Future Farmers of America tour of BSE Department

Emi Lesser Author

02/25/2021 Added

52 Plays

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Overview of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering for the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Virtual Conference. Descriptions of department majors and research areas.

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[00:00:00.539](upbeat music)
[00:00:07.320]I believe in the future of agriculture
[00:00:09.640]with a faith born not of words but of deeds,
[00:00:13.090]achievements won by the present and past generations
[00:00:17.250]of agriculturalist and the promise of better days
[00:00:20.260]through better ways,
[00:00:21.680]even as the better things we now enjoy,
[00:00:24.810]have come to us from our struggles of former years.
[00:00:29.130]My name is David Jones.
[00:00:30.580]I am professor and head
[00:00:32.290]of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering.
[00:00:35.390]Many years ago,
[00:00:36.280]I received my Lone Star Farmer Degree from Texas.
[00:00:40.040]With the affirmation of that accomplishment,
[00:00:42.230]and the FFA creed ringing in my ears,
[00:00:45.120]I pursued a degree in engineering,
[00:00:48.070]focused on living out their creed,
[00:00:50.320]I hope that you will too.
[00:00:52.540]As much as I can still affirm the FFA creed,
[00:00:55.770]I extend to you the same spirit that is alive
[00:00:58.860]in the Biological Systems Engineering Department.
[00:01:01.870]Our degree programs,
[00:01:04.000]whether they're focused on engineering,
[00:01:05.730]through Agricultural Engineering,
[00:01:08.040]or Biological Systems Engineering,
[00:01:10.430]or focused on management,
[00:01:11.740]through our Mechanized Systems Management Degree.
[00:01:15.450]We are preparing professionals,
[00:01:17.490]who are nurturing the realm of agriculture,
[00:01:20.300]ensuring food supplies,
[00:01:22.540]sustaining our environmental quality,
[00:01:25.560]and engaging the entire biological and economic system,
[00:01:29.570]within which agriculture exist and impacts.
[00:01:34.750]We have much to offer and welcome the opportunity
[00:01:37.340]to partner with you to build a future,
[00:01:39.820]that is rewarding for you,
[00:01:41.870]and is bettering agriculture in our society.
[00:01:45.070]Welcome and please visit us.
[00:01:47.600]Biomedical engineering is using the tools of engineering,
[00:01:51.040]which is problem solving, math, science and physics
[00:01:52.830]to solve medical problems.
[00:01:54.510]It's a huge field
[00:01:55.831]but at the center of it is engineering and medicine
[00:01:59.960]and it allows students to go on and go to medical school,
[00:02:03.830]dental school or professional schools, graduate schools,
[00:02:06.000]or to go right into the medical device
[00:02:07.750]or pharmaceutical industry.
[00:02:09.540]In my lab, we really focus on engineering biomaterials
[00:02:12.860]for tissue engineering.
[00:02:13.870]So growing organs in the lab for transplantation.
[00:02:17.600]All engineers are trying to develop things
[00:02:19.600]that will make something safer for humans,
[00:02:22.260]make it more efficient for humans
[00:02:23.990]and so all of engineering is a human based discipline,
[00:02:28.300]because we're trying to make the world better
[00:02:30.010]for all humans, and a few dogs.
[00:02:32.540]Well imagine if you design a device
[00:02:34.600]that saves hundreds of thousands of lives, right?
[00:02:37.970]That's even more than a clinician
[00:02:39.360]may impact in their life
[00:02:40.950]and and yet, you're getting to do all the things
[00:02:43.270]you love to do.
[00:02:44.103]You get to tinker, you get to solve problems,
[00:02:46.210]and you get to do it
[00:02:47.150]knowing that you are helping many people.
[00:02:49.230]The best part of my job
[00:02:50.400]is that I get to work with students every day
[00:02:52.110]and I get to see their excitement for their project,
[00:02:55.240]for their class.
[00:02:56.530]I get to help them on their path
[00:02:58.400]and I may play a small part,
[00:03:00.170]but I know that our students are gonna go out and do
[00:03:02.560]and are out doing wonderful things.
[00:03:06.930]Engineering is saving lives,
[00:03:08.270]from anything from building safer roads,
[00:03:11.100]to ensuring food security and safety,
[00:03:13.650]to advancing medical devices
[00:03:15.700]and new drug therapies and gene therapies,
[00:03:18.420]engineering has many different avenues
[00:03:20.530]in which you can save lives.
[00:03:21.850]Hello and welcome to the Department
[00:03:23.620]of Biological Systems Engineering.
[00:03:25.670]I would like to take a couple minutes to share with you
[00:03:27.970]about two of our programs,
[00:03:29.730]one in Irrigation and Water Resources Engineering,
[00:03:32.540]and the other in Ecological and Environmental Engineering.
[00:03:35.980]My name is Derek Heeren
[00:03:37.330]and I grew up on a crop and livestock farm
[00:03:40.990]and have long had an appreciation
[00:03:42.820]for the importance of our natural resources,
[00:03:45.250]as well as food production.
[00:03:47.100]Now I have a career,
[00:03:48.260]where I can do research and teach classes
[00:03:50.750]on new technologies for irrigation
[00:03:53.150]and for water conservation.
[00:03:55.100]One of my favorite parts of my job,
[00:03:57.140]is advising students and helping them
[00:03:59.630]prepare for their careers.
[00:04:02.370]The first area I would like to discuss,
[00:04:04.900]is Ecological and Environmental Engineering.
[00:04:08.300]Three of the biggest challenges that our society face
[00:04:12.370]include: water security, food security and energy security.
[00:04:17.520]Right at the nexus of those three,
[00:04:19.740]we want to better manage our watersheds,
[00:04:22.920]to minimize impacts on ecosystems,
[00:04:26.220]and also to consider the long term sustainability.
[00:04:30.160]Students in Ecological and Environmental Engineering,
[00:04:33.520]will learn how to protect ecosystems,
[00:04:36.830]design wetlands, restore the streams and lakes,
[00:04:40.780]minimize nonpoint source pollution
[00:04:43.820]and improve water quality.
[00:04:46.020]The second area,
[00:04:47.530]is Irrigation and Water Resources Engineering
[00:04:50.790]and in light of the water and food energy nexus.
[00:04:54.700]We want to produce more food with less water and energy.
[00:04:59.590]More specifically, at the field scale,
[00:05:02.120]we want to be more productive,
[00:05:04.220]with the water we use with our irrigation systems
[00:05:07.850]and at the basin scale,
[00:05:09.740]we want to better manage our water resources.
[00:05:13.850]Students in Irrigation and Water Resources Engineering,
[00:05:17.590]will learn how to design irrigation systems,
[00:05:21.370]employ new technologies in precision agriculture
[00:05:25.190]and remote sensing, minimize soil erosion,
[00:05:31.140]and use software tools to better manage our water resources
[00:05:38.230]and account for hydrology.
[00:05:40.630]If these areas are of interest to you,
[00:05:42.930]I would encourage you, to reach out to
[00:05:45.150]the Department of Biological Systems Engineering today.
[00:05:47.982](upbeat music)
[00:05:48.920]Hello, I'm Jordan Popp.
[00:05:50.120]I'm a junior from Broken Bow, Nebraska
[00:05:51.720]studying Mechanized Systems Management,
[00:05:53.780]with an emphasis in production
[00:05:55.280]and will also be receiving an agronomy minor.
[00:05:58.670]Am the Mechanized Systems Management Club President
[00:06:00.740]and also a (mumbles) ambassador.
[00:06:03.180]Mechanized Systems Management,
[00:06:04.420]is one of three majors,
[00:06:05.910]within the Biological Systems Engineering Department
[00:06:08.940]and one of the things I love the most personally
[00:06:11.770]about this department is the advisors and professors.
[00:06:17.200]The advisors and professors truly want
[00:06:20.070]to have an impact on you in your college experience,
[00:06:23.320]and want to help you reach your goals
[00:06:25.250]post college graduation.
[00:06:27.700]They get to do this through a one-on-one interaction
[00:06:31.810]and truly get to know you during your time in college.
[00:06:35.280]I hope this is a major that you're potentially looking into
[00:06:38.120]and potentially interested in
[00:06:40.790]and we'd love to see you on campus
[00:06:42.900]and see you around the,
[00:06:44.730]Biological Systems Engineering Department.
[00:06:46.987](upbeat music)
[00:06:48.130]Hello, my name is Mark Wilkins.
[00:06:49.480]I'm a professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln's
[00:06:52.360]Biological Systems Engineering Department.
[00:06:55.240]I represent the Food and Bioprocessing option,
[00:06:58.590]in our Undergraduate Biological Systems Engineering Program.
[00:07:02.770]You might be wondering,
[00:07:03.603]"what does a food or a bioprocess engineer do?"
[00:07:07.600]Well, a very good example of what we do,
[00:07:10.620]is the recent COVID 19 vaccine production.
[00:07:15.250]So all of those vaccines are produced in bio reactors.
[00:07:21.700]What is bio reactor?
[00:07:22.590]It's a tank, very sophisticated tank
[00:07:25.430]that's controlled to make new proteins or viruses,
[00:07:31.460]that are deactivated to produce this vaccine.
[00:07:37.400]So that's a good example of how bioprocess engineers
[00:07:40.370]have played a major role in combating the COVID 19 pandemic.
[00:07:46.370]But another example is all the food that we eat,
[00:07:49.660]it has to be treated so it can be safely shipped,
[00:07:55.020]it won't make you sick,
[00:07:56.860]won't get some kind of food poisoning.
[00:08:00.330]So food engineers are the ones that develop the process
[00:08:03.040]to make that happen.
[00:08:04.600]So we make a major impact on the world,
[00:08:06.900]on everyday food supply,
[00:08:09.070]every day pharmaceuticals and vaccines,
[00:08:12.040]and also things like renewable energy,
[00:08:15.470]bio energy, and other very important things
[00:08:19.130]to move our planet forward
[00:08:21.660]to make it a more sustainable place.
[00:08:23.610]So we'd love to see you,
[00:08:26.350]in our classes here at Lincoln
[00:08:29.920]and especially in our
[00:08:31.510]Food and Bioprocessing Engineering classes
[00:08:34.277]and I hope to see you soon.
[00:08:36.820]Well, my name is Seth Brunkhost.
[00:08:38.510]I'm a senior agricultural engineering student here at UNL
[00:08:42.460]and I'm gonna talk a little bit about
[00:08:43.840]what drew me into the University
[00:08:45.900]and what's kind of kept me here.
[00:08:47.720]Some of the things that drew me in
[00:08:49.010]were the small class sizes,
[00:08:51.090]I can say for sure that over my four years,
[00:08:53.850]I've known all my professors that are in the department,
[00:08:57.650]and then they all know me by name
[00:08:59.460]and by first and last name,
[00:09:01.220]so you're not just a number like at some other Universities.
[00:09:04.810]And then another thing that's really got me like in UNL
[00:09:09.020]was we are the only ones in the United States
[00:09:11.720]to have the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab.
[00:09:15.180]There's no other one in the U.S.
[00:09:17.010]No other one in the Western Hemisphere.
[00:09:19.390]And so really being able to work there,
[00:09:21.350]you're able to put what you're learning at in class
[00:09:24.080]to good use there, getting that hands on experience,
[00:09:26.820]starting talking to different companies
[00:09:30.030]about jobs per se when they're coming into testing and that.
[00:09:34.748]So that's definitely what's kept me here
[00:09:36.340]and then also our student club, Quarter-scale,
[00:09:39.420]almost all of us AGEN engineers are part of it.
[00:09:42.140]We're all kind of these real close knit family basically,
[00:09:45.920]trying to take as many classes as we can together
[00:09:48.090]so we can get study groups together
[00:09:49.680]and do homework together.
[00:09:51.060]Practical hands on focus degree program
[00:09:53.490]that's all about managing technology and equipment,
[00:09:56.940]so that they're operating at high efficiency,
[00:09:59.860]high productivity to meet the needs of society.
[00:10:03.070]Some of the features of our program,
[00:10:04.890]we have a heavy emphasis on hands on learning.
[00:10:07.150]Almost all of our classes have labs,
[00:10:08.910]and we'll talk about that later,
[00:10:10.530]we really take a systems approach to problem solving.
[00:10:13.760]A lot of our classes feature team based labs
[00:10:17.350]and we also have a strong focus on decision making
[00:10:20.290]by incorporating multiple perspectives
[00:10:22.400]ranging from technical knowledge base,
[00:10:24.610]to business, to economics and the sciences.
[00:10:27.300]So naturally our curriculum reflects that.
[00:10:29.740]So if you come into our major,
[00:10:31.150]you're going to get an opportunity
[00:10:32.860]to take core technical courses,
[00:10:34.910]that give you that foundational skills related to sensors,
[00:10:39.900]controls, power and machinery principles,
[00:10:42.120]all those technical courses.
[00:10:43.860]Combined with application courses,
[00:10:45.690]where those skills are applied in different areas.
[00:10:48.730]We also have a strong emphasis on business and management
[00:10:52.000]and then we surround that with basic and applied sciences
[00:10:55.619]from all different areas.
[00:10:57.750]Now students have an option
[00:10:59.560]to then specialize in four specific option areas.
[00:11:03.990]So you can specialize in ag production,
[00:11:06.360]you can specialize in processing,
[00:11:07.940]where you get to learn a little bit more
[00:11:09.710]about the food processing industry,
[00:11:11.550]you can specialize in the business option,
[00:11:13.440]where you can actually walk away with a business minor,
[00:11:16.170]give you a well rounded experience,
[00:11:18.180]in all aspects of business
[00:11:20.060]or and we also have the technical option,
[00:11:21.830]if you wanna take emphasize more
[00:11:24.040]into the mechanized systems management coursework.
[00:11:26.960]As I mentioned earlier,
[00:11:28.180]our program has a big emphasis on hands-on learning.
[00:11:31.090]So a lot of our classes have labs
[00:11:32.740]where students work on software, hardware
[00:11:35.036]and different equipment and machinery
[00:11:37.330]and this is particularly important for us
[00:11:39.030]because as I mentioned earlier,
[00:11:41.300]our programs are really not about design,
[00:11:43.810]as much on the hands=on aspect of how things work,
[00:11:47.670]why they work, and then answering the question of
[00:11:50.300]so what?
[00:11:51.133]What can I do with this knowledge?
[00:11:52.700]How do I actually use that to manage equipment and machines
[00:11:56.350]that we find in a variety of industries?
[00:11:59.680]One of the unique aspects of our program is that,
[00:12:02.040]we're really preparing graduates
[00:12:04.020]for the emerging needs that we see.
[00:12:06.560]So as we think about how technology's changing
[00:12:09.590]through smart systems and internet of things,
[00:12:14.550]the increased emphasis on sustainability,
[00:12:17.540]requiring our graduates
[00:12:19.740]to actually be holistic decision makers,
[00:12:22.090]a lot of those things are reflected in our curriculum
[00:12:24.180]and we're always trying to understand
[00:12:26.350]how do we better equip our graduates for what is to come?
[00:12:29.780]Just a little bit about our students.
[00:12:32.060]We have students from all over Nebraska
[00:12:33.730]and all of the United States
[00:12:35.250]and one point to mention is,
[00:12:36.870]we're very unique in the sense that
[00:12:37.750]30 to 40% of our students
[00:12:39.710]actually find us from other majors.
[00:12:42.320]So if you were to enter our program as a sophomore,
[00:12:45.020]as a junior, you're actually going to be coming in
[00:12:46.780]with several other students
[00:12:48.110]and so we've designed our curriculum
[00:12:49.810]that allows you to enter the program as a sophomore,
[00:12:53.190]but still graduate.
[00:12:54.220]The question you may have is,
[00:12:55.190]where do our graduates end up?
[00:12:56.470]We're really focused on meeting industry needs.
[00:12:58.260]As a result, our students have diverse career pathways.
[00:13:01.880]These are just some of the titles
[00:13:03.390]that we're seeing of our recent graduates,
[00:13:05.960]you can find them managing facilities,
[00:13:08.080]as production and operations managers,
[00:13:10.150]you can find them testing equipment,
[00:13:12.132]both in the field and in test facilities.
[00:13:15.820]Some of our graduates
[00:13:16.730]get more into the business side of things
[00:13:18.570]through sales and product marketing
[00:13:20.500]and more recently,
[00:13:21.580]we've been seeing a lot of entrepreneurial ventures,
[00:13:23.990]small business ventures,
[00:13:27.050]being started by some of our graduates.
[00:13:30.850]These are just some examples
[00:13:31.950]of where you might find some of our graduates,
[00:13:34.070]you might find them
[00:13:35.040]in really large green handling facilities, rail yards,
[00:13:38.470]or working in the field of technologies
[00:13:41.490]like unmanned aerial systems,
[00:13:42.910]or drones as they're commonly known.
[00:13:45.270]You might find our graduates out in the field,
[00:13:47.340]installing equipment, testing equipment,
[00:13:49.640]or working in a manufacturing facility,
[00:13:51.990]putting together complex pieces of equipment as well.
[00:13:55.920]Just to give you a flavor of the diversity of employers
[00:13:59.170]that hire our students,
[00:14:00.940]both local, national, international employers,
[00:14:04.320]so there's again a wide variety of career pathways.
[00:14:07.490]I think the flexibility of our program,
[00:14:10.000]the diversity of courses,
[00:14:11.320]allows students do find unique position.
[00:14:15.220]Hi, I'd like to talk to you
[00:14:16.087]a little bit about Agricultural Engineering.
[00:14:19.240]If you like math and you like science,
[00:14:21.340]engineering is something that you ought to explore
[00:14:23.697]as career.
[00:14:24.990]I discovered agricultural engineering,
[00:14:26.970]I found it was a great place to be.
[00:14:29.210]So what can you do as an agricultural engineer?
[00:14:31.910]Well there's a lot of different places you can go.
[00:14:35.710]I went to John Deere
[00:14:37.140]and got 'em to designing and testing new tractors,
[00:14:39.960]but we have AGEN engineers
[00:14:41.980]that solve problems in agriculture, allover the place,
[00:14:46.200]whether it be, maybe design of an agricultural structure.
[00:14:51.050]You know, that could be anything,
[00:14:52.380]from just the foundations and support
[00:14:54.260]of somebody else's manufactured grain bin,
[00:14:58.460]that could be barns, equipment sheds and whatnot.
[00:15:01.340]We have a lot of former students out of our department
[00:15:04.970]working out in Columbus
[00:15:06.450]with bailing structures for example, in that area.
[00:15:11.530]It could be soil and water and that's very..
[00:15:15.970]There's five major center pivot manufacturers in the world
[00:15:20.390]and four of them are located right here in Nebraska.
[00:15:22.920]So some go into the center pivot industry,
[00:15:26.270]or others may go into suppliers and support that industry.
[00:15:30.950]Like there's a Naval company out of Hastings
[00:15:33.460]called Industrial Irrigation.
[00:15:35.070]It's entirely staffed by UNL agricultural engineers
[00:15:39.770]in their engineering department.
[00:15:41.687]There's also manufacturing opportunities as well
[00:15:45.640]and things like that.
[00:15:47.900]We have an awful lot of manufacturing engineers
[00:15:50.140]working in Hastings out in Grand Island these days.
[00:15:53.730]People have got their own permanent jobs
[00:15:56.410]and many more on internships.
[00:15:58.791]So there's quite a lot of fields available.
[00:16:03.610]So if you want to be part of this grand mission
[00:16:06.220]of feeding the world,
[00:16:07.690]agricultural engineering is a good place to do that.
[00:16:10.540]That's part of a pretty grand challenge
[00:16:13.430]that if you grew up on a farm
[00:16:16.110]and you like math and science,
[00:16:17.470]you might wanna consider being part of.
[00:16:19.940]Hope we see you out here in a year two or three
[00:16:22.370]or whenever you're going to college.
[00:16:25.071](upbeat music)

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Future Farmers of America tour of BSE Department

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