What Do Biosystems Engineers Do?

Environmental Permitting and Remediation

Most mining, heavy construction and environmental cleanups require a permit and remediation plan before work begins. These site investigations and engineering designs require knowledge of soils, hydrology, ground water, water quality and reclamation; all specialties of the Biosystems Engineer. By combining expertise in the environmental sciences and engineering design, Biosystems Engineers understand both how natural systems are impacted and how to eliminate unwanted consequences.

Food and Process Engineering

How do you monitor the inside of an commercial oven? A specialized data logger (the silver box) is used to record temperatures in cooking and cooling as these steaks move through a continuous oven. The data will maximize product quality and process efficiency. Biosystems engineers work in all sectors of the food industry, from harvest to table, as well as in pharmaceuticals and waste treatment.

Biological Engineering

Want a material tough enough for an athletic wheelchair? Biosystems engineers are not limited to the usual alloys and composites. They know about the astounding diversity of materials that the living world offers, and can integrate this knowledge with engineering principles. Experts in biological engineering develop uses for fibers and other biological materials, design biomedical equipment, and work with complex biological systems.

Biofuels

The release of CO2 from fossil fuels has caused great concern with global warming. Thus, there is increasing interest in renewal fuels that recycle carbon from the atmosphere. Technology being developed by Biosystems Engineers converts abundant biomass such as grass, wood chips, and municipal solid wastes, to liquid fuels. Fermentation of grain to alcohol is ancient; however, those methods cannot be used on materials such as grass without very expensive preprocessing. Biosystems Engineers are now developing a combination of gasification and fermentation so that one day your car may run on your lawn clippings and garbage.

Forest Engineering

Biosystems Engineers specializing in forest engineering do more than develop systems and equipment for growing and harvesting trees. They balance harvest and replanting with wildlife and recreational uses of forests. They plan access roads and design equipment that reduces the environmental impact of logging. These engineers also find innovative uses for forest products.

Information and Electrical Technologies

Biosystems Engineers develop sensor systems that detect nutrients in crops, test food for unwanted bacteria, or find contaminants in milk. Such systems typically integrate sensors with embedded computer controls. Biosystems combine capabilities in electrical engineering and physics, with a sound understanding of biology, to produce instruments that cross between mechanical and living systems.

Power and Machinery

With every wave, kelp is deposited on San Diego beaches. Every day, city workers scoop it up and haul it away. Their job is easier now, thanks to this machine designed to pick up kelp efficiently while leaving the sand on the beach. For innovative, mechanically sound, biologically sensitive machines, Biosystems Engineers have the expertise.

Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering

Protection of environmental quality under constant threat from urban and rural productive land use is becoming a major concern. Biosystems engineers use knowledge of hydrology, chemistry, and biology in watershed planning, design of non-point source pollution control systems, and management of organic wastes and crop residuals. Biosystems engineers use computers and computer models to manage flows of our major rivers and to design and evaluate best management practices of agriculture, forestry, and the construction, transportation, and mining industries.

Irrigation and Drainage

Where does water go after it falls on soil? Biosystems engineers with expertise in soil and water use their knowledge to make decisions about irrigation and drainage. This expertise is used to help crops grow more efficiently while reducing erosion and protecting water quality.

Structures and Environment

This Biosystems Engineer develops systems to regenerate air and water for growing food in space. Other Biosystems engineers with expertise in structures and environment work with greenhouses, animal housing, storage structures, waste handling facilities, and food processing plants. Some develop uses for biological products as construction materials.

Aquaculture

Efficient, non-polluting production and use of seafood, and other aquatic products is the goal of engineers specializing in aquaculture. In one system designed by an Biosystems engineer, algae grown with shrimp feed on the shrimp waste. The algae are then fed to oysters. Other kinds of algae are grown for dyes and pharmaceuticals.

Standards and Safety Engineering

Biosystems engineers develop standards that are used in the design and testing of machines and systems. These far ranging standards may specify communications protocol for on-board computers or methods for preventing electrical shocks from equipment. Standards document the common understanding needed to allow engineers to design and test safer and more effective systems.