Gene A. Giacomelli
Professor & Director CEAC
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Shantz Building, Room 504, P.O. Box 210038
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0038
Ph:  520 621-1412    FAX:  520 621-3963
giacomel@ag.arizona.edu;  http://ag.arizona.edu/ceac

Keywords:  controlled environment agriculture, hydroponics, education, research, extension

Abstract:

The Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) programs at The University of Arizona (UA), in Tucson, are poised to become the premier CEA program in the US with an interdisciplinary emphasis on engineering, the plant sciences and agricultural education.  This will be accomplished through teaching, research and extension programs of high technology agriculture within controlled environments.

The CEA industry represents a variety of high technology applications from greenhouses, to growth chambers, to micropropagation in test-tubes, and even to NASA for inflatable Martian plant growth facilities.  CEA includes plants, plant products, plant by-products, and plants as processors that require controlled environments.  These high-technology facilities require educated ‘plant-horti-physiological bio-engineers’,  as graduates from a program such as at UA, to become the designers, developers, managers, growers, marketers, venture-capitalists and stewards within our future food production systems, bio-processing systems,  phytoremediation programs, and farmaceutical and neutriceutical companies.  The Arizona programs will remain uniquely different from other educational institutions and research programs, by focusing CEA within the semi-arid climate which offers high solar radiation, especially in winter, high summer air temperatures, and low relative humidity.  The student will experience the interdisciplinary aspects of CEA at UA, with the existing Plant Sciences program, and the new program of CEA-Engineering being developed within Ag & Biosystems Engineering Dept.  The industry will benefit from quality, experienced graduates seeking jobs.  There are currently too few such graduates, and not many sources of educational institutions to provide them.  The industry will also benefit from the potential of educating its employees through Continuing Professional Education courses, as well as, from the direct application of new knowledge derived from the research and development efforts of the CEA program.  This presentation will elaborate on the current, multi-faceted activities of CEAC related to Plasticulture.

PDF Order Form
Secure Server Order Form