Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Head of the Department: K.C. Ting
Director of Graduate Studies: Y. Zhang
338 Agricultural Engineering Sciences Building
1304 West Pennsylvania Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-3570
E-mail: ag-bioeng@uiuc.edu

Major: Agricultural Engineering
Degrees offered: M.S. and Ph.D.

Graduate Degree Programs

The Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering offers a graduate degree program which is at the forefront of the application of engineering principles to solve problems of agricultural production and utilization and to improve the quality of life. Students may concentrate study in one of the faculty research interest areas listed below. Supporting course work includes: mathematics; computer science; statistics; engineering mechanics; chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering; crop sciences; food science; and other appropriate fields.

Admission

Admission requirements for the master’s program include completion of an undergraduate program equivalent to the agricultural engineering curriculum with at least a 3.00 grade point average (A = 4.00) for the last 60 semester hours of course work.

Admission to the Ph.D. program is limited to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional ability through outstanding performance in obtaining the Master of Science degree and/or through a high degree of technical and professional accomplishment. Candidates must also satisfy entrance requirements for the M.S. degree program.

All applicants whose native language is not English must submit a TOEFL score of at least 88 (iBT), 230 (CBT) or 570; or an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) academic exam overall score of at least 6.5 with at least a 6.0 in all subsections. Applicants may be exempt from the TOEFL if certain criteria are met. For those taking the TOEFL or IELTS, full admission status is granted for scores greater than 102 (TOEFL iBT), 253 (TOEFT CBT), 610 (TOEFL PBT), or 6.5 (IELTS). Limited status is granted for lesser scores and requires enrollment in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses based on an ESL Placement Test (EPT) taken upon arrival to campus.

Degree Requirements–Master of Science

The completion of 33 graduate hours and the preparation and defense of a thesis involving an analytical or experimental investigation (which satisfies 8 hours of credit) are required of M.S. candidates unless a waiver of thesis is granted. At least 12 of the graduate hours for the M.S. degree must be in 500-level courses and 8 of these graduate hours must be in agricultural engineering. Candidates who are permitted to pursue a nonthesis degree must complete a minimum of 36 graduate hours and a written project. Further information may be found in the department's Graduate Handbook.

Degree Requirments–Doctor of Philosophy

The general requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy degree may be conveniently divided into three stages. Stage I is the M.S. degree or equivalent (see the requirements for an M.S., above). Stage II involves one or more years of course work and research in preparation for the preliminary examination. Course work (a minimum of 32 graduate hours in addition to course work taken to fulfill M.S. requirements) is intended to provide necessary background for the intended research. A detailed research proposal must be prepared before the preliminary examination is scheduled, usually during the final semester of course work. Passing the preliminary examination marks the end of Stage II. Stage III involves mainly research culminating in an approved dissertation and final examination. This stage includes registration for 32 graduate research hours. Further information and any specific course requirements may be found in the department’s Graduate Handbook.

Graduate Teaching Experience

Experience in teaching is considered a vital part of the graduate program and is recommended as part of the academic work of all Ph.D. candidates in this program.

Faculty Research Interests

Current research interests of the faculty include off-road equipment engineering (robotics and machinery automation, remote sensing and precision agriculture, machinery management systems, pesticide application technology, engines and biofuels); soil and water resources (hydrology, erosion and sediment transport, water management, wetlands, and water quality); bioenvironmental engineering (structural analysis and design, building materials evaluation, bioprocessing of agricultural wastes and byproducts, and environmental control for plant, animal, and human biological systems); food and bioprocess engineering (engineering properties of foods, physical properties of biological products, grain drying, grain quality evaluation, dry-grind corn processing, wet and dry milling, modified bioprocesses for improved co-products, fuel and chemicals, fermentation, and transport phenomenon in biological materials); or electronic and electrical systems (biosensors and controls, energy systems, machine vision, near-infrared spectroscopy applications, bionanotechnology, microfabricated devices, bioconjugation techniques, transcriptional control, modeling life support systems, and multiscale biological processes). For more details, visit the department's graduate program Web site.

Financial Aid

Fellowships, supported both by University and by College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences funds, are available on a competitive basis. A limited number of assistantships, providing both teaching and research experience, are often available on a half-time basis. All applicants, regardless of U.S. citizenship, whose native language is not English and who wish to be considered for teaching assistantships must demonstrate spoken English language proficiency by achieving a minimum score of 50 on the Test of Spoken English (TSE), 24 on the speaking subsection of the TOEFL iBT, or 8 the speaking subsection of the IELTS. For students who are unable to take the TSE, iBT, or IELTS, a minimum score of 50 is required on the SPEAK test, offered on campus.