Overview
The PhD in Biological & Agricultural Engineering is oriented toward executing engineering solutions for feed, food and fiber production and/or post-harvest processing problems having an intensive biological/microbiological dimension. The program addresses feed, food, and fiber production and processing systems and addresses the largest industry in Georgia – that of agriculture. The Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering has an enduring legacy of producing graduates serving various facets of the Agricultural industry in production and post-farm gate positions in private consulting, government agencies, and agriculture firms. Building on a newly revised undergraduate degree, a renewed, contemporary vision for the Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering is now being developed around precision farming, natural resources sustainability and resilience, and logistics systems.
Admission to the Emphasis
Program of Study
Requirements for the Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering include a minimum of 72 credit hours in the student’s program of study beyond the B.S. degree. A master’s degree from an approved university may be accepted for up to 30 credits hours, in which case a minimum of 42 credit hours of approved course work, research and dissertation beyond the M.S. degree would be required as follows:
- A minimum of 16 semester hours of coursework, which must include
- At least 15 hours of 8000- and 9000-level graduate courses, of which 9 hours must be selected from the approved elective list (below).
- 1 hour of Graduate Seminar ENGR 8950 (only up to 1 hours of ENGR 8950 may apply on the Program of Study if the student takes it more than once).
- A minimum of 23 Doctoral Research hours (Doctoral research (9000) or Doctoral project-focused research (9010)) for students with an M.S. degree
- 3 hours of ENGR 9300 Doctoral Dissertation.
Students work with their graduate advisor to select the most appropriate coursework to ensure breadth of understanding as well as mastery of knowledge in a specific subject area. In addition to completing 9 credit hours selected from the list below, students may work with their graduate advisor to develop an interdisciplinary plan of coursework drawing from the extensive graduate course offerings available at UGA.
Biological & Agricultural Engineering Course List
- BIOE 8490 Advanced Biomaterials
- BIOE 8510: Advanced Systems Physiology
- BCHE 8150 Heterogeneous Reactor Design and Bio-Catalysis
- BCHE 8210 Fermentation Engineering Laboratory
- BCHE 8350 Sustainable Process Engineering
- CRSS 6600 Soil Physics
- CVLE 8110 Environmental River Mechanics
- CVLE/MCHE 8160 Advanced Fluid Mechanics
- CVLE 8140 Transport and Mixing in Natural Flows
- CVLE 8460 Soil Improvement
- ENGR 6490 Renewable Energy Engineering
- ENGR 6910 Foundations for Engineering Research
- ENGR 8103 Computational Engineering
- ENGR 8130 Statistical Learning and Data Mining in Engineering
- ENGR 8180 Advanced Mass Transfer
- ENGR 8930 Optimization Theory & Engineering Applications
- ENVE 6440 Computer Modeling in Water Resources
- ENVE 6460 Groundwater Hydrology for Engineers
- ENVE 6470 Environmental Engineering Unit Operations
- ENVE 6450 Engineering Hydrology and Hydraulics
- FDST 6013 Food Processing
- FORS 6530 Wood Properties & Utilization
- HORT/CRSS 6430 Plant Physiology
- MCHE 6590 Fluid Mechanics II
- MCHE 6650 HVAC Systems for Buildings and Industry
- MCHE 8170 Advanced Heat Transfer
- MCHE 8710 Engineering Properties of Animal and Plant Materials: Form & Function
- WASR 6500 Quantitative Methods in Hydrology
- WASR 6700L Hydrology, Geology & Soils of Georgia
