Graduate Faculty: ABENG (Agricultural and Biological Engineering Graduate Program)

Nicole R. Brown, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Wood Chemistry
Program Coordinator, BioRenewable Systems (BRS) Major

nrb10@psu.edu
814-865-7423

Areas of Expertise:

Chemistry of lignocellulosic materials
Bio-based polymers
Wood adhesives and composites

Jeffrey Catchmark, Ph.D.

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Director, Graduate Studies
Affiliated Faculty of the The Rock Ethics Institute

jcatchmark@engr.psu.edu
814-863-0414

Areas of Expertise:

Nanocomposite materials and coatings
Crystalline nanocellulose production and characterization
Cellulose synthesis and assembly
Microbial cellulose production
Interaction of cellulose with other polysaccharides, proteins, and biologically derived polymers
Practical development of new biobased materials ranging from sustainable packaging to composites for construction to materials for healthcare.

Daeun Dana Choi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

dxc519@psu.edu
814-865-7154

Areas of Expertise:

Smart sensing systems for precision agriculture
Robotics/machine vision applications in specialty crop production
Deep learning and big data analysis for detecting/assessing crop health
Unmanned aerial system (UAS) in agriculture
Automation of agricultural production system

Daniel Ciolkosz, Ph.D., P.E.

Assistant Research Professor
Academic Program Coordinator, RESS Online Master's Program

dec109@psu.edu
814-863-3484

Areas of Expertise:

Bioenergy
Biomass Energy Systems
Thermochemical Conversion
Energy Efficiency
Controlled Environment Agriculture
Solar Energy Resource Evaluation

Ali Demirci, Ph.D.

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Bioprocess and Food Safety Engineering

demirci@psu.edu
814-863-1098

Areas of Expertise:

Bioprocess Engineering/Fermentation: Bioconversion of agricultural raw and waste commodities into value added products including bioenergy/biofuels, microbial enzymes, organic acids, polysaccharides, antimicrobial agents; optimization; novel bioreactors; downstream processing.
Food Engineering/Food Safety : inactivation of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms by using novel non-thermal processing technologies including pulsed UV light, electrolyzed oxidizing water, and ozone.

Herschel Elliott, Ph.D., P.E.

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Fate And Control Of Pollutants In Soils And Water

hae1@psu.edu
814-863-2062

Areas of Expertise:

Fate And Control Of Pollutants In Soils And Water

Eileen E. Fabian (Wheeler), Ph.D.

Professor of Agricultural Engineering
Environmental Biophysics, Animal Welfare, and Agricultural Emissions
Integrated Research and Extension Programs

fabian@psu.edu
814-865-3552

Areas of Expertise:

Air quality in indoor agriculture (barns, poultry houses)
Heating and Ventilation system design, principles and practice
Horse facility engineering (stables, riding arenas)
Farm animal welfare
Agricultural air emissions (gas, odor, particulates)

Heather Gall, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Ph.D.
Natural Resource Engineering

heg12@psu.edu
814-863-1817

Areas of Expertise:

Emerging Contaminants
Contaminant Fate and Transport
Environmental Hydrology

Frederico Harte, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Food Science
ABE Graduate Faculty
Department of Food Science

fmh14@psu.edu
814-867-5689

Long He, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

luh378@psu.edu
717-677-6116

Areas of Expertise:

Mechanization and Automation for Specialty Crops
Robotic Solutions for Agricultural Applications
Precision Agriculture
Electro-Hydraulic Control System

Paul Heinemann, Ph.D.

Professor & Department Head of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

hzh@psu.edu
814-865-7792

Areas of Expertise:

Engineering for specialty crop production systems
Quality evaluation of specialty crops

Armen Kemanian

Associate Professor of Production Systems and Modeling
ABE Graduate Faculty
Department of Plant Science

akemanian@psu.edu
814-863-9852

Areas of Expertise:

Agroecosystems and natural systems modeling
Nutrient, carbon and water cycling
Sustainable food and energy crops management
Environmental and plant biophysics
International agriculture

Jude Liu, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Machinery and Biomass Logistics

jliu@psu.edu
814-863-6844

Areas of Expertise:

Agricultural Machinery
Machine design and test
Biomass harvesting, handling and logistics
Biomass in-field processing and densification
Hydraulics and Pneumatic system design and test

David James Lyons, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor
ABE Graduate Faculty
Autonomy, Perception, and Cognition Department

djl272@psu.edu
814-867-3418

Areas of Expertise:

Agent development for cognitive autonomy
Automation and mechanization of biological systems and processes
Autonomy in unmanned vehicles
Thermal fluids and combustion

Judd Michael, Ph.D.

Professor
Business Management for Natural Resources Industries

jh-michael@psu.edu
814-863-2976

Areas of Expertise:

packaging
sustainable business
pallets
zero waste
sports greening
wood and paper industry

Michael Pate, Ph.D.

Nationwide Insurance Associate Professor of Agricultural Safety and Health

mlp79@psu.edu
814-865-2808

Areas of Expertise:

Agricultural Safety and Health
Assessment and Evaluation
Educational Programming
Agricultural Systems Management

Virendra Puri, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
ABE Graduate Program Coordinator
Powder Mechanics and Food Processing

vmpuri@psu.edu
814-865-3559

Areas of Expertise:

Powder Mechanics – Research focus includes: fundamental powder and powder mixture properties, multi-scale constitutive models, and computational models for powder processes.
Food Processing – Research focus includes: engineering properties, and integrated multi-scale computational and predictive models.