People

Graduate students work together with faculty and staff to conduct a broad spectrum of research, ranging from fundamental laboratory studies to farm-oriented applied projects. These are an important component of the interaction and collaboration among researchers within the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineerings program and with faculty and students of other programs. Graduate students are also an integral part of the teaching and extension activities of the department. These activities are vital to the development of methods and programs that will continue to improve the productivity and efficiency of animal agriculture in the state, nation, and world.

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Faculty

Click the names below for the faculty home pages or view the full department directory.

Mrinal Bhattacharya, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Food engineering, extrusion processing, rheology, and heat transfer. Blending of natural and synthetic polymers. Biodegradable polymers. Processing of starch/protein-based plastics.

James J. Boedicker, Adjunct Associate Professor, Station Agricultural Engineer-North Central Experiment Station, Grand Rapids, Minnesota
Machinery systems, machine safety, and livestock environment.

Jonathan Chaplin, C.Eng., P.E., Associate Professor
Precision farming machinery, machine design and safety, machinery system performance, computer-aided design. 

Charles J. Clanton, P.E., Professor
Waste management associated with water quality, air quality and odors, storage, and land application.

Philip R. Goodrich, P.E., Associate Professor
Odor control systems for animal waste management. Precision manure application.

Larry D. Jacobson, P.E., Professor and Extension Engineer
Livestock housing and environmental control, indoor air quality concerns, waste management systems, and energy and housing alternatives for livestock with emphasis on swine production systems.

Kevin A. Janni,  P.E., Professor, Extension Engineer
Livestock housing systems. Environmental conditions in naturally ventilated dairy facilities. Biofilters for odor control. Environmental control and ventilating system design for livestock and poultry buildings. Agricultural odor sources and their control. Air quality monitoring.

Theodore P. Labuza, Professor, Department of Food Science and Nutrition
Applied physical chemistry of foods in relationship to water activity and kinetics of food deterioration. Development of criteria and methods for accelerated shelf life testing of foods, study of compositional parameters affecting the rates of chemical deterioration of foods, and study of kinetics of food quality loss and shelf life indicators during storage and processing of foods.

R. Vance Morey, Professor
Grain drying and storage, grain quality, and machine vision.

John L. Nieber, P.E., Professor
Applications of analytical and numerical solutions of the deterministic and stochastic equations for fluid flow, heat transport, and constituent transport in the unsaturated zone.

R. Roger Ruan, Professor
MRI, NMR, machine vision, UV, NIR, and other imaging and spectroscopy technology development and applications in the studies of moisture and fat management and structure-function relationships of biological and food materials. Shelf-life prediction and extension. Value-added process development. Pulsed electric field and non-thermal plasma development and application. Advanced artificial intelligence and control systems development for biological and food process control.

Gary R. Sands, Associate Professor and Extension Engineer
Diverse interests in water management and water quality including impacts of surface/subsurface drainage systems on watershed hydrology and water quality, watershed-scale approaches to modeling and managing nonpoint source pollution, in-field treatment technologies/processes (e.g., wetlands, vegetated channels) for attenuation of sediment/nutrient/pesticide losses from agricultural fields, expert systems for managing water and nutrient/chemical regimes, GIS applications in water management and quality, and the development of quantitative measures for environmental impact and sustainability of agricultural systems.

John M. Shutske, Professor and Extension Agricultural Safety Specialist
Agricultural occupational safety and health issues for producers and agricultural businesses, safer design of machinery and processes, human factors implications of safety engineering design changes, evaluation of educational approaches in injury prevention, and childhood injuries in the farm workplace.

William F. Wilcke, P.E., Professor, Extension Engineer, and Regional Coordinator for the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program
Post-harvest technology (cooling, drying, storage, and handling of crops after harvest), sustainable agriculture, and agricultural energy sources.

Bruce N. Wilson, P.E., Professor
Hydraulics of flows in erodible channels, especially as it relates to rill erosion; hydrologic/water quality modeling of disturbed and agricultural watersheds; transport of surface water contaminants; and parameter uncertainty in mathematical models.

Jun Zhu, Associate Professor and Extension Engineer
Treatment and utilization of manure and other agricultural wastes, manure management, microbiology and biochemistry of processes for treating and utilizing wastes.