Electrical and Computer Engineering (Graduate Field)

Program Website

Field Description

The Ph.D. program is intended to train students for leadership positions in teaching and research. Entering students are admitted directly to the Ph.D. program; a Master’s Degree is not a requirement for admission. Before doctoral degree candidates begin the second year of study, they must take a Qualifying Examination, consisting of Subject Area Examinations that are administered by the ECE Faculty.

The Master of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering is intended for students who hold a baccalaureate (or equivalent) in engineering or science. It is intended primarily for those who intend to go directly into industry to practice engineering. The M.Eng. degree consists of a thirty credit-hour program that is a combination of advanced level coursework and an engineering design project. It is not a research-based degree and does not require the defense of a thesis.

Research and Study Opportunities

Ongoing research activities in electrical engineering involve both theory and experiment, and range from the atomic scale at which solid-state devices are studied to the global dimensions of geophysical plasmas. Projects currently underway concern the properties of materials, the fabrication of devices from these materials, the interconnection of devices to form systems, and the properties of systems, including control systems, computer systems, systems for transmitting power and information, and systems for processing signals and data.

Signals, Systems, Learning and Control

Communications, networks, cyber-physical systems, energy conversion and power systems, biological and medical systems; coding and information theory, machine learning and statistical inference, adaptive control, image and video processing and compression.

Computer Engineering and Robotics

Computer architecture, computer systems, parallel and distributed processing, cloud computing, embedded systems, and computer networks; VLSI design, hardware verification, CAD, and simulation; robotics, embodied computation, hardware/software co-design, and micro robotics.

Plasma Physics, Space Science and Engineering, and Electromagnetics

Upper atmosphere, ionospheric and magnetospheric science, radar, satellites, and sounding rockets; fusion, solar system, and fundamental plasmas; pulsed power, electron and ion beams, and plasma radiation; plasma fabrication; electromagnetics.

Solid-State Electronics and Optoelectronics

Electronic, magnetic and optoelectronic materials and devices; devices, circuits, and system integration; beyond-CMOS devices and circuits; power electronics; photonics; microwave and millimeter-wave devices and systems; sensors and actuators, micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems.

Data and Statistics

Field Manual