The profession of electrical engineering touches all aspects of our lives in that electrical engineers design and fabricate devices and systems critical in applications such as computing, communications, health care, manufacturing and automation, power generation and utilization, transportation, and entertainment. An element very important to these and many other applications is the microelectronic device or system.

In the sub-area of microelectronics, electrical engineers design and fabricate electronic materials such as semiconductors, conductors and superconductors used in the manufacture of electronic devices. As a natural progression, electrical engineers design and fabricate electronic devices such as transistors, which control or modulate the flow of energy; sensors of light, mechanical force, chemicals, etc.; electromagnetic radiation sources such as lasers, light emitting diodes and microwave power sources. Following this progression, we find electrical engineers designing and fabricating integrated circuits such as microprocessors and memory elements; flat-panel displays, etc., which are found in applications ranging from supercomputers to watches, clocks and toys. Further in this progression we find electrical engineers designing and fabricating today’s and tomorrow’s computers.

Computer systems and application-specific integrated circuits are the elements that enable the existence of today’s communication systems, such as the Internet, satellite systems, telemedicine, wired and wireless (cellular) telephones, along with standard and high definition television. Additionally, along with sensors, microwave power sources and actuators, they permit our present and future automated manufacturing lines, air and traffic control systems, and automotive safety and traffic control through collision avoidance radar systems, antilocking brake systems, air bag actuators, automatic traffic routing and the “smart highway” of the future.

Electrical engineers play an ever increasing role in the design and building of major facets of today’s and tomorrow’s health care systems and medical research through the application of microelectronic instrumentation and diagnostic tools such as MRI and CAT scan systems. The field of electrical engineering truly permeates every facet of our lives and thus provides excellent employment opportunities to the general practitioner or specialist in more than 35 different subspecialties.

Core curriculum
Technical electives
Capstone Project
Internship
Program options

Core curriculum

Fall semester, freshman year	Credits
CHEM 101 General Chemistry	3
CHEZ/FRSZ 101L General Chemistry Laboratory I	1
EGRE 101 Introduction to Engineering	3
MATH 200 Calculus with Analytic Geometry I	4
UNIV 111 Focused Inquiry I	3

	14

Spring semester, freshman year
EGRE 150 Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering	4
MATH 201 Calculus with Analytic Geometry II	4
PHYS 207 University Physics I	5
UNIV 112 Focused Inquiry II	3

	16

Fall semester, sophomore year
CMSC 245 Introduction to Programming Using C++	3
EGRE 206 Electric Circuits	4
MATH 301 Differential Equations	3
PHYS 208 University Physics II	5
Humanities elective*	3

	18

Spring semester, sophomore year
EGRE 224 Introduction to Microelectronics	4
EGRE 254 Digital Logic Design	3
EGRE 335 Signals and Systems I	4
MATH 307 Multivariate Calculus	4
Tier II research and academic writing course**	3

	18

Fall semester, junior year
EGRE 307 Integrated Circuits	4
EGRE 310 Microwave and Photonic Engineering	3
EGRE 337 Signals and Systems II	3
EGRE 364 Microcomputer Systems	4
Social science elective*	3

	17

Spring semester, junior year
ECON 205 The Economics of Product Development and Markets	3
EGRE 303 Electronic Devices	3
EGRE 336 Introduction to Communication Systems	3
Technical electives^	7

	16

Summer between junior and senior years: Internship

Fall semester, senior year
ENGR 402 Senior Design Studio I	1
ENGR 410 Review of Internship	1
SPCH 321 Speech for Business and the Professions	3
Science elective*	3
Technical electives^	9

	17

Spring semester, senior year
ENGR 403 Senior Design Studio	1
Ethics elective***	3
Free elective+	3
Technical electives^	7

	14

Total credits	130

* From university-approved core lists.
** ENGL 200 or other research and academic writing course.
*** PHIL 201 or RELS 340.
^ Refer to departmental lists for approved technical electives.
+ By careful choice of free and technical electives, students could obtain minors in mathematics, physics, computer science, business or other disciplines.

Technical electives (19 credits)

Of the 19 credit hours existing in the junior and senior year each student must choose courses such that the following criteria are met:

Courses must be 300- or 400-level technical courses (not already listed in the curriculum requirements).
At least 12 credit hours must come from the electrical engineering subject (EGRE courses).
At least 6 credits must come from one concentration area in electrical engineering.
At least one course in the electrical engineering concentration area must have an associated laboratory.
At least 3 credit hours must come from a second (i.e., different) electrical engineering concentration area.
At least 3 credit hours from outside of the electrical engineering subject (i.e., non-EGRE courses).
Approved areas from which to choose the technical electives include:

EGRB.
EGRC.
EGRM.
ENGR.
CMSC (excluding CMSC 311).
PHYS.
Courses not from the above departments must be approved by the adviser.

Electrical engineering concentration areas

Communication systems	Credits
EGRB 408 Advanced Biomedical Signal Processing	3
EGRE 444 Communication Systems	3
EGRE 535 Digital Signal Processing	3

Computer engineering
EGRE 426 Computer Organization and Design	3
EGRE 427 Advanced Digital Design	4
EGRE 429 VLSI Design	4

Controls engineering
EGRE 455 Control Systems Design	3
EGRM 410 Mechanical Engineering Laboratory	3
ENGR 315 Process and Systems Dynamics	3
ENGR 427 Robotics	3
ENGR 454 Automatic Controls	4

Microelectronics
EGRE 309 Electromagnetic Fields	3
EGRE 435 Semiconductor Processes	4
EGRE 436 Advanced Semiconductor Fabrication	4
ENGR 334 Introduction to Microelectronic Fabrication	4

Capstone Project (4 credits)

The Capstone Project requirement can be satisfied by successfully completing one of the following courses:

EGRE 427 Advanced Digital Design
EGRE 436 Advanced Semiconductor Fabrication
ENGZ 402L and ENGZ 403L Senior Design Studio I and II Laboratory. Students choosing this option must have a project and project adviser (any electrical or computer engineering faculty member) chosen by the first week of the ENGZ 402L class.

Note that the Capstone Project cannot be double counted as a technical elective.

Internship

The summer between the junior and senior years is devoted to either a full-time university, industrial manufacturing floor or an industrial research laboratory internship. This summer experience is intended to be intense and to have a major component of “hands-on” practice of engineering, which will bring the life of “real-world” engineering practice to the classroom.

Program options

Students in the electrical or computer engineering program concentrations may elect one of the following programs/options. These options may, however, require more than 130 credit hours in order to fulfill the requirements for both the baccalaureate degree in electrical engineering and those of the program/option listed below.

Pre-medicine/dentistry
BIOL 151 and 152 Introduction to Biological Science	3, 3
BIOZ 151L and 152L Introduction to Biological Science Laboratory I and II	1, 1
BIOL/PHIS 206 Human Physiology	3
BIOL 218 Cell Biology	3
CHEM 102 General Chemistry	4
CHEZ/FRSZ 102L General Chemistry Laboratory II	1
CHEM 301-302 Organic Chemistry	3-3
CHEZ 301L Organic Chemistry Laboratory I	2