Electrical and Computer Engineering
What is Electrical and Computer Engineering?
Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) integrates aspects of physics, biology, medicine, materials science, computer science, and engineering to generate and transmit electromagnetic fields and electricity for use in communications, biotechnology applications, and electronic circuits.
What do Electrical and Computer Engineerings do?
Electrical and Computer Engineers work in numerous and widely varying areas including the generation and regulation of electric power supplied to the home, the manipulation of signals for communication purposes, the design of computer systems, and the design of specialized circuits for equipment ranging from household appliances to military aircraft. In addition, many graduates extend their knowledge in areas such as medicine and law.
Electrical and Computer Engineering at UIUC
The first two years of study are used to complete basic core classes in math, physics, computer science, and engineering. This course work includes a four hour lab and lecture course for freshman which, without sacrificing substance, gives students hands-on design experience in electrical and computer engineering. For the remainder of their undergraduate studies, students choose advanced courses in one or more specialty areas.
Computer Engineering Specialties
- Artificial Intelligence: This field involves the design of intelligent systems for applications such as robotics; major topics in this area include language understanding, knowledge acquisition, reasoning, computer vision, and pattern recognition.
- Computer Systems: This field involves the design and analysis of computers including the topics of VLSI systems, computer architecture, computer networks, and integrated circuits.
- Systems and Computations:This field involves the integration of both hardware and software into a coherent system for effective application of computers.
Electrical Engineering Specialties
- Power and Energy Systems: This field involves the study of how electrical power is generated and delivered to the home, the North American power grid, generators and motors, and new power electronics applications.
- Physical and Quantum Mechanics: This field involves transistors, laser, and light emitting diodes work and the development of electronic devices smaller than the cells in the body.
- Circuits: This field involves the design with transistor amplifiers, especially very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits for both analog and digital applications.
- Analog and Digital Signal Processing: This field involves processing information such as digitized pictures and sound.
- Bioengineering and Acoustics: This field involves the application of ECE to areas of biology and medicine, with emphasis on ultrasonics, biomedical instrumentation, and medical imaging.
- Electromagnetics and Optics: This field involves the design of antennas, for radio and microwave communication, optics, wave scattering and propagation, and microwave solid-state devices.
- Communications: This field involves applied mathematics and engineering in support of satellite and wireless communications for cellular phones, telephones, navigation, and radar.
- Control Systems: This field involves the use of feedback to achieve better control in a wide range of engineering applications including missiles, robotics, bioengineering, and electronic circuits.
- Space Science and Remote Sensing: This field involves gaining a better understanding of the atmosphere and the earth using electromagnetic signals.
Career Opportunities
Many diverse opportunities await Electrical and Computer Engineers after graduation. Many graduates work for high tech companies such as Intel, Motorola, Microsoft, General Electric, Boeing, IBM, Ameritech, and Illinois Power. Students also find themselves well-prepared to pursue graduate degrees.
Why Electrical and Computer Engineering?
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is world-renown for its excellence in research and education. The department is consistently ranked in the top three or four programs nationally and usually first among public institutions. We strongly encourage you to contact us on the Web. Our "Undergraduate Study" page includes a number of features aimed at high school students, including information on careers and undergraduate life.
Department Contact Information:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
155 Everitt Lab, MC-702
1406 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Telephone: 217-333-2300
Fax: 217-244-7075
Web Page: http://www.ece.uiuc.edu
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