B.S. in Electrical Engineering Program Requirements

Overview

The undergraduate curriculum allows students to specialize in one of three emphasis areas or options. The three options are structured as an Electrical Engineering degree and the only degree offered by the Electrical Engineering Department to undergraduates is the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. No distinction is made among the three options.

The electrical engineering (EE) option is the regular option providing students with preparation in electrical engineering with a range of required and elective courses across several disciplines.

The Computer Engineering (CE) option provides students with preparation in embedded systems, and software and hardware issues. Students replace some of the senior courses in the regular EE option with computer engineering-oriented courses or computer science courses.

The Biomedical Engineering (BE) option provides students with exposure to additional chemistry and life sciences courses and helps them meet most of the pre-med preparation requirements so that students will be prepared for careers in bio-engineering, medicine, or electrical engineering.

The current curriculum structure went into effect fall 2006 following extensive consultations with the faculty, students, and alumni over a period of two years. Some of the features of the curriculum are:

• It strengthens the depth component of the elective courses. Undergraduate students are required to select 5 courses from the same pathway (that is, with a common theme). In this way, students will get more in depth training in a specialty of electrical engineering. Eight pathways are defined to help students meet this objective: (1) Antennas and Microwaves, (2) Biomedical Engineering, (3) Computer Engineering, (4) Integrated Circuits, (5) Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS), (6) Photonics and Plasma Electronics, (7) Signals and Systems, and (8) Solid State. A list of courses is provided for each pathway.
• It strengthens the breadth component of the elective courses. For breadth, students are required to take a coherent set of 3 courses outside of the department according to a school-wide Technical Breadth Requirement.
• It emphasizes the role of design and laboratory courses. Each pathway has a 4-unit design course and a 2 to 4 unit laboratory course associated with it; both courses are chosen to fit the theme of the pathway.
• It strengthens the probability and statistics component. A Statistics for Engineers course is required of all undergraduate students.
• The sequence of mathematics courses has been streamlined in order to strengthen the linear algebra and differential equations components. Also, a course in complex analysis is required.

 Comparison of program requirements for the three options.

 
Typical unit structure for the three options.