BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING (BAEG)
Lalit Verma
Head of the Department
203 Engineering Hall
479-575-2351
Visit the official website at: http://www.baeg.uark.edu/
• Professors Gardisser, Griffis, Li, Loewer, VanDevender, Verma,
• Associate Professors Carrier, Costello, Huitink, Matlock, Tacker, Kim
• Assistant Professors Bajwa, Chaubey, Kavdia, Osborn, Ye
• Adjunct Professors Ang, Clausen, Deaton, Ingels, Malshe
• Adjunct Associate Professors Beitle, Yang
• Adjunct Assistant Professors Haggard, Howell, Shafirstein, Wimberly
Biological engineers improve people’s lives today and help assure a sustainable quality of life for tomorrow. They create solutions to problems by coupling living systems (human, plant, animal, environmental, food, and microbial) with the tools of engineering and biotechnology. Biological engineers improve human health through biomedical engineering; ensure a safe, nutritious food supply and create critical, new medicines through food and bioprocess engineering; secure a healthy and safe environment through ecological engineering; and create tools to manage agriculture, the environment, and the products of biotechnology through bioresource engineering.
Biological Engineering is an ABET accredited program leading to the B.S. degree. M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are also offered. The curriculum is under the joint supervision of the dean of the College of Engineering and the dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. The bachelor of science in Biological Engineering degree is conferred by the College of Engineering and is granted after the successful completion of 128 hours of approved course work.
The educational objectives of the Biological Engineering program are to produce graduates who:
- effectively apply engineering to biological systems and processes (plant, animal, human, microbial, and ecosystem) with demonstrated proficiency in basic professional and personal skills
- are well prepared for future challenges in biological engineering, life-long learning, and professional and ethical contributions to society through sustained accomplishments.
The four areas of concentration in biological engineering are as follows:
- Biomedical Engineering – an overview of instrumentation, physiological modeling, biomechanics, biomaterials rehabilitation engineering, and assistive technology for the disabled. This area is excellent preparation for medical, veterinary, or dental school as well as for graduate programs in biomedical engineering.
- Bioresource Engineering – remote sensing, geographic information systems and other technology for managing agriculture and bioresources, and designing machines to interface with living systems.
- Ecological Engineering – integrates ecological principles into the design of sustainable systems to treat, remediate, and prevent pollution to the environment. Applications include stream restoration, watershed management, water treatment design, ecological services management, urban greenway design and enclosed ecosystem design.
- Food and Bioprocess Engineering – biotechnology, food processing, food safety and security, developing new products from biomaterials, and using bacteria to synthesize products.
Each student is required to complete 12 semester hours of approved electives in his or her area of concentration. Six of these hours must be from the biological engineering design elective courses. The remaining six hours are classified as technical electives and consist mainly of upper-division courses in engineering, mathematics, and the sciences as approved by the student’s adviser. The department maintains a list of approved electives.
The areas of technical concentration and the recommended elective courses for each are listed in the catalog of studies.
