Dr. Bates is a graduate of the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering program at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He also has a Master's Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington. He is a registered Civil Engineer in the state of California and received his PhD in Systems and Engineering Management from Texas Tech University. He teaches Ag Systems Management and Ag Structures among other subjects and has worked here at Cal Poly for four years.

Being a local to the central coast most all of his life and growing up in Cambria Dr. Bates has developed a passion for the area and its natural resources, this is what initially sparked his interest to attend Cal Poly. The BRAE department is what specifically attracted his interests here at Cal Poly. He resonated with the fact that BRAE is a very hands on department that provides real life experience that also has a family atmosphere amongst the faculty and students that work side by side.

As a way to give the students a look into life after college, Dr. Bates runs his senior projects like a business. He is the “boss” and the students each have jobs like project manager, fabrication manager, or presentation manager. They have meetings with Dr. Bates to give updates on the project and to get advice on which direction the project should go.

One of the senior project groups is creating a new machine that will effectively pull drip tape from onion fields. The students had the opportunity to create prototypes to test the best way to remove the tape without affecting the plant. After deciding which prototype worked best, they were tasked with fabricating the machine.