What Can I Do With a Major In Agricultural Engineering?

• Connect with Kristina Rust, your Career Consultant.
• Connect with your Academic Advisors.
• School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering
• Agricultural Engineering Areas of Emphasis
  • Natural Resource Management/Natural Resources Engineering
  • Electrical/Electronic
  • Process Operations
  • Biologistics
  • Food Engineering
  • Agricultural Systems Automation Engineering
  • Mechanical Systems
  • Structural Engineering

CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS

• American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) • Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) • Sigma Alpha Professional Agricultural Sorority • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) • Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) • Society of Women Engineers (SWE) • National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) • Society of American Scientists and Engineers (SASE)
• Find additional clubs and organizations here.

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

Sustainability Certificate • Undergraduate International Agriculture Certificate • Graduate International Agriculture Certificate • Local Food Systems Certificate • Undergraduate Certificate in Water Resources • Undergraduate Certificate in Atmospheric Sciences

To learn more about working for the federal government, review our Federal Careers page.

Possible Career Paths in Agricultural Engineering

• Irrigation Engineer: Work or large or complicated landscape irrigation projects or in states that require construction plans be approved by an engineer or landscape architect. Analyze existing site surveys, conduct research, and identify potential structural and environmental problems. 

• Stormwater Engineer: Determine how to build infrastructure and drainage systems to best manage, direct, and utilize stormwater. 

• Water Resources Engineer: Design new systems and equipment that help manage human water resources, including in water treatment facilities, underground wells, and natural spring. Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of water treatment and aquatic resource management. 

• Industrial Engineer: Design, develop, and evaluate integrated systems for managing industrial production processes, including human work factors, quality control, inventory control, logistics and material flow, cost analysis, and production coordination. 

• Logistics Engineer: Design or analyze operational solutions for projects, such as transportation optimization, network modeling, process and methods analysis, cost containment, capacity enhancement, routing and shipment optimization, or information management. 

• Agricultural Engineer: Apply knowledge of engineering technology and biological science to agricultural problems concerned with power and machinery, electrification, structures, soil and water conservation, and processing and agricultural products. 

• Project Engineer: Plan, organize, and oversee the construction of civil engineering projects. Direct the construction of roads, bridges, dams, pipelines, airports and other structures, and gas, water, and sewer systems. 

• Geospatial Engineer: Use modern mapping technologies, such as GIS and GPS, to map, collect, and analyze geographic data. Create 2D or 3D maps of building sites, national parks, or other locations of interest. 

• Field Engineer: Manage technical functions, test equipment, handle repairs, manage engineering projects, and conduct site inspections. Maintain infrastructure outside of centralized operations center. 

• Engineers in Natural Resources/Environmental Systems: Determine crop water requirements, design irrigation systems; agricultural hydrology principles (controlling drainage, soil erosion, effects of sediment on stream quality); water control structures (reservoirs, floodways, channels). 

• Engineers in Power Systems & Machinery Design: Design advanced equipment (food processing, crop spraying, agricultural commodity/waste transport, turn and landscape maintenance) that makes it more efficient and less damaging of natural resources. 

• Engineers in Structures & Environment: Design animal housing, storage structures, greenhouses with ventilation systems, temperature and humidity controls, structural strength appropriate for climate and purpose; systems for storing, reusing, recovering, and transporting waste products. 

• Food and Bioprocess Engineers: versatile career path that applies to virtually all other engineering specialty areas (ex. Geographic information systems, global positioning systems, machine instrumentation and controls, electromagnetics, “bioinformatics”). 

• Engineers in Forest Engineering: Solve natural resource and environment problems in forest production systems and related manufacturing industries. 

• Engineers in Energy Systems: Identify and develop viable energy sources – biomass, methane, vegetable oil, etc.; develop energy conservation strategies to reduce costs and protect the environment. 

• Engineers in Aquacultural Engineering: Design farm systems for raising fish and shellfish; specialize in water quality, biotechnology, machinery, natural resources, feeding and ventilation systems, sanitization 

• Engineers in Nursery & Greenhouse Engineering: Design equipment for transplantation, control systems for temperature, humidity, and ventilation; plant biology issues (hydroponics, tissue culture, seedling propagation methods). 

Other Job Titles: production engineer, physical science technician 

O*NET Online – The O*NET database includes information on skills, abilities, knowledge, work activities, and interests associated with over 900 occupations.  

My Next Move – An interactive tool for students and job seekers to learn more about their career options.  

Occupational Outlook Handbook – The OOH is a career resource offering information on the hundreds of occupations that provide most of jobs in the United States.  

Vault – Vault.com provides in-depth intelligence on what it’s really like to work in an industry, company, or profession – and how to position yourself to land that job.  

Candid Career – This resource provides you with access to thousands of informational video interviews with real professionals through an easy-to-use website.  

UGA Mentor Program – Connect with a mentor (alumni, faculty, staff) to research and explore industries and careers. Research industries and careers by connecting with a mentor for a quick chat or formal 16-week mentorship through the UGA Mentor Program.  

Interstride - Interstride is an interactive tool for both international and domestic students to enhance their international experience and employment potential. The platform consists of job-listings, hiring trends, employer information, self-assessments, and up-to-date immigration guidance. 

Glassdoor - Glassdoor is a free jobs and career community that offers an inside look at jobs and companies through "employee generated content" – anonymous salaries, company reviews, interview questions, and more – all posted by employees and job seekers.  

Steppingblocks - Research your future career with real-world stats about your major, your interests, and your dream job title with career and education searches designed to find your best path based on millions of others. It’s data-powered career exploration for doers like you.

GENERAL:

• Handshake (scroll down to the bottom of the page; login with your UGA MyID and password)  

• LinkedIn (this popular networking site also has a job board!) 

• Idealist (non-profit jobs) 

• USAJobs (federal jobs) 

MAJOR/ENGINEERING-SPECIFIC, OPEN TO ALL:

• American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Career Center
• AgCareers.com
• Environmental Job Board
• Engineering Jobs, Job Source, Technical Jobs
• Engineering Jobs
• Engineering.com Jobs
• Career Cast: IT & Engineering Job Board

AGRICULTURAL ENGINEER-FRIENDLY PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers • American Academy of Environmental Engineers • American Society of Civil Engineers • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers • American Society of Mechanical Engineers • National Society of Professional Engineers • Institute of Biological Engineering 

ADDITIONAL ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• American Society of Naval Engineers • American Institute of Chemical Engineers • American Society of Safety Engineers • Association for Computing Machinery • Biomedical Engineering Society • Institute of Industrial Engineers • National Academy of Forensic Engineers • National Society of Black Engineers • Institute of Transportation Engineers • Society of American Military Engineers • Society of Automotive Engineers • Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers • Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers • Society of Petroleum Engineers • Society of Women Engineers • Society of Manufacturing Engineers 

COMPANY & SALARY RESEARCH - Career Bliss • GlassDoor • Salary.com

LINKEDIN GROUPS - Join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your career interests.  To search, select "groups" & type in your keywords.  Review the groups that professionals in your field of interest have joined & consider joining those as well. To login, visit the LinkedIn main page.