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Graduate Faculty: ABENG

Nicole Robitaille Brown, Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor of Wood Chemistry


814-865-7423

Areas of Expertise

  • BS in Forestry and Wildlife, Forest Products Utilization Concentration, Minor in Chemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1997.
  • Ph.D. in Forest Products, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2004. Recipient of USDA National Needs Fellowship, and participant in the Center for Adhesive and Sealant Science (CASS) program activities, administered in the Chemistry Department. Coursework in wood science and polymer chemistry.
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.
Stephen Chmely, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering


814-863-6815

Areas of Expertise

  • Development of emerging bioproducts
  • Additive manufacturing with lignocellulosic biomass
  • Applications of synthetic chemistry to lignin
  • Catalytic transformations of biomass
  • Spectroscopic characterization of bio-derived molecules
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
Christine Costello, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering


814-865-8841

Areas of Expertise

  • Industrial Ecology
  • Ethical Decision Making
  • Life Cycle Analysis
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)
Frederico Harte, Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor of Food Science
  • ABE Graduate Faculty
  • Department of Food Science


814-867-5689

Areas of Expertise

  • Dairy Processing
  • Food Rheology
  • Food Engineering
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
  • Program contact for Agricultural Systems Management Minor; Off-Road Equipment Minor


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
Michael Mashtare
  • Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering


814-865-7792

Judd Michael, Ph.D.
  • Nationwide Insurance Professor of Safety & Health
  • Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering


814-863-2976

Areas of Expertise

  • Safety
  • packaging & pallets
  • sustainable business
  • zero waste
  • sports greening
  • wood and paper industry
Heather Preisendanz, Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • ABE Graduate Program Coordinator
  • Natural Resource Engineering


814-863-1817

Areas of Expertise

  • Emerging Contaminants
  • Contaminant Fate and Transport
  • Environmental Hydrology
Virendra Puri, Ph.D.
  • Distinguished Professor Emeritus


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