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Graduate Faculty: ABENG

Nicole R. Brown, Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor of Wood Chemistry
  • Program Coordinator, BioRenewable Systems (BRS) Major


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


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


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 of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • Academic Program Coordinator, RESS Online Master's Program
  • BRS Graduate Program Coordinator


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


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


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


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


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


814-867-5689

Long He, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering


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


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


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


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


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 of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • Business Management for Natural Resources Industries


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


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


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.
Cibin Raj, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering


814-865-5616

Areas of Expertise

  • Storm water management
  • Watershed modeling
  • Application of optimization tools in watershed analysis
  • Ecohydrological impacts of climate and land use change
Tom L. Richard, Ph.D.
  • Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • Director of Penn State Institutes for Energy and the Environment
  • Bioenergy and Bioresource Engineering


814-865-3722

Areas of Expertise

  • Lignocellulosic biomass conversion
  • Bioenergy
  • Manure conversion
  • Sustainable agriculture
Howard Salis, Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor of Biological and Chemical Engineering
  • Synthetic Biology


814-865-1931

Areas of Expertise

  • Synthetic Biology
  • Metabolic Engineering
  • Biophysics
  • Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
  • Modeling & Optimization