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J. of Ag. Eng. - Riv. di Ing. Agr. (2010), 1, 1-5

DEVELOPMENT AND PERSPECTIVES OF AGRICULTURAL TOWARDS BIOLOGICAL/BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING

K.C. Ting

1. Introduction knowledge of life (i.e. biological) sciences have been considered as “constraints” or “requirements”. In our Agricultural mechanization has been ranked as one new vision, the added biological/biosystems - of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th ing will also use life sciences as resources for engi- century by the U.S. National Academy of Engineer- neering work (the concept of “bringing life to engi- ing. Agricultural engineering played a vital role in neering”). The overarching goal of ABE work is to that transformation. Many other traditional areas of “enhance complex living systems” involving humans, agricultural engineering, such as soil and water, post- plants, animals and microorganisms within the con- harvest and value-added processing, and structures text of , food, environment and energy. and environment, have also made remarkable impacts to the agricultural production, the food industry and environmental stewardship. Agricultural Engineering 2. Domains of Agricultural and has evolved into a broad bio-based engineering and Biological/Biosystems Engineering technology scope and is defining a new discipline that will guide its future for many years. The ABE (as opposed to human health emphasized To build on the past success and to further enhance biomedical or bioengineering) disciplinary relevance the ability of the “agricultural engineering” discipline and impact areas include: in its contribution to an evolving system including agriculture, food, environment and energy, the disci- • Bio-Based Processing and Production Systems; pline needs a strategic decision to adopt a more holis- • Biomass and Renewable Energy; tic approach as depicted by its new discipline of • Precision and Information Agriculture; “Agricultural and Biological/Biosystems Engineering • Agricultural and Biosystems Management; (ABE)”. • Agricultural Safety and Health; • Food Quality and Safety; In this vision, the land grant functions of teaching, • Environmental Stewardship; and extension education as well as the facul- • Land and Water Resources; ty responsibility of service (including economic de- • Spatially Distributed Systems; velopment) will continue. The overarching mission of • Structure and Facilities for Living Systems; ABE is to “integrate life and engineering for enhance- • Indoor Environmental Control; ment of complex living systems”. Engineering is a • Bio-sensors, Bio-instrumentation, Bio-informatics, process of design under constraints. The task of de- and Bio-; sign is to systematically and computationally assem- • Intelligent Machinery Systems; ble and integrate resources to achieve certain opera- • Automation of Biological Systems; tional and performance goals. Traditionally, engineer- • Advanced Life Support Systems. ing design in our discipline has been to enable and fa- cilitate system operations that contain biological processes (this is the task of “bringing engineering to 3. Core Competencies of Agricultural life”). Therefore, the biological processes and the and Biological/Biosystems Engineering

______The key to the successful achievement of this vi- The paper has been presented at the 2009 AIIA Conference held in sion lies in faculty expertise, as well as research and Ischia 12-16 September educational activities in the areas of automation, cul- K.C. Ting, Professor and Head; Department of Agricultural and ture, environment and systems (i.e. the ACESys para- , University of Illinois digm shown in Figure 1). The “culture” aspect of the 001_Ting_01 20-05-2010 10:12 Pagina 2

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Fig. 1 - The ACESys core competencies paradigm.

ACESys paradigm accentuates the expanded biologi- engineering challenge in agricultural production and cal emphasis of ABE. Therefore, an ABE academic bio-processing. unit needs to build a faculty that will provide com- plete and complementary expertise, as well as conduct Systems analysis and integration is a methodology research and educational programs following the that starts with the definition of a system and its ACESys paradigm. goals, and leads to the conclusion regarding the sys- tem workability (i.e. technical feasibility and practi- Automation deals with information processing and cality), productivity, reliability and other performance task execution related to a system operation. The pur- indicators for decision support purposes. The success pose of automation is to equip engineering systems of systems analysis relies on the effective use of in- with human-like capabilities of perception, reason- formation. Two key resources in systems analysis are ing/learning, communication and task planning/exe- the following: cution. Commonly seen automation topics are instru- mentation, control, computerization, mechanization, 1) information about individual system components modelling, machine vision, , artificial intelli- as well as their interrelationships; gence, etc. 2) methods of information gathering and processing for creating value-added information. Culture includes the factors and practices that can directly describe and/or modify the growth and devel- In the past, agricultural activities mainly included opment of biological objects. The cultural factors, on- production of plants and animals. Recently, such as morphological and physiological conditions as systems approach to study agriculture has required well as genetic expressions are important in monitor- that the entire food system (including the production ing growth, development and functions of biological of fresh materials and the consumption by end-users), objects. The cultural practices may include operations the impact to the environment and the effective use of which directly alter biological states and activities. energy should be taken into consideration. Commonly investigated system level question about the food and Environment encompasses the surroundings and agricultural system is the system impact on the 6 E’s: processes of biological objects, which consist of cli- Economics, Environment, Energy, Ecology, Efficien- matic and nutritional, as well as structural/mechanical cy and Education. The integration of biological, phys- conditions. Understanding, delivery and control of en- ical and chemical sciences with engineering and tech- vironmental factors have been perceived as a major nology provides a powerful platform for addressing 001_Ting_01 12-05-2010 11:40 Pagina 3

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systems level issues relevant to an increasingly com- 5) name programs that are accredited under the ABET plex agricultural and food system. agricultural criteria as agricultural engineering and those programs accredited under the proposed bio- logical engineering criteria as biological engineer- 4 Resolution of ASABE ED-210 Academic ing; Program Administrators Committee 6) continue the discussion on names and how to influ- ence local politics to achieve a common name. The membership of our primary professional socie- ty, American Society of Agricultural Before the conclusion of the meeting, a motion (ASAE), voted to change its name to the American was passed that P-210 affirms a goal that departments Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers adopt agricultural engineering or biological engineer- (ASABE) in July 2005. ASABE ED-210 (formerly ing as their respective accredited undergraduate engi- ASAE P-210) is a committee that consists of academ- neering program names. Our ACESys paradigm may ic program administrators. During the annual interna- provide a clear vision for future agricultural and bio- tional meeting of ASAE in July 2005 in Tempa, Flori- logical engineering academic units and programs. da, P-210 held a special meeting to discuss the impact of the current proliferation of academic department While the domains and core competencies men- and program names. It was decided that the names tioned above help frame and describe the discipline of and contents of educational programs would signifi- ABE, one key contribution of the discipline is to ef- cantly impact five important issues: fectively advance the bio-based economic engine, as shown in Figure 2, by paying special attention to sys- 1) curriculum and accreditation; tems level issues of the 6 E’s. 2) student interest and recruiting; 3) placement/industry recognition; 4) ranking and identity; 5. Strategic Thrust Areas of ABE at Illinois 5) professional engineer licensing and professional society membership. Effectively sustaining the cycle of this economic engine is essential for improving its effectiveness and A list of action items were generated and dis- competitiveness, optimizing its economic return, pro- cussed. They included: viding management capabilities, monitoring and en- suring intelligent use of resources, understanding the 1) select one common program name; governing constraints, enabling creative productivity, 2) develop core elements and common competencies; interfacing with other economic sectors, identifying 3) influence the change of the program names/defini- value-added opportunities and creating new economic tion; activities for wealth and job generation. 4) avoid bioengineering as a name;

Fig. 2 - The Bio-based economic engine. 001_Ting_01 12-05-2010 11:40 Pagina 4

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The following technical areas or initiatives are of 5) Systems Informatics and Analysis, including com- particular importance in sustaining and advancing this plex design techniques, decision support, early reli- very large and complex bio-based economic engine ability measurement techniques, holistic agro- (each focus area incorporates systems management ecosystem perspectives, multi-scale modelling and and safety/health dimensions): sustainable development.

1) Agricultural Automation, including machine intel- ligence of perception, reasoning and learning, com- 6. Development of Agricultural Engineering munication, and task planning and execution; towards Biological / Biosystems Engineering 2) Bio-Energy and Bio-Products, including produc- tion of bio-fuels, bio-power and bio-materials; ex- At the University of Illinois, a four-step process ample research and development activities are has been taken to develop the biological engineering ethanol production, bio-diesel properties and en- undergraduate educational concentration (Fig. 3). gine performance, thermo-chemical conversion of Step 1 was to change the department name from Agri- biomass to crude oil, engineering solutions for bio- cultural Engineering to Agricultural and Biological mass feedstock production, and systems integration Engineering while maintaining the undergraduate pro- and analysis; gram name Agricultural Engineering. In Step 2, a spe- 3) Sustainable Environment, including information cialization of Biological Engineering was created and analytical tools, processes, simulation and so- within the Agricultural Engineering degree program cio-economic considerations; (in addition to the existing specializations of Bioenvi- 4) Biological Engineering, including biological nan- ronmental Engineering, Off-Road Equipment Engi- otechnology (e.g., biosensors, nanotherapeutics neering, and Soil and Water Resources Engineering with functional biological nanocomponents, etc.), and concentration of Food and Bioprocess Engineer- programmable biotechnology (also known as syn- ing). A specialization signifies the technical emphasis thetic biology, e.g. whole-cell biosensors, metabol- of the educational experience and will not appear on ic engineering, tools for molecular biosciences the student’s transcript. A concentration is a formally etc.) and biological device design (also involving recognized curriculum within a degree program and the development of mathematical and information- will appear on the student’s transcript. Step 3 was to based tools on the analysis and simulation of bio- change the degree program name from Agricultural logical systems); Engineering to Agricultural and Biological Engineer-

FBE: Food & Bioprocess Engineering; OREE: Off-Road Equipment Engineering; BEE: Bioenvironmental Engineering; SWRE: Soil & Water Resources Engineering; BIOE: Biological Engineering; RES: Renewable Energy Systems; EE: ; NBE: Nanoscale Biological Engineering

Fig. 3 - Existing and proposed ABE educational program at Illinois (Courtesy of Alan Hansen, University of Illinois). 001_Ting_01 12-05-2010 11:40 Pagina 5

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ing (ABE). Step 4 is to develop a formal concentra- Acknowledgements tion of Biological Engineering within the new ABE degree program. As of April 2010, Step 4 is reaching The vision, effort, and support of faculty, staff, stu- the final approval by the university. dents, and advisors of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois in The Biological Engineering concentration inte- strategizing, planning, and implementing our develop- grates biology and engineering to provide solutions to ment of agricultural engineering towards biological/ problems related to living systems (plants, animals, biosystems engineering are deeply appreciated. humans, and microorganisms). Engineering biological systems vary widely in scale. At the molecular level, nanometer-scale devices consist of a few biomole- References cules inside individual cells. At the other extreme, re- gionally-scaled complex ecosystems depend upon Department of Agricultural and Biological Engi- multiple species of interacting living organisms. Such neering, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, systems are becoming increasingly important in the Strategic Plan 2006-2011, Version 1.6, 2006. areas such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology, bio- processing, biosensing, bioinstrumentation, bioener- gy, bioenvironmental engineering, and ecological en- SUMMARY gineering. Systems involving agriculture, food, environment, and energy (AFEE) have played, and will continue to 7. Conclusion play, a highly significant role in a very large scale bio- based economic engine. Agricultural and biological Bio-based economic systems are increasingly im- engineering (ABE) is a discipline that integrates life portant; especially in translating biotechnological ad- and engineering for enhancement of complex living vances into practice. More and more biological sci- systems. The strategic alignment between the ad- ences and engineering are integrated to effectively vances of AFEE systems and the development of achieve the goals of bioeconomy. This integration has ABE discipline and is of great importance. generated new opportunities for further advancements Agricultural engineering and biological/biosystems in both biological science and engineering. Almost all engineering are synergetic in their problem domains functional bio-based economic systems require contri- and inseparable in their core competencies. At the butions and collaborations from many disciplines, and University of Illinois, an automation-culture-environ- frequently with engineering expertise catalyzing the ment systems (ACESys) concept and methodology integration effort. Agricultural and biological engi- has been applied to guide the identification, assembly, neering is a discipline that is uniquely qualified to en- and integration of core competencies during the evo- hance complex living systems, involving agriculture, lution from traditional agricultural engineering to- food, environment, and energy, by integrating life and wards the inclusion of biological/biosystems engi- engineering. The ACESys concept was developed to neering into a more comprehensive ABE program. provide the overarching guidance for assembling nec- essary and complementary core competencies for the Keywords: Agriculture, Food, Environment, Ener- ABE discipline and profession. gy, Domains, Core Competencies, ACESys. 001_Ting_01 12-05-2010 11:40 Pagina 6