Bill Batchelor

Department Head

We welcome you as a prospective student in our department. We are proud of our students, and think that we have some of the very best in the university. Our department has about 225 undergraduate and 25 graduate students. We invite you to consider joining us in one of our degree programs described below. Our faculty is committed to working with you to provide you with the best educational experience possible.

You can find a lot of the information you need to apply to Mississippi State University by clicking on the link to the University Resources for Prospective Students below. A brief overview of our department is also presented below.

Sincerely,      
Bill Batchelor

Our department offers two undergraduate degrees: a B.S. in Biological Engineering and a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering Technology and Business.

Our Biological Engineering (BE) program helps students prepare for careers in which they apply engineering principles to biological systems. We have a solid base of traditional engineering courses mixed with exposure in chemistry/biochemistry and the biological sciences. The electives in the BE program allow the student to focus an emphasis in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, precision agriculture, or premedical studies. Many of our BE students choose to pursue further education in professional and graduate schools after finishing at Mississippi State. Students graduating over the past ten years have gone on to: Medical School, 25%; Graduate School in Engr (biomedical or environmental), 35%; Employment in Enviro, Biomed, Ag, and other Engr jobs, 30%; and other grad schools (MBA, dental, vet, law, etc), 10%.

Most of the jobs available to B.S. graduates of Biological Engineering are in the environmental area. We advise students interested in biomedical engineering to consider attending graduate school in order to be more competitive in the job market.

Our Agricultural Engineering Technology and Business (AETB) program prepares students for technical careers in agriculture, business, and land surveying. Our curriculum is characterized by a strong technical course base with business and finance-related courses added so that the graduate is uniquely qualified to work in industry/agriculture as a technical or business person. Our curriculum emphases include aquacultural systems, enterprise management, land surveying, gin management and technology, natural resource and environmental management, and precision agriculture. Our students have consistently had multiple job offers immediately after finishing their B.S. in AETB but some choose to continue in graduate/professional school in agribusiness, veterinary medicine, and other areas.