Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources Agricultural Systems Technology (AGST)

AGST109
Physical Principles in Agriculture and Life Sciences

Prerequisites: MATH 101 or 102 or 103 or 104 or 106; or placement in MATH 102 or 104 or 106.

Students cannot receive credit for both AGST 109 and PHYS 141 or 151.

Description: Fundamental principles of mechanics, heat, electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism and their relationship to energy utilization and conservation. Principles then applied to problem situations in agriculture and life sciences.

Course details
Credit Hours:4
Max credits per semester:4
Max credits per degree:4
Grading Option:Graded with Option
ACE Outcomes: ACE 4 Science

Credit Hours:4

ACE:ACE 4 Science

AGST109L
Physical Principles in Agriculture and Life Sciences Laboratory

Prerequisites: AGST 109 or parallel, or PHYS 151

Description: Laboratory experiments on mechanics, heat, electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism and their relationship to energy utilization and conservation in agriculture and life sciences.

Course details
Credit Hours:1
Max credits per semester:1
Max credits per degree:1
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:1

ACE:

AGST162
Introduction to Agricultural Systems Technology

Description: Basic principles of describing and evaluating mechanized systems relevant to agriculture, food, energy, and water. Problem solving using systems-thinking. Exploration of major and career opportunities. Academic success and planning.

Course details
Credit Hours:1
Max credits per semester:1
Max credits per degree:1
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:1

ACE:

AGST216
Fundamentals of Electrical Systems

Prerequisites: AGST 109 or PHYS 141, or PHYS 151, or PHYS 211

Description: Basic theory of electrical circuits, utilization of electric energy in production, processing, and residential applications. Theory and application of direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) principles, switch and outlet wiring, wiring installations, selection of safe and adequate circuit devices, service equipment sizing, conductor sizing, electric motor operation and their control are covered. Develop switch and relay circuit schematics and build both DC and AC functional circuits. Ladder logic diagrams will be studied to understand the basic controls implemented in industrial automation.

This course is a prerequisite for: AGST 412; AGST 416

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST232
Power and Machinery Principles

Prerequisites: AGST 109, or PHYS 141, or PHYS 151, or PHYS 211, or parallel PHYS 211

Description: Operational characteristics of IC engines, field, materials-handling, and processing machines and their components. Includes analyses, estimations, and objective comparisons of performance; principles for adjustment and calibration of metering systems; and cost-effective sizing of machines. Exercises include using ASABE Standards and available reports of machine performance (tractor test reports, etc.).

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:FALL

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST262
Techno-Economic Project Management

Prerequisites: AGST 109 or PHYS 141 or PHYS 151 or PHYS 211.

Open to AGST majors only.

Description: Professional communication of technical information. Strategies for effective teamwork to plan and execute technical projects. Fundamentals of project planning in a team-based context. Introduction to quantitative techno-economic analysis to support decision-making related to agricultural systems technology. Professional ethics in context of project management.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST299
Career Experiences

Prerequisites: Permission and advanced approval of plan or work.

Description: Student participation in physical systems applications. May include participation in mechanization-related areas of agribusiness, production practices, and processing operations; research in laboratory, greenhouse and field; or preparation of teaching materials.

Course details
Credit Hours:1-5
Max credits per semester:5
Max credits per degree:12
Grading Option:Pass No Pass

Credit Hours:1-5

ACE:

AGST316
Technologies and Techniques in Digital Agriculture

Prerequisites: Junior Standing

Class meets once a week with the lecture and lab being taught concurrently to foster hands-on learning.

Description: Overview of the digital agriculture technologies and techniques to support crop and livestock production systems. Emphasis on data life cycle including generation, collection, storage, processing, visualization, and analysis. Hands-on experiences with agricultural IoT, sensing, data processing, and decision making with open-source programming tools,

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST342
Animal Housing Systems

Prerequisites: AGST 109 or PHYS 141 or PHYS 151 or PHYS 211

Description: Production facilities for livestock and poultry will be developed with emphasis on building and feedlot layout, ventilation, heating and cooling systems; energy utilization; and construction materials and methods.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:FALL

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST354
Soil Conservation and Watershed ManagementCrosslisted with SOIL 354

Prerequisites: PLAS/SOIL 153; and AGST 109 or PHYS 141 or PHYS 151 or PHYS 211

Description: Watershed hydrology, soil erosion, erosion control, water management, and land surveying and mapping. Includes rainfall-runoff relationships; determination of watershed characteristics; terraces, waterways, vegetative filters, and residue management; ponds, wetlands, non-point source pollution control, and water conservation; profile and topographic surveying.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:FALL

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST362
Agricultural Products Processing and Handling

Prerequisites: AGST 109 or PHYS 141 or PHYS 151 or PHYS 211

Description: Analysis of processing and handling operations. Chemical and physical characteristics of agricultural products. Application of pyschrometrics. Power requirements, capacities, and efficiencies of drying and conveying systems. Discussion of safety issues, logistics, and survey of industry technologies.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST363
Heat and Mass TransferCrosslisted with FDST 363

Prerequisites: MATH 104 or 106; AGST 109 or PHYS 141 or 151.

Description: Fundamentals of food engineering including material and energy balances, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and mass transfer.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST367
Pet Food ManufacturingCrosslisted with FDST 367

Prerequisites: FDST 205

Field trips are required and may occur outside of scheduled class time.

Description: The companion animal industry, products, processes and career opportunities.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded
Offered:FALL

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST395
Internship in Agricultural Systems Technology

Prerequisites: By permission

Completion of internship approval form is required. The internship proposal is subject to approval by the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. Pass/No Pass only.

Description: Practical experience, directed learning, and career exploration and development in a selected business, industry, agency, or educational institution.

Course details
Credit Hours:1-3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:5
Grading Option:Pass No Pass
Experiential Learning:Internship/Co-op

Credit Hours:1-3

ACE:

AGST400A
Occupational Safety

Prerequisites: Junior standing

Online course offered by Iowa State University through the AG*IDEA consortium. Contact CASNR Distance Education Consortium Coordinator for course details, prerequisites and registration information.

Description: Identifies safety and health risks in industrial work environments. Focus on how managers and supervisors meet their responsibilities for providing a safe workplace for their employees. Includes the identification and remediation of workplace hazards.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST400E
Biorenewable Systems Technology

Online course offered by Iowa State University through the AG*IDEA consortium. Contact CASNR Distance Education Consortium Coordinator for course details, prerequisites and registration information.

Description: The science, engineering, economics and business of converting biorenewable resources into bioenergy and biobased products. Biorenewable concepts as they relate to drivers of change, feedstock production, economics, transportation and logistics, and marketing.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST400K
Chemical Application Systems

Online course offered by Kansas State University through the AG*IDEA consortium. Contact CASNR Distance Education Consortium Coordinator for course details, prerequisites and registration information.

Description: Systems, components, operation practices, and safety procedures used in the chemical application industry. Liquid and granular application systems and respective components will be studied along with procedures for equipment sizing and maintenance, minimizing drift, system calibration, and safe handling-transportation-storage-disposal and spill clean-up of agrichemicals.

Course details
Credit Hours:2
Max credits per semester:2
Max credits per degree:2
Grading Option:Graded

Credit Hours:2

ACE:

AGST412
Hydraulic Power Systems

Prerequisites: AGST 245

Description: Theory and application of fluids under controlled pressure to perform work in mobile and industrial applications. Positive displacement (PD) pumps, linear and rotary hydraulic actuators (hydraulic cylinders and motors), valves, and electric over hydraulic systems will be studied in detail. Fluid power circuit development on both hydraulic benches and computer simulated environments will be performed with emphasis on circuit analysis, and system troubleshooting.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST416
Sensors and Control Systems for Agri-Industries

Prerequisites: AGST 245 or permission.

Description: Application of sensors for measurement of process control variables and implementation of microcomputer-based measurement and control systems. Basic electrical and electronic instrumentation plus control of electrically, pneumatically and/or hydraulically powered systems.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST431
Site-specific Crop ManagementCrosslisted with AGEN 431, PLAS 431

Prerequisites: Senior standing; PLAS/SOIL 153; PLAS 204.

Description: Principles and concepts of site-specific management. Evaluation of geographic information systems for crop production practices. Practical experience with hardware and software necessary for successful application of information affecting crop management.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST433
Equipment and Tractor TestingCrosslisted with AGST 833

Prerequisites: AGST 232; and STAT 218 or STAT 380 or MECH 321

Offered spring semester in even-numbered calendar years.

Description: Principles and procedures involved in testing agricultural equipment and tractors. Actual test planned, scheduled, conducted and reported. Test may be based upon procedures used at the Nebraska Tractor Testing Laboratory or involve other equipment being used for research in the department.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST436
Embedded Controls for Agricultural ApplicationsCrosslisted with AGEN 436, AGEN 836, AGST 836

Prerequisites: AGEN/BSEN 260 or AGST 416

Description: Introduction to the basics of embedded controller programming, and the development of Controller Area Network (CAN) bus systems in agricultural applications. Interfacing sensors with analog and digital signals, closed loop control of actuators, transmission and reception of CAN messages, programming of CAN messages in a distributed controller set up for sensor data acquisition, and actuator control will be studied.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded
Offered:FALL

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST452
Irrigation Systems ManagementCrosslisted with AGST 852, PLAS 452

Prerequisites: AGST 109 or PHYS 141 or PHYS 151 or PHYS 211

PLAS/SOIL 153 recommended.

Description: Irrigation management and the selection, evaluation, and improvement of irrigation systems. Includes soil-water measurement, crop water use, irrigation scheduling, irrigation efficiency, measurement of water flow, irrigation systems, groundwater and wells, pumping systems, applying chemicals with irrigation systems, and environmental and water resource considerations.

This course is a prerequisite for: AGEN 854, AGST 854; AGST 855

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:FALL

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST462
Managing Technology in Agricultural SystemsCrosslisted with AGST 862

Prerequisites: Senior standing in AGST

Capstone course.

Description: Team-based activities to evaluate integration of technology into, and utilization of resources for, agricultural systems; perform technical and economic evaluations; make technical and economic recommendations; and develop professional written and oral reports. Topics include technology system performance and management, project scheduling and planning, cost estimation, reliability analysis, and risk assessment.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
Offered:SPRING
ACE Outcomes: ACE 10 Integrated Product
Experiential Learning:Case/Project-Based Learning

Credit Hours:3

ACE:ACE 10 Integrated Product

AGST465
Food Engineering Unit OperationsCrosslisted with FDST 465, FDST 865, AGST 865

Prerequisites: FDST/AGST 363.

Description: Unit operations and their applications to food processing.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

AGST469
Bio-Atmospheric InstrumentationCrosslisted with GEOG 469, PLAS 407, METR 469, NRES 469, AGRO 869, GEOG 869, HORT 807, METR 869, AGST 869, NRES 869

Prerequisites: Junior standing; MATH 106; 4 hrs physics; physical or biological science major.

Description: Discussion and practical application of principles and practices of measuring meteorological and related variables near the earth's surface including temperature, humidity, precipitation, pressure, radiation and wind. Performance characteristics of sensors and modern data collection methods are discussed and evaluated.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:3

ACE:

Prerequisites: Senior standing.

Capstone course.

Description: Holistic approach to the selection and analysis of planning strategies for protecting water quality from nonpoint sources of contamination. Introduction to the use of methods of analyzing the impact of strategies on whole systems and subsystems; for selecting strategies; and for evaluating present strategies.

Course details
Credit Hours:3
Max credits per semester:3
Max credits per degree:3
Grading Option:Graded with Option
ACE Outcomes: ACE 10 Integrated Product

Credit Hours:3

ACE:ACE 10 Integrated Product

AGST492
Special Topics in Agricultural Systems TechnologyCrosslisted with AGST 892

Prerequisites: Permission

Description: Subject matter in emerging areas of Mechanized Systems Management not covered in other courses within the curriculum. Topics, activities, and delivery methods vary.

Course details
Credit Hours:1-6
Max credits per semester:6
Max credits per degree:6
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:1-6

ACE:

AGST496
Principles and Problems in Mechanized AgricultureCrosslisted with AGST 896

Prerequisites: 15 hours in AGST or closely related area.

Description: Individual or group projects in research, literature review, or extension of course work under the supervision and evaluation of a departmental faculty member.

Course details
Credit Hours:1-5
Max credits per semester:5
Max credits per degree:12
Grading Option:Graded with Option

Credit Hours:1-5

ACE:

AGST499H
Honors Thesis

Prerequisites: Admission to the University Honors Program and permission

AGRI 299H recommended.

Description: Conduct a scholarly research project and write a University Honors Program or undergraduate thesis.

Course details
Credit Hours:3-6
Max credits per semester:6
Max credits per degree:6
Grading Option:Graded

Credit Hours:3-6

ACE: