General Description and Objectives
Our program, offers an applied curriculum providing many career opportunities in one of the most stable industries in the world, namely Agriculture. We believe our students will fill some of the most critically needed positions over the next decates in an effort to provide appropriate water use in agriculture particularly for irrigation and drainage, appropriate use of soils including remediation and protection, natural resources utilization, risk management of natural and human induced environmental hazards, and appropriate use of machine systems and infrastructure in agriculture.
Agricultural engineers apply their knowledge of agricultural systems, natural resources, and engineering to satisfy societal needs and progress. Additionally they aim to assure environmental compatibility of technologies and practices used by production agriculture. The Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering curriculum offers a great breadth, with specialization choices in Natural Resources Engineering with particular focus on water and soil, as well as in Machine Systems Engineering. Subject areas include computer-aided natural resources engineering and management, renewable energy systems, natural resources sustainability, and engineering properties of biological materials. Furthermore, machine and equipment research and application, agricultural facilities design, environmental consulting, and engineering management, determination of water and soil physicochemical properties, as well as thorough knowledge of the system Soil-Plant-Atmosphere are all parts of the curriculum arsenal.
All in all, a thorough knowledge of the physical, technical, chemical and biological processes witch govern and take place in all aspects of the applied agriculture are offered as an indispensable asset for a career in natural resources and agricultural engineering, as the graduates and postgraduates from our Department.
Environmental and economic sustainability are key to our future — Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering (NRAE) at Agricultural University of Athens helps prepare our graduates to meet this challenge. In NRAE, our graduate learn about ecosystem processes (the water cycle, nutrient transformation processes, and biological systems), how human activities such as agriculture affect these complex systems, and how to design sustainable solutions. The graduate will also gain the background in chemistry and biology necessary to understand the influences of contaminants on the environment. Basic engineering principles, as well as the newest technological approaches such as geographic information systems, sensor design, decision support systems, and soil and water remediation are applied to solve challenges related to soil and plant environments, soil mapping. land use planning. soil assessment systems and models, remote sensing in natural resources, evaluation and appropriate use of fertilizers, organic fertilizing and soil improvers, surface and ground water quality, air quality, micrometeorology and bioclimatology, animal environments, and food safety. All these tasks requires contemporary infrastructure including the development of water storage, conveyance and distribution systems for agriculture, drainage, flood, drought and erosion mitigation works, cooling chambers and storage houses for agricultural products, greenhouses as well as animal husbandry, farming and pisciculture units. Equipment and farm machinery for soil cultivation and crop harvest, precision agriculture, automation and robotics in agricultural production systems, as well as the creation and control of artificial environments are also included. Furthermore, the Machine Systems concentration within Agricultural Engineering prepares the graduates for rewarding careers focusing on the systems, processes, and machines that are used to generate or utilize energy, food, and water. Overall, Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering training prepares our graduates for exciting careers in national and local government, consulting firms, industry, and graduate study opportunities.