Biosystem Engineering

My name is Bahattin Akdemir. I work as a faculty member in the Biosystem Engineering Department. Biosystem Engineering Department was established in 2010. We provide training in agricultural machinery, agricultural structures and irrigation within the Biosystem Engineering Department. In fact, if we define biosystem engineering in a scientific terms, it is defined as the application of engineering science to biology, environment and agriculture. There are 4 divisions in our department: agricultural machinery systems, agricultural energy systems, land and water resources and agricultural structures. In these departments, 26 faculty members, including 16 professors, 2 associate professors, 3 assistant professors and 5 research assistants, are in charge of teaching and researching. In the Biosystem Engineering Department, we can divide our courses into two main groups. The first is basic engineering courses and supportive courses, and the other is vocational courses. Courses such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Statics, and Dynamics are taught in basic engineering courses. These are also named as Biosystem Engineering Department as it is the application of engineering science to biology, agriculture and the environment. Our students also take courses related to electronics, environment, agriculture and economy as supportive courses. As vocational courses, they take basic vocational courses related to these fields. We have a very large list of elective courses. After the 2nd grade, students can turn to the specialty areas they want with these elective courses, especially in the 3rd and 4th grade. Another strength of our department is English education. We also offer English courses to our students in preparatory class, with English I and II in the first grade, English speaking proficiency I and II in the second grade, and professional English I and II afterwards. Thus, in preparing our students for life, they can take the necessary courses either as compulsory or elective in order to specialize in biosystem engineering, agricultural machinery, energy in agriculture, irrigation and agricultural structures. Since our department was formed by the combination of the departments established in Tekirdağ Faculty of Agriculture in 1982, it has 7 laboratories, 1 technical drawing room and 1 agricultural machinery workshop. Laboratories include various measuring devices and systems for application, including bioenergy, biomass, drying, agricultural structures, precision agriculture, irrigation laboratories. In the agricultural machinery workshop, both research and tests of agricultural tools and machines can be done. Apart from that, there is also a technical drawing hall to be used in courses related to the education and training of softwares such as AutoCAD and Solidworks, which are especially needed by the private sector. According to the regulations of our university and faculty, our students have to do an internship for 30 working days in the summer period, at the end of the 6th semester. If our students are doing internships in ongoing projects in our department, they can work as scholarship students. In fact, one of the strengths of our department is the graduation projects. Our department accepts 30 students each semester for undergraduate education. The 26 faculty members I mentioned have projects with these students in their fields of expertise, in groups of two or three, according to their wishes and demands. In fact, the advantage of our department over other departments is that we also have TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) projects that are being developed. In other words, our students become project executives themselves or become researchers in their own projects. We also support them. These projects are TÜBİTAK 2209A student and industry cooperation projects. In this context, when our students finishes the school, they become TÜBİTAK project managers. This provides a great advantage for them in their resume. At the same time, these projects are considered as a second internship since they carry out the project with the sector. In our department, 2209A and 2209B projects, which have been under these TÜBİTAK-supported scholarships for many years, are widely used in students' graduation projects.
Our department has bilateral cooperation agreements with universities and research institutes from many countries in Europe. Erasmus is especially favorable for going abroad. Our students have the chance to go abroad if they educate themselves with the English courses seriously, which we have mentioned in a wide range through Erasmus. Apart from that, there are Mevlana or domestic exchange program called Farabi. In addition, there is a TÜBİTAK guest scientist program, which our department actively participates. We invite our lecturers from universities that we have an agreement with or from where we conduct research projects every one or two years. Lecturers from abroad give seminars to both faculty members and students. These seminars are considered as a second opportunity for our students both in their upbringing and in their network abroad. Last year, with the support of our department, the Biosystem Engineering Department was added to the quotas for graduate students’ education in abroad through the Ministry of National Education (MEB), and one of our students passed the exams and got the right to study at Wageningen University. Our department stands out as a department with strong international relations, both with the European Union (EU) projects it carries out and its bilateral cooperation relations. In 2011, we organized the International Agricultural Mechanization and Energy Congress. We held the congress with a very high participation. Our students also contributed there. Agricultural structures and irrigation national congress was organized by our department in 2014. In 2014, a nationwide course was held on the writing and training of TUBITAK-supported projects on agriculture. There was a high level of participation. Our department continues to work actively in this field. As I mentioned before, it continues to work as an active department, especially with guest scientists from abroad, with seminars given by competent people invited from the private sector within the framework of 1 or 2 international organizations or career days every year.
I would like to recommend this to our students: They should believe in lifelong learning, not only for our department, but for the field they choose. As they will improve themselves and contribute to other people through lifelong learning, their future will be better and they will be able to have a better quality of life. I recommend that they develop themselves not only with the courses taught by our department, but also with relevant courses. Also, they should know that a diploma score for graduating students is not just a condition that indicates their success. Understanding the problem, solving it, making quick decisions, and being able to implement different solutions quickly when necessary is also a talent for graduates. They need to improve themselves in this direction. The way to do this is not only through reading or taking lessons. I recommend them to consolidate their knowledge in the field and in the application areas related to our department. When the application place in the factory, workshop, field and garden, the theoretical knowledge is reinforced and our students can be ready for life. I recommend them to get away from their desks in order to participate on the field work in the department's fields of activity. In addition to their graduation, I think that if they learn softwares such as Solidworks, Ansys, which are used by the sector, stakeholders and the department, it will provide great convenience in finding a job. Our university is both close and far from the city as a campus. The good thing about this is that you are in a beautiful and different environment for education. But you can also access the city's facilities. There are enough classes, laboratories and most important of all, there are enough faculty members to give lectures in our department. This is really important. First of all, you should check whether there are enough faculty members to give those courses in the departments you attend. I think the human factor is more important than anything else. But I think our university provides a good education because it also supports education through its infrastructure. At the same time, with its football field, stadium, sports hall and social and cultural center, our university supports our students in their development in these fields. When we come to the city, we see that the necessary institutions for housing and nutrition have been formed around the university. I think the fact that the city is by the sea, its historical, touristic and natural beauties being fabulous, that it is surrounded by cities such as Edirne, Kırklareli, Çanakkale and also close to a big metropolis like Istanbul are good reasons to study here. As Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Biosystem Engineering, we invite our prospective students to study in our department, to participate in research and to be educated for their future.