Thinking about which career will be right for you?  If you enjoy math and science, consider majoring in Biosystems Engineering.  Biosystems engineers help to provide two important resources to the world's population - food and fiber.  This career is for people who like to solve problems, and who are excited about working in a global economy.  As the world's population grows, biosystems engineers face many challenges:
  • Designing equipment and practices to produce safe, high-quality food without endangering people and other living beings
  • Improving people's quality of life while protecting the environment 
  • Converting waste materials into valuable resources
  Testing for pathogens in water samples
As a biosystems engineer, you will be helping to solve these problems by developing and designing:
  • Management practices that minimize soil erosion and conserve our precious water resources
  • Cleaner, more efficient construction and agricultural equipment
  • Biological waste treatment systems
  • Instrumentation and sensor systems that interface with the Global Positioning System satellites to maximize production efficiency
  • Safer agricultural machinery with lower environmental impact
  • Improved food processing systems 
  • Biological and "smart" sensors that "learn" as they are used
Our coursework integrates a wide variety of fundamental engineering concepts including engineering graphics, analysis, design, and economics.  As a graduate from The University of Tennessee's program in biosystems engineering, you'll be able to choose from a diverse selection of employment opportunities.  You will be well prepared to lead a team as a project engineer.  You could also choose to design products and processes that will improve the efficiency and quality of food production while keeping our environment safe.
  Biosystems Students Monitoring Water Quality
Checking a GPS guidance system

Other areas of interest that you might consider are marketing and public service.  As a biosystems engineer, you will find that your services are in high demand in these areas.  You may also want to enhance your career by entering graduate school for advanced training in engineering.  Or, perhaps you would like to attend medical school with the solid foundation you have received in biological systems.  

Some recent employers of biosystems engineers include the following:

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service logo    Caterpillar, Inc., logo
Deere & Company logo     Kellogg's logo       New Holland North America logo     TN Department of Environment & Conservation logo


For more information about what biosystems engineers do and the skills you need to be successful, visit our professional society, The Society for Engineering in Agricultural, Food, and Biological Systems (ASABE).


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