undergradly.
Major · Engineering

Engineering applied to biology, food, and farms

Biological/Biosystems Engineering is the modernized successor to Agricultural Engineering at most land-grants — same ABET-accredited rigor, aimed at biology, food, water, and bioprocessing. Roughly 351 students complete this major each year across about 20 institutions, with bachelor’s earners pulling a median near $85K five years out.

Schools offering
20
Annual completions
351
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$85k

About this major

Biological/Biosystems Engineering (CIP 14.4501) sits at the bridge between standard engineering and the biological sciences. The federal definition frames it as applying mathematical and scientific principles to the design and management of biological systems, with explicit reach into biology, biochemistry, ecology, and microbiology. Coursework pairs the calculus, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, kinetics, and process-control core that every ABET engineer takes with organic chemistry, biochemistry, biosystem modeling, electric circuits, and bioelectronics. Programs typically branch into bioprocessing (biofuels, fermentation, food processing), precision agriculture and ag-machinery, environmental and water-systems engineering, or biomedical-adjacent tracks like tissue engineering and medical instrumentation.

The major rewards students who are biology-curious but want engineering rigor — comfortable with the same math sequence as mechanical or chemical engineers, and willing to apply it to fermentation tanks, irrigation networks, food-processing lines, or implantable instrumentation rather than aircraft or microchips. Career destinations span biopharma and biomanufacturing at firms like Lonza and Boehringer Ingelheim, food-processing engineering at Cargill, ADM, and Tyson, ag-equipment R&D at John Deere and AGCO, precision-ag and biofuel companies, environmental consulting, and federal labs at USDA-ARS and EPA. BLS pegs 'Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers' (SOC 17-2031) at $106,950 with 5.2% growth and 'Engineers, all other' (SOC 17-2199) at $117,750.

It’s a small field — roughly 351 bachelor’s completions a year across about 20 institutions, almost entirely concentrated at land-grants and engineering-strong universities like Nebraska, Auburn, Georgia, Utah State, Florida, Cornell, UC San Diego, and Arizona. That scale is part of the major’s economics: small graduating cohorts plus direct corporate-and-federal recruiting tend to produce strong placement at the schools that offer it, with a 5-year bachelor’s median of $85,243.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Architectural and engineering managers $168k +3.8% Bachelor's degree
Engineers, all other $118k +2.1% Bachelor's degree
Engineering teachers, postsecondary $106k +8.1% Doctoral or professional degree
Bioengineers and biomedical engineers $107k +5.2% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$85k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you’re biology-curious but want the rigor of engineering rather than a pure life-science track; if you’re comfortable with the same calculus-physics-thermo core that mechanical and chemical engineers take but want it pointed at fermentation, food, water, or biomedical instrumentation; if you’re drawn to employers like John Deere, Cargill, Lonza, USDA-ARS, or Medtronic and the Midwest, Plains, Southeast, and bioprocessing-corridor geography they live in; if you want a clear FE → EIT → PE licensure path through the NCEES Agricultural and Biological Engineering exam; and if a small graduating class at a land-grant — with the tight industry recruiting pipelines that come with it — sounds like a feature rather than a constraint.

Think twice if you’re hoping to land in a major coastal tech metro, since the field’s 351 grads a year cluster geographically with food, ag, and biomanufacturing employers in the Midwest, Plains, Southeast, and Pacific Northwest; if you’re drawn specifically to medical-device design, where Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering (CIP 14.0501) at 8,569 grads a year is the more direct fit and its own ABET specialty; if you want the higher entry salaries typical of ECE or Chemical Engineering, because the $85K five-year median here, while solid, lags those fields; or if you can’t see yourself committing to the full ABET workload — the engineering core is non-negotiable, and lighter-touch agriculture, environmental science, or biology majors match the subject matter without the calculus-and-kinetics sequence.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Biological/Biosystems Engineering

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 0 43 43
Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO 0 39 39
Auburn University Auburn, AL 0 38 38
University of Georgia Athens, GA 0 34 34
Utah State University Logan, UT 0 27 27
University of Florida Gainesville, FL 0 25 25
Cornell University Ithaca, NY 0 24 24
University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA 0 22 22
University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 0 18 18
Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston, MA 0 13 13
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Mechanical Engineering

33,431 completions/yr

Electrical and Electronics Engineering

14,891 completions/yr

Civil Engineering, General

13,488 completions/yr

Computer Engineering, General

9,312 completions/yr

Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering

8,569 completions/yr

Chemical Engineering

7,914 completions/yr

Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General

6,386 completions/yr

Engineering, General

5,416 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Biological/Biosystems Engineering majors actually study day-to-day?
The same calculus, statics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and process-control core that any ABET engineer takes — paired with biochemistry, microbiology, biosystem modeling, and instrumentation. CIP 14.4501 explicitly covers organic chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, kinetics and reactor design, electric circuits, and bioelectronics. In practice, programs branch into bioprocessing (biofuels, fermentation, food processing), precision agriculture and ag-machinery design, environmental and water-systems engineering, and biomedical-adjacent tracks like tissue engineering and medical instrumentation.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough for this field?
Engineering roles need the bachelor’s. The data packet shows no associate’s pathway in this CIP code — completions are entirely at the bachelor’s level, with a 5-year median around $85,243. The bachelor’s is also what makes you eligible to sit for the FE exam and start the four-year EIT clock toward Professional Engineer (PE) licensure. NCEES offers an Agricultural and Biological Engineering PE specifically, which is the natural credential endpoint for this major.
What kinds of jobs do Biological/Biosystems Engineering graduates end up in?
BLS tracks 'Engineers, all other' (SOC 17-2199) at a $117,750 median with 2.1% growth, and 'Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers' (SOC 17-2031) at $106,950 with 5.2% growth — and most graduates land under one of those codes. Real placement spans biopharma and biomanufacturing (Lonza, Catalent, Boehringer Ingelheim), food processing (Cargill, ADM, Tyson, General Mills), ag-equipment R&D (John Deere, AGCO, CNH), precision-agriculture (Climate Corp, Trimble Ag, Indigo, Pivot Bio), biofuel and biorefinery (POET, ADM Bioethanol, Lanzatech), environmental consulting (Stantec, Tetra Tech, AECOM), and federal labs at USDA-ARS, EPA, and NRCS. Biomedical-track graduates also feed into device companies like Medtronic, Abbott, and Boston Scientific.
How competitive is the job market for such a small major?
The field is genuinely small — ~351 bachelor’s grads a year across ~20 schools — but that scale is part of why placement holds up. Land-grants and ASABE-aligned programs at Nebraska, Auburn, Georgia, Utah State, Florida, and Cornell run direct recruiting pipelines into John Deere, Cargill, USDA-ARS, and major biopharma plants. The catch is geography: jobs cluster in the Midwest, Plains, Southeast, and West Coast bioprocessing corridors, not in coastal tech metros. Graduates willing to follow the food, ag, and biomanufacturing geography report strong outcomes; those expecting Bay Area or Boston density will find the field thinner.
How does this compare to Bioengineering, Agricultural, or Mechanical Engineering?
All four are ABET-accredited bachelor’s tracks with similar engineering cores. Biological/Biosystems Engineering (CIP 14.4501) is the modernized successor to Agricultural Engineering (14.0301) — most land-grants have rebranded. It’s distinct from Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering (CIP 14.0501, ~8,569 grads/year), which sits closer to medical devices and tissue engineering and is its own ABET specialty. Mechanical (33,431 grads/year) and Civil (13,488) are larger and more general. The 5-year $85K median here is competitive with Civil and Mechanical, and the smaller cohort means employer-school relationships do more of the placement work than open-market job applications.
What if I want research or grad school instead of industry?
An MS in Biological/Biosystems Engineering opens senior engineering roles at USDA-ARS national labs, state ag experiment stations, and corporate R&D groups at Bayer Crop Science, Climate Corp, and major biopharma companies. A PhD is the path to academic engineering teaching — BLS tracks 'Engineering teachers, postsecondary' (SOC 25-1032) at a $106,120 median with 8.1% growth, the highest growth rate among the major’s top occupations. Many land-grants — Cornell, Penn State, Purdue, Iowa State, NC State, Wisconsin — admit their own undergrads directly into thesis MS programs with assistantships, which makes the research route financially viable.