The Unknown Innovator.

When I tell people what I want to be when I grow up approximately 87% of them get this very specific look on their face. It is a look of bewilderment masked with a false nod of understanding, and if they don’t have this look it’s because there are my fellow students or the faculty that face the same bewildered expression when they tell people what they are. This profession that is so unknown to the general population (at least in the United States) is entitled Bio-systems engineering. Never heard of it? Like I said I’m not surprised. But without the work of a bio-systems engineer our lives would be very different, and hope for the future? A little less bright.

A good question to ask might be how a profession so important could go unnoticed. The answer would be because they work where not a lot of people pay attention. Have you ever wondered how the wheat in a field is turned into the pasta you buy? How gasoline is taken from the raw form that the wells in North Dakota unleash to the liquid you pump into your car? Have you ever considered how the water you get from your tap came to be? Any ideas on what powers your power company? All of these systems fall in the realm of work a bio-systems engineer takes under its wing.

Bio-system engineers deal with the design, management, and improvement of any system related to biology. For example, food processing systems are a specialty of a bio-systems engineers. Taking the beets grown and harvested from farmers and turn it into the sugar that might sit on your table is not a simple feat, especially at large quantities, and the system used by these sugar companies may have been designed  and improved on by a bio-systems engineer. These engineers may also find their passion in the energy arena. Some might put their extensive education into improving methods of turning crude oil into gasoline or the use of clean coal and nuclear power to bring energy to your homes. Others may take the noble route and do extensive research on alternative energy, the use of switch grass or algae for a renewable energy source. Environment and agriculture is another area the bio-system engineer finds interest. They are concerned with the conservation of soil and water, reducing runoff, and irrigating a farmer’s crop so they can feed the world.

Bio-system engineers share a couple of very solid values. We believe in the power of problem solving and the importance of common sense. Things all engineers value because it allows us to do our job, but bio-system engineers value something more than that, a higher calling if you will, they want to make a difference. We are concerned with the environment and its future so we might delve ourselves into the search for alternative energy or conservation. We don’t believe in wastefulness so we constantly improve systems to conserve energy, time, and resources. Untimely choosing to be a biosystems engineering is not an easy decision, you don’t get as much recognition as a mechanical, civil, electrical, or really any other engineering discipline but the reward is knowing that your work is helping to improve the world and make a difference to people.