Purdue agricultural biological engineering department ranked No. 1

Story by Maureen Manier

September 14, 2020

The U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges announced today (Sept. 14) that Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Biological Engineering (ABE) is the top-ranked undergraduate department in its discipline for the 10th year in a row. Purdue’s graduate ABE program was ranked first by U.S. News and World Report in 2019 for the ninth time in 10 years.

Karen Plaut, Purdue’s Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, praised the department’s accomplishment.

“ABE has an extraordinary faculty who have been led by great leaders over the past decade.

Each year our ABE faculty garners honors for their innovations and accomplishments as they are joined by talented new faculty who further infuse the department with their energy and vision. This honor reflects their collective dedication to research, outreach and their students,” Plaut said.

“The Department of Agricultural Biological Engineering is an example of the exceptional

things that happen when agriculture and engineering come together,” said Mark Lundstrom, acting dean of engineering and the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The department has a special status as a department in both the College of Agriculture and in the College of Engineering.

In Spring 2021, ABE will move into a new building, which has involved renovating its previous structure and extensive new construction. Nate Mosier, department head and Indiana Soybean Alliance chair in soybean utilization research, commented on what that new building represents to the future of his department.

“Our department’s faculty and students have outgrown an older and outdated building during years when we have been the top-ranked program in the country. We have demonstrated that our strength is truly in our people—our faculty and staff members and our undergraduate and graduate students. With our wonderful new building, I look forward to seeing what new goals we can accomplish together.”

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