Electrical Engineering (Ph.D.) Program Details

Degree Requirements

    ❱   Required coursework
    ❱   Qualifying or comprehensive examination
    ❱   Graduate School writing proficiency requirement
    ❱   Graduate School Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement
    ❱   Dissertation and scholarly research paper 
    ❱   Final oral examination/Dissertation defense

Research Specializations

    ❱   Applied and computational electromagnetics
    ❱   Communications and signal processing
    ❱   Power systems and control engineering
    ❱   Material science and solid-state electronics 

Research Opportunities  

The Department of Electrical Engineering houses three research centers and two departmental laboratories designed to support graduate research, including the Material Science Research Center, Center for Energy Systems and Controls, Computational Science and Engineering Research Center, and the Communications and Signal Processing Lab. Graduate research is supported by grants funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Research labs

Research Areas & Interests

Faculty Research Interests

A sampling of research interests

  • Hardware security and trust
  • Artificial intelligence in physical layer design
  • Nonlinear electromagnetic and multiphysics problems
  • Electromagnetic scattering and radiation
  • Numerical methods in computational electromagnetics, especially continuous and discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods
  • Relativistic quantum mechanics
  • Non-linearly dynamical systems 
  • FPGA-based SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) for autonomous platforms
  • FPGA-based non-von-Neumann architectures for HPC applications to increase computational power and reduce power consumption
  • Development of libraries of parameterizable, real and complex, vendor-agnostic primitives optimized for precision and throughput
  • Application of information entropy and Bayesian inference to discrete time-series data for diagnostic detection, classification, and pattern discovery
  • Applied electromagnetics & circuits
  • Signal and image processing and machine learning
  • Optoelectronic and optical devices and systems
  • Cyber-physical systems & cybersecurity   
  • Materials & solid-state electronics
  • Power systems & control

Program of Study* 

CORE COURSES (12 CR)

EECE 502  Engineering Analysis A

EECE 503  Engineering Analysis B

EECE 541  Probability & Random Variables

EECE 604  Optimization Theory

EECE 501  2 Graduate Seminar courses 

ELECTIVE COURSES (48 CR)

A sampling of elective courses

EECE 505  Power Systems & Control

EECE 506  Advanced Power System Analysis

EECE 507  Computer-Aided Power Systems Control

EECE 505  Power Systems & Control

EECE 526  Antenna Theory

EECE 531  Solid State Physics I

EECE 545  Introduction to Detection & Estimation Theory

EECE 547  Telecommunication I

EECE 555   Digital Control

EECE 551  Network Theory I

EECE 612  Estimation and Filtering

EECE 613  Information & Coding Theory

EECE 696  Smart Grid

EECE 635  Quantum Electronics

EECE 629  Numerical Techniques for Electromagnetic

EECE 611  Detection Theory

DISSERTATION (12 CR)

*Courses included in the sample program of study are subject to change. Students should consult with their programs regarding their required program of study. 

Admission to Candidacy 

Students are admitted to formal candidacy by the Graduate School when they have completed the required coursework, passed the qualifying or comprehensive examination, submitted an approved topic for research, and been recommended by the Department. Candidates must also have satisfied the Graduate School writing proficiency requirement and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement.

Graduate Funding 

Admitted students may be eligible to compete for Graduate School competitive awards, which provide tuition remission and a stipend during the academic year. Additionally, graduate research or teaching assistantships may be available at the department level. Research assistants and teaching assistants work no more than 20 hours a week under the program's direction, usually in support of faculty research (research assistants) or in support of assigned courses (teaching assistants). Please see the Funding website for more detailed information.