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Head of the Department: Richard E. Blahut
Director of Graduate Studies: William R. Perkins
Graduate Programs, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
155 Everitt Laboratory
1406 West Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-0207
application@ece.uiuc.edu
Graduate Degree Programs
The department offers graduate study and research in electrical and
computer engineering leading to the degrees of master of science and
doctor of philosophy. Virtually every specialty within electrical
and computer engineering is represented. Courses and research opportunities
exist in the following areas: applied computation theory; bioengineering,
acoustics, and magnetic resonance engineering; communications; computer-aided
design and test; computer systems; computer vision and robotics; decision
and control; electromagnetic fields; electrooptics, lasers, and plasmas;
integrated circuits; microelectro-mechanical systems; mobile computing
and communication; optoelectronics; power and energy systems; power
electronics; remote sensing and propagation; semiconductor materials
and devices; semiconductor physics and computational electronics;
and signal, image, and speech processing.
The programs are very flexible to encourage interdisciplinary studies
and research. Many faculty members hold affiliate status with other
departments, and a number of faculty members from other departments
hold affiliate status with the department. There are numerous interdisciplinary
programs, laboratories, and centers. In addition to those in the departmental
laboratories, graduate students hold appointments and conduct research
in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Coordinated
Science Laboratory, Materials Research Laboratory, and Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, and in the following centers: ASIC Research and Development,
Computational Electromagnetics, Computational Electronics, Manufacturing
Research, Reliable and High-Performance Computing, Supercomputing
Applications, and Superconductivity.
Opportunity exists for specializing in computational science and engineering
within the department’s graduate programs. For further information,
see Computational Science and Engineering.
For complete information, see the Electrical
and Computer Engineering Web site.
Admission
Applicants must have completed an electrical engineering curriculum
or a computer engineering curriculum substantially equivalent to those
of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A minimum GPA of
3.0 (A = 4.0) on the last 60 hours is required. However, because of
space limitations, applicants with GPAs below 3.5 are rarely admitted.
All applicants must submit scores from the general test of the Graduate
Record Examination (GRE). International applicants, whose native language
is not English, must submit Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) scores. A minimum paper-based TOEFL score of 590 (243 on the
computer-based test) is required; however, if the score is less than
620 (260 on the computer-based test), the applicant is required to
take an on-campus English as a Second Language Placement Test and
satisfy the requirements determined by the test results. Applicants
with master’s degrees are admitted only if a faculty member
is willing to serve as the Ph.D. thesis adviser. Accordingly, such
applicants should write, call, or e-mail prospective Ph.D. advisers
and discuss their research interests and potential Ph.D. thesis topics
well in advance of application deadlines. Admission for the spring
semester is possible, in addition to the usual fall semester admissions.
Graduates of curricula in the physical sciences, mathematics, and
computer science may be admitted with limited standing if they are
judged to have the necessary background to profit from graduate work
in electrical and computer engineering. Such students are admitted
to full standing after completing coursework to remove deficiencies.
Master of Science
The M.S. degree requires 32 graduate hours of credit and a thesis.
At least 20 graduate hours must be at the 500 level in electrical
and computer engineering. A master’s thesis requiring 8 graduate
hours of credit must be submitted by all candidates. Thesis credit
is included in the required 32 graduate hours and may be applied to
the 500-level course requirement. There is no final examination for
the M.S. degree.
Doctor of Philosophy
Admission to Ph.D. candidacy is based on the faculty’s evaluation
of the student’s research potential, scholastic competence as
evidenced by grades and class ranks, and satisfactory performance
on the Ph.D. qualifying examination. Students admitted with bachelor’s
degrees take this examination after completing 20 graduate hours of
coursework, including at least three 500-level courses with at least
two of them in electrical and computer engineering. Students admitted
with master’s degrees take the examination after completing
two units of coursework, including at least one 500-level course in
electrical and computer engineering. A minimum graduate GPA of 3.25,
as well as a minimum GPA of 3.25 in 500-level coursework, is required
in order to be considered for admission to Ph.D. candidacy.
The minimum requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy are
32 graduate hours of course credit beyond the master’s degree
(or the equivalent), successful completion of the preliminary examination,
32 graduate hours of thesis research, a satisfactory thesis, and satisfactory
defense of the thesis in a final examination. No foreign language
proficiency is required.
Joint Degree Programs
A joint degree program leading to the degrees of Master of Science
in Electrical Engineering and Master of Business Administration is
offered in cooperation with the College of Commerce and Business Administration.
Applicants must meet the admissions standards for both programs and
be accepted by both programs. The degrees are awarded simultaneously
after the requirements for both degrees have been met.
The department participates in the Medical Scholars Program, which
allows students to pursue simultaneously the degrees of Doctor of
Philosophy in Electrical Engineering and Doctor of Medicine. Separate
applications to the College of Medicine and the Medical Scholars Program
are required. Applicants must be accepted by the College of Medicine
and by the department in order to participate in this program. For
information, write to the coordinator, Medical Scholars Program, College
of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, 190 Medical Sciences Building, 506
South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801.
Off-Campus Programs
Off-campus students who wish to pursue graduate degree programs from
Illinois must apply and be accepted for admission as degree candidates
in the Graduate College. It is recommended that students apply for
admission before or during the semester in which they take their first
off-campus courses. Students who are admitted as degree candidates
after having completed one or more Academic Outreach courses without
being admitted to the Graduate College may petition the Graduate College
to apply a maximum of three units of such coursework toward the degree
requirements. For further information, write to the Office of Continuing
Engineering Education, 400 Engineering Hall, 1308 West Green Street,
Urbana, IL 61801.
Financial Aid
Fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships
(all of which include tuition and partial fee waivers) are available
for the majority of students who are admitted. International applicants
generally are not awarded teaching assistantships but are eligible
for the other forms of financial aid.
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