During their careers, Electrical Engineering graduates will
• become successful practicing engineers or pursue another career that makes use of engineering principles and professional skills;
• become contributing members of multidisciplinary teams and successfully apply the fundamentals of their educational background; and
• pursue professional development, including continuing or advanced education, relevant to their career path.
To achieve these objectives students are given a rigorous foundation in mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, programming, digital systems, and circuit theory. They are then immersed in a sequence of required courses in microprocessors, electronics, electromagnetics, signals and systems, and design practice. In the senior year, Digital Signal Processing, Random Signals and Noise, and Design II (senior project) are required courses, In addition, students choose a sequence of courses in one of the following areas: communications and signal processing, computer systems, control systems, electric power, and microelectronics.
Students must complete a 4-credit lecture and laboratory course in general chemistry. Students also must complete two 4-credit lecture courses in calculus-based physics (including laboratory components), thus meeting the depth requirement.
Students also take M 242 Differential Equations (3 cr.), M 240 Calculus of Several Variables (4 cr.), and M 220 Linear Algebra (3 cr.). Students should have several electrical engineering courses that integrate mathematical skills and should have these courses as co- or prerequisites. Electrical engineering students also take a stand-alone probability and statistics course, ECE 420 Random Signals and Noise.
The ability to work professionally on electrical systems later, including the design and realization of such systems, is demonstrated by the progression of courses from introductory to comprehensive, including design components. It also includes some technical elective courses students may choose in each stem. These are not all offered at the same time, but there are selections from each stem available in each semester of the senior year. In addition, the final capstone sequence contains projects that usually involve material from each area.
Our senior capstone projects increasingly are becoming industry sponsored. Traditionally, instruction in the design of electrical systems is provided in a sequence of courses: VLSI in ECE 565 and ECE 567, controls in ECE 442 and ECE 543, communications in ECE 423, ECE 424, ECE 521, and ECE 540. Both the required courses and the sequences are designed to achieve breadth and depth in the curriculum. The integrated design experience is obtained in the senior capstone project (ECE 483 Design II).
Through participation in the All-University Curriculum and in additional elective courses in the humanities and/or social sciences, students are given the opportunity to broaden their knowledge base and to take part in the larger learning community of the University.
Extensive laboratory work supplements the theoretical course work through hands-on experience. In addition to the laboratories in the sciences, there are several required laboratory courses in engineering: Circuits I and II, Electronics I and II, Digital Logic, Microprocessors, and Digital Signal Processing. Students exercise their verbal and technical writing skills in a required writing course as well as in many engineering courses. Also, written and oral communication of laboratory results is required.
The engineering design experience is distributed throughout the entire curriculum. The design experience begins in the first year and continues throughout the curriculum, culminating with the senior capstone project.