide spectrum, many departments now offer specialization options. Depending on the department and the specialization options offered within each program, curricula may overlap with other related fields. There are a number of different titles for BSE-related departments at various universities. The professional societies commonly associated with many Biological Engineering programs include the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and the Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE), which generally encompasses BSE. Some program also participate in the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

A biological systems engineer has a background in what both environmental engineers and biologists do, thus bridging the gap between engineering and the (non-medical) biological sciences – although this is variable across academic institutions. For this reason, biological systems engineers are becoming integral parts of many environmental engineering firms, federal agencies, and biotechnology industries. A biological systems engineer will often address the solution to a problem from the perspective of employing living systems to enact change. For example, biological treatment methodologies can be applied to provide access to clean drinking water or for sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Specializations

• Land and water resources engineering
• Food engineering and bioprocess engineering
• Machinery systems engineering
• Natural resources and environmental engineering
• Biomedical engineering

Academic programs in agricultural and biological systems engineering

Below is a listing of known academic programs that offer bachelor's degrees (B.S. or B.S.E.) in what ABET and/or ASABE terms "agricultural engineering", "biological systems engineering", "biological engineering", or similarly named programs. ABET accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ASABE defines accredited programs within the scope of Ag/Bio Engineering.

North America

Institution	Program	Web site
Auburn University	Biosystems Engineering	www.eng.auburn.edu/
CalPoly San Louis Obispo	BioResource and Agricultural Engineering	www.brae.calpoly.edu/
California State University, Bakersfield	BioResource and Agricultural Engineering	[1]
Clemson University	Biosystems Engineering	[2]
Colorado State University	Chemical and Biological Engineering	[3]
Cornell University	Biological Engineering	bee.cornell.edu/
	Environmental Engineering
Dalhousie University	Engineering	www.dal.ca
Florida A&M University	Biological Systems Engineering	[4]
Illinois Institute of Technology	Chemical Engineering/Food Process Engineering	[5]
Iowa State University	Agricultural Engineering	www.abe.iastate.edu/
	Biological Systems Engineering
Kansas State University	Biological Systems Engineering	www.bae.ksu.edu/home
Laval University	Agri-Environmental Engineering	[6]
	Food Engineering
Louisiana State University	Biological and Agricultural Engineering	www.bae.lsu.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Chemical-Biological Engineering	www.mcgill.ca/bioeng/
McGill University	Environmental Engineering	www.mcgill.ca/bioeng/
Mercer University School of Engineering	Bioresource Engineering	[7]
Michigan State University	Biosystems Engineering	www.egr.msu.edu/bae/
Mississippi State University	Biological Engineering	www.abe.msstate.edu
	Biomedical Engineering
Montana State University	Biological Engineering	[8]
	Civil Engineering
	Environmental Engineering
North Carolina State University	Biological Engineering	www.bae.ncsu.edu/
North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University	Biological Engineering	[9]
North Dakota State University	Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering	www.ndsu.edu/aben/
Northern Kentucky University	Biosystems Engineering	[10]
Oklahoma State University	Biosystems Engineering	biosystems.okstate.edu
Oregon State University	Ecological Engineering	bee.oregonstate.edu/
	Forest Engineering
Penn State University	Biological Engineering	abe.psu.edu/
Purdue University	Agricultural Engineering	www.purdue.edu/abe
	Biological Engineering
Rutgers University	Bioenvironmental Engineering	[11]
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry	Bioprocess Engineering	[12]
	Environmental Resources Engineering
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology	Bioprocess and Biochemical Engineering	[13]
South Dakota State University	Chemical and Biological Engineering	www.sdstate.edu/abe/
Texas A&M University	Biological and Agricultural Engineering	baen.tamu.edu/
Ohio State University	Agricultural Engineering	fabe.osu.edu
	Food, Biological, and Ecological Engineering
University of Alabama	Biological Engineering	[14]
University of Arizona	Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering	cals.arizona.edu/abe
University of Arkansas	Biological Engineering	www.baeg.uark.edu/
University of California, Davis	Biological and Agricultural Engineering	bae.engineering.ucdavis.edu/
University of Colorado at Boulder	Chemical and Biological Engineering	[15]
University of Florida	Agricultural and Biological Engineering	www.abe.ufl.edu/
University of Guelph	Biological Engineering	[16]
	Environmental Engineering
	Water Resources Engineering
University of Georgia	Agricultural Engineering	www.engr.uga.edu
	Biological Engineering
University of Hawaii at Manoa	Biological Engineering	[17]
University of Idaho	Biological Engineering	uidaho.edu/
	Environmental Engineering
University of Illinois	Agricultural and Biological Engineering	abe.illinois.edu/
University of Kentucky	Biosystems Engineering	jokko.bae.uky.edu/BAEHome.asp
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Agricultural Engineering	bse.unl.edu
	Biological Systems Engineering
	Environmental Engineering
University of Maine	Bioengineering	[18]
University of Manitoba	Biosystems Engineering	http://umanitoba.ca/
University of Maryland	Bioengineering	[19]
University of Minnesota	Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering	www.bbe.umn.edu/
University of Missouri	Biological Engineering	bioengineering.missouri.edu/
University of Puerto Rico	Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering	[20]
University of Saskatchewan	Biological Engineering	[21]
	Chemical Engineering
University of Tennessee	Biosystems Engineering	bioengr.ag.utk.edu
University of Washington	Bioresource Science & Engineering	[22]
University of Wisconsin	Biological Systems Engineering	bse.wisc.edu/
Utah State University	Biological Engineering	be.usu.edu
Virginia Polytechnic University	Biological Systems Engineering	www.bse.vt.edu
Washington State University	Biological Systems Engineering	bsyse.wsu.edu

Central and South America

Institution	Department	Web site
Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral	Food Industry Engineering
Federal Institute of São Paulo (Campus of Avaré), Brazil	Biosystems Engineering
Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil	Biosystems Engineering
Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey	Food Industry Engineering
National University of Colombia	Agricultural Engineering
Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Mexico	Irrigation Department	portal.chapingo.mx/irrigacion/
Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi	Food Engineering
Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica	Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
University of Campinas, Brazil	Agricultural Engineering
Universidad de Cartagena	Food Engineering
Universidad de las Américas Puebla	Food Industry Engineering
Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon	Food Industry Engineering	[23]
University of São Paulo (Campus of Piracicaba), Brazil	Biosystems Engineering
University of São Paulo (Campus of Pirassununga), Brazil	Biosystems Engineering
São Paulo State University (Campus of Tupã), Brazil	Biosystems Engineering

Europe

Institution	Department
KU Leuven, Belgium	Department of Biosystems
University of Liege, Belgium	Biosystem engineering
Aarhus University, Denmark	Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Germany	Biosystems Engineering
Leibniz University Hannover, Germany	Biosystems and Horticultural Engineering,
University of Hohenheim, Germany	Agricultural Engineering
Technological Institute Of Larissa, Greece	Biosystems Engineering Mechanics, Agricultural, Food Science and Engineering, Biorobotics
University College Dublin, Ireland	Biosystems Engineering
University of Maribor, Slovenia	Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Technical University of Madrid, Spain	Agricultural, Food and Biosystems Engineering
UPC-BarcelonaTech, Spain	Agri-Food and Biosystems Engineering
Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands	Biosystems Engineering
Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Turkey	Agricultural Engineering
Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Bingöl University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Bursa Uludağ University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Düzce University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Erciyes University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Iğdır University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering
Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Turkey	Biosystems Engineering

Asia

Institution	Department
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia	Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
China Agricultural University	Agricultural Engineering
Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, China	Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering
Shanghai Jiatong University, China	Biological Engineering; Food Science and Engineering
Xi’an Jiaotong University, China	Energy and Power Engineering
Yunnan Agricultural University, China	Agricultural Water-Soil Engineering
Zhejiang University, China	Biosystems Engineering and Food Science
National Taiwan University	Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering
Bogor Agricultural University	Mechanical dan Biosystem Engineering
Arak University	Biosystems Engineering
Tarbiat Modares University, Islamic Republic of Iran	Biosystems Engineering
University of Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran	Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran	Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems
University of Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran	Biosystems Engineering
Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka	Biosystems Technology
Gorgan University of agricultural sciences and natural resources, Islamic Republic of Iran	Biosystems Engineering Department
Wayamba University of Sri Lanka	Biosystems Engineering Department
Institut Teknologi Sumatera, Indonesia	Biosystems Engineering
Kyungpook National University (KNU), Korea	Bio-Industrial Machinery Engineering
Chungnam National University (CNU), Korea	Biosystems Machinery Engineering
Seoul National University (SNU), Korea	Biosystems Engineering
Kangwon National University (KNU), Korea	Biosystems Engineering
Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University	Agricultural Biosystem and Mechanical Engineering
University of Sumatera Utara (USU)	Agriculture and Biosystem Engineering
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik	Agricultural Engineering
Mapua University	Biological Engineering
Mapua Institute of Technology	Biological Engineering
Tribhuvan University (TU,IOEPC), Nepal	Agricultural Engineering
Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering (BSSE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India	Biological Systems Science and Engineering

Africa

Institution	Department
Hawassa University, Ethiopia	Biosystems Engineering
Ambo University, Ethiopia	Agricultural and Bioprocess Engineering
Haramaya University, Ethiopia	Agricultural Engineering
Adama University, Ethiopia	Agricultural Engineering
University of Nairobi, Kenya	Environmental and Biosystems Engineering
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya	Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Gulu University, Uganda	Biosystems Engineering

See also

Related engineering fields

• Agricultural engineering
• Aquaculture engineering
• Biological engineering
• Biomedical engineering
• Civil engineering
• Chemical engineering
• Ecological engineering
• Environmental engineering
• Food engineering
• Hydraulic engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Sanitary engineering

Closely related sciences

• Agriculture
• Animal Science
• Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology
• Chemistry
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Forestry
• Horticulture
• Hydrology
• Plant Science
• Soil science

Further reading

• 2003, Dennis R. Heldman (ed), Encyclopedia of agricultural, food, and biological engineering.
• 2002, Teruyuki Nagamune, Tai Hyun Park & Mark R. Marten (ed), Biological Systems Engineering, Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society, 320 pages.
• 2012, Paige Brown Jarreau, What is Biological Engineering, http://www.scilogs.com/from_the_lab_bench/what-is-biological-engineering-ibe-2012/ Archived 2016-08-10 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• UC San Diego, Department of Bioengineering, UCSD BE part of University of California, San Diego