The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering administers two academic programs; Agricultural and Biosystems (ABEN) and Agricultural Systems Management (ASM). The ABEN program is a professional, nationally accredited (ABET) engineering program in the College of Engineering and Architecture. The ASM program is in the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources.
There are about 90 undergraduate students enrolled in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering program and about 70 undergraduate students are enrolled in the Agricultural Systems Management program. Classes usually have an enrollment of less than 25 students, allowing for close faculty - student interaction. Individual attention can be given to each student, if necessary. In addition, students have an opportunity to know their classmates and the faculty.
Students in each program have their own professional student organization. ABEN students can belong to the Student Engineering Branch of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASABE). ASM students can belong to the Agricultural Systems Management Club. Both groups have bi-monthly meetings which typically involve a business meeting, a speaker, a competition of some type, or some other activity. The two organizations have some common activities to raise money to finance food for meetings, field trips, registration at meetings, etc. They also do some social activities together. Members of both organizations compete in the annual international Quarter Scale Tractor Pull/Design competition.
The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering is housed in its own building. Laboratories are furnished with equipment typically used in industry and research. The department has its own student computer cluster equipped with Pro-E and AutoCAD design and drafting software and finite element analysis software in addition to word processing, spreadsheet, database, Internet, communications, and presentation software.
