CFAES Give Today
FABE

Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

CFAES

Degree Options

Our department allows for one-on-one learning and research interactions between faculty and students.  One of the greatest advantages to students in our department is their ability to tailor their graduate program to their specific areas of interest.

Students may pursue a master’s or doctoral degree.  Degrees received will be in Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.  A plan of study is designed by the students along with their advisors with coursework coming from disciplines across campus. Students can choose from several specialization areas.
 

Master's Degree Options

There are two master's options. The Plan A thesis requires a minimum of 30 credit hours which is a research based program. The Plan B (non-thesis) requires a minimum of 33 credit hours. The Plan B option is most frequently used when students are full time employees.

The Master's degree requires 15 credit hours (based on a semester system) of course work from disciplines that meet the needs of your research specialty, and a minimum of 15 credit hours of thesis research (FABE 6999). Outside of FABE, courses 4000 or higher and inside FABE 5000 or higher count toward your degree.
 

Ph.D Degree

A Ph.D. requires a minimum of 80 graduate credit hours beyond the B.S. degree of which 60 hours are for courses not including FABENG 8999.
 

Combined B.S. and M.S. Program

The purpose of a Combined Program is to give outstanding students an opportunity to pursue, simultaneously, graduate and undergraduate degrees.  Any undergraduate student who has completed a minimum of 90 semester credit hours has a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA can apply.  An undergraduate student in a Combined Program has the ability to finish their undergraduate degree while taking courses to begin a graduate degree by as much as a year.

Combined degree program elibility

You must meet all requirements imposed by the Graduate School for combined BS/MS programs. Section II of the official OSU Graduate School Handbook contains up-to-date information about these requirements. You are eligible to apply for a combined graduate & undergraduate program in Engineering if:

  • you are an OSU undergraduate student (not necessarily in Engineering); and
  • you have at least a 3.5 CPHR in all previous undergraduate work; and
  • you have completed at least 90 undergraduate semester credit hours toward the BS degree.

For more information: https://advising.engineering.osu.edu/current-students/combined-graduate-undergraduate-programs