New funds will bring upgrade for ABE department
May 10, 2006
The department of agricultural and biological engineering at Mississippi State University recently received funds from the office of the provost and academic affairs that will provide 20 of 40 much-needed instrumentation hardware for its bioinstrumentation lab.
With this new capability, students may now plug these instruments into their own laptop computers and conduct lab work outside of class with minimal complications.
“This equipment will ensure that our students are exposed to state of the art technology and bioinstrumentation,” said William Batchelor, ABE department head.
The students may use this new technology in class exercises such as the Pinewood Derby wooden car racing contests. Students will learn how to install a series of optical sensors under a derby slide track that will record the time that an object crosses the sensor. This feature is helpful in determining the winner of the car races.
The need for this new technology stems from a student enrollment increase within the department. Although the department usually has 20-22 in a bioinstrumentation lab, this semester they have had more than 30. ABE Associate professor Filip To predicts that in the next year the class will grow to 40 or more, and the new instrumentation modules will help the department accommodate the increase.
“We are very appreciative of the support from the office of the provost, which will allow us to get students out of our cramped labs and get quality hands-on experience at the same time,” To said. “This new capability is giving us the ability to incorporate more design components in our bioinstrumentation classes without requiring more lab spaces.”