Information for Prospective Graduate Students

Your Next Giant Leap

The Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at Purdue University is renowned for addressing global challenges in food, energy, water, the environment, and health. As a graduate student in ABE, you’ll contribute to groundbreaking research aimed at solving the world’s most pressing questions while you take the next giant leap in your career.  Tour the ABE Building

Agricultural & Biological Engineering at Purdue University

Graduate Program Deadline---December 1 each year.

All applications and supporting materials must be submitted by December 1 each year to be considered for admission into the MS or PhD graduate program. To be considered for Graduate Fellowships, applicants must submit all materials by the December 1 deadline. Early application is strongly encouraged.

Timetable below with key steps in the application and admissions process for the ABE graduate program:

Date Process Event
December 1 All application materials received by the Graduate School
Mid-December Review of applications by the ABE Graduate Committee
Mid- January Applicants should reach out to specific faculty members in their area of interest. Faculty will also begin contacting promising students.
Mid-March Notification of acceptance and offers of financial support
April 15 Applicants accept or reject offers
Week before classes start Admitted students arrive on campus for program orientation and start of semester

Degree Programs

We are always looking for outstanding students to join our innovative graduate degree programs.  

Two master’s degrees are offered: Master of Science in Agricultural and Biological Engineering (MS-ABE), for students with a baccalaureate engineering degree, and Master of Science (MS): for students with non-engineering baccalaureate degrees.

The Ph.D. at Purdue is not designated by area of specialization and is available to outstanding students desiring an engineering, technology, or systems management program in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department.  A Direct-to-PhD option is newly available for students enrolling in Fall 2020.

We are a member department of Purdue's Ecological Sciences and Engineering interdisciplinary graduate program, which has its own requirements that must be fulfilled in addition to those in ABE. Many ABE students are part of the PULSe Interdisciplinary Life Science Program. Please visit their websites for more information.

We also offer concentrations in the following areas, which reflect a specialized area of graduate study on a student’s final transcript: Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Science, Ecological Sciences and Engineering, and  Fluid Power.

More information on our Masters and PhD degrees is available at this website. 

*Direct-to-PhD Option for new students enrolling Fall 2020*

Graduate Research Opportunities

Grad student conducting an experiment

The Agricultural and Biological Engineering conducts cutting-edge research in the following areas. To find out more about specific opportunities, please identify potential faculty members in your area by browsing ABE Faculty by Area of Interest. 

  • Biological Engineering
  • Food, Pharmaceutical, and Biological Process Engineering
  • Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering
  • Machine Systems Engineering
  • Agricultural Systems, Safety, and Health
  • Data Science and Digital Agriculture

 

Applying

We welcome your application for admission to our graduate program.  In order to receive maximum consideration for financial support, your application and all supporting documentation should be received on or before the dates listed below:

Fall Summer preceding Fall Spring of following year
December 1 December 1 October 1

In order to receive maximum consideration for financial support, submit your application by the above dates.

For additional details on application requirements, see:

Submit your application online via the Graduate School’s application website.  For more information contact Nikki Zimmerman at (765) 494-1166.

Funding

Prestigious fellowships are available for outstanding graduate students who plan to complete a Ph.D. Nearly all graduate students in our department are supported by fellowships or research assistantships, which fund both Ph.D. and M.S. students. Research projects that fund assistantships change each year, so contact specific faculty (see below) to determine opportunities for which you may be qualified.

Please note the dates above (Applying) in order to receive maximum financial consideration.

Graduate Student Ambassadors

Have a question you would like to ask of a current ABE graduate student? Please feel free to reach out to one of our ambassadors. They are happy to help answer any questions you have about admissions, the ABE department, and the University.

  • Johnson Adeboyega (jadegboy@purdue.edu) | MS Student studying the Compressive Properties of Bulk Corn Kernels with Dr. Kingsly Ambrose | from Nigeria | Interests: Particle technology, modelling and simulation, soccer.
  • Josh Bailey (baile343f@purdue.edu) | MS student studying Developing cost-effective Internet of Things systems for farm implementation with Dr. Dennis Buckmaster | from Williamson, New York, USA | Interests: Sports, drums, getting involved with student clubs, spending time with friends / family.
  • Md. Samiul Basir (mbasir@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying Agricultural Metadata Collection Application with Dr. Dennis Buckmaster | from Bangladesh | Interests: Writing plays, acting, poetry, making small automated tools and 3-D drawing
  • Sophia Dasaro (sdasaro@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying Biopharmaceutical nanoencapsulation: effects of nanoparticle composition and assembly dynamics on particle internal structure and drug release with Dr. Kurt Ristroph | from Fairfield, New Jersey, USA | Interests: Playing my Switch, going to the gym, reading horror / thriller novels
  • Simerkeep Kaur (kaur149@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying development of biosensors for the detection of live pathogens on food with Dr. Mohit Verma | from India| Interests: Cross-fit workouts and dancing.
  • Javier Munoz (munoz99@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying Systems and Computational Biology of Host Microbiome Interactions with Dr. Douglas Brubaker and Dr. David Umulis | from Ecuador | Interests: Purdue Microbiome Applied Sciences Group, Data Science, Ecuadorians in Purdue Association, Soccer Teams.  
  • Vidya K. Nagaraju (vkanagan@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying Controlling dissolution of urea granules through co-crystallization with Dr. Kingsly Ambrose | from Karnataka, India | Interests:Sports
  • Akhere Olenloa (aolenloa@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying Grain storage management and stored grain technologies with Dr. Klein Ileleji | from Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria | Interests: I like to watch and play soccer, volleyball, meeting and networking with people, and volunteering
  • Karthik Shivaram (kshivara@purdue.edu) | PhD student studying Biological treatment of industrial wastewater for a circular bioeconomy approach with Dr. Halis Simsek | from Kasargod, India| Interests: Basketball and computer games.