Machinery systems engineering is what many students initially perceive biological systems engineering to be. These engineers are trained to design machines for production agriculture and construction. Concepts covered in this field include power transmission, traction, hydraulic power, and crop handling, such as planting and harvesting.

Over the past 50 years, machines have improved production efficiency in all aspects of life. Machinery systems engineers have played a key role in moving society from the highly manual culture of the early 20th century to the highly technical culture of the late 20th century. Even with these advances, the job of the machinery systems engineer is not complete. Concern for our natural environment and worker safety, and the constant desire to reduce costs and energy consumption while improving production efficiency, will continue to challenge machinery systems engineers.

Requirements

Major Requirements
Common Requirements53
Specialization Technical Electives43
Capstone5
Total Credits101

Common Requirements

See Major Requirements.

Machinery Systems Engineering Specialization

This is a named option that will appear on the student's transcript upon completion.

BSE 405 Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture3
BSE/M E 475 Engineering Principles of Agricultural Machinery3
BSE/M E 476 Engineering Principles of Off-Road Vehicles3
E M A 202 Dynamics3
or M E 240 Dynamics
M E 306 Mechanics of Materials3
or E M A 303 Mechanics of Materials
E M A/M E 307 Mechanics of Materials Lab1
M E 342 Design of Machine Elements3
M E 310 Manufacturing: Polymer Processing and Engineering3
or M E 311 Manufacturing: Metals and Automation
M E 361 Thermodynamics3
M E 363 Fluid Dynamics3
AGRONOMY 100 Principles and Practices in Crop Production4
or DY SCI/​AN SCI  101 Introduction to Animal Sciences
or SOIL SCI 301 General Soil Science
Complete one of the following BSE breadth courses:2-3
Land Information Management
Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials
Renewable Energy Systems
On-Site Waste Water Treatment and Dispersal
Biorefining: Energy and Products from Renewable Resources
Food and Bioprocessing Operations
Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems
Sediment and Bio-Nutrient Engineering and Management
Water Management Systems
Small Watershed Engineering
Total Credits34-35

Technical Electives

See Major Requirements.

Capstone

See Major Requirements.

Four-Year Plan

Sample Biological Systems Engineering Four-Year Plan—Machinery Systems Engineering Named option

First Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
MATH 22115MATH 2224
CHEM 10925BSE 170 or INTEREGR 1702-3
LSC 100 (or other COMM A)3BSE 3103
Humanities3Elective3
 Ethnic Studies3
 16 15-16
Second Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
MATH 2344BSE 3081
BSE 2493BSE 3493
E M A 2013M E 3613
Biological Science Course3STAT 3243
Elective3PHYSICS 2025
 16 15
Third Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
BSE 2703BSE 3653
BSE/​M E  4753BSE/​M E  4763
MATH 3203BSE 5082
M E 2403M E 310 or 3113
M E 3063M E 3633
M E/​E M A  3071CALS International Studies3
 16 17
Fourth Year
FallCreditsSpringCredits
BSE 3803BSE 4053
BSE 5093INTEREGR 3973
M E 3423Technical Electives6
AGRONOMY 100, DY SCI 101, or SOIL SCI 3013-4Humanities3
BSE Breadth Requirement3 
 15-16 15
Total Credits 125-127
 

Students must complete at least 125 total credits to be eligible for graduation.

1

MATH course dependent on placement score and transfer credit evaluation.

2

If CHEM 103CHEM 104 are taken in place of CHEM 109, it is suggested to take CHEM 103 in the fall semester and CHEM 104 in the spring semester of the first year.