Program Overview

Electrical Engineering (MS)

The Department of Electrical Engineering offers a Master of Science degree program with many active research areas. These programs are funded by various federal, state, and private agencies with annual research expenditures exceeding $2 million. Active research areas include biomedical engineering, digital and wireless communications, digital and VLSI design, digital signal processing, electro-optics, ellipsometry, mixed-signal circuit design, nanotechnology, optics of nanostructure materials, plasma processing, power systems, remote sensing and electromagnetics, and solid-state devices and materials.

Description

The department has extensive research facilities for all areas of active research and graduate students have the flexibility to pursue their own research experience. In addition to computing facilities individually operated by each research group, the department administers a network of high-end UNIX workstations and PCs which are regularly upgraded. These facilities are used for classroom instruction as well as the individual needs of the students.

Specializations

• Bioinformatics

Program Options

The masters degree can be pursued under two options: Option A and Option B.

Option A

• Requires a thesis
• Most appropriate for students preparing for careers in research and scholarly work or additional academic pursuits beyond the masters degree
• Requires a minimum of 30 credit hours, consisting of 20 to 24 credit hours of regular course work, plus a thesis equivalent to 6 to 10 credit hours
• At least one-half of the credit hours required for the degree, including thesis, must be in the major
• The remaining work may be in supporting courses and may comprise a minor consisting of at least 9 credit hours selected from and approved by the minor department
• At least 8 credit hours, excluding thesis, must be earned in courses open exclusively to graduate students

Option B

• Does not require a thesis
• Most appropriate for students pursuing practice-based or professional careers in which the masters degree provides suitable training
• Requires a minimum of 30 credit hours
• At least one-half of the credit hours required for the degree must be in the major
• The remaining work may be in supporting courses and may comprise a minor consisting of at least 9 credit hours selected from and approved by the minor department
• At least 15 credit hours must be earned in courses open exclusively to graduate students

Admission Requirements

Standard Requirements

• Application for Admission with a non-refundable application fee
• Transcripts (unofficial): Uploaded as part of the application form
  • If International: Uploads must include all college- or university-level transcripts or mark sheets, with certificates, diplomas, and degrees plus certified English translations
• Verification of English proficiency if the applicants native language is not English
• Financial information if the applicant is not a US citizen and expects an F or J visa

Additional Requirements

• GRE (optional)
• Personal Statement
• Three letters of recommendation
• Resume or CV
• Other Uploads: Optionally, applicants may upload or provide links to additional documents for the committee to review

Admission Application Deadlines

• For full financial consideration, students must apply by January 15 for Fall, October 1 for Spring
• Applications submitted after priority deadlines may be considered if space is available

Program Faculty

The program faculty includes:

• Don Nelson: Graphic Databases, Distributed Management Information Systems
• Hasan Otu: Bioinformatics, Systems Biology
• Dean Patterson: Efficient Electric Vehicles
• Lance Perez: Health Care Monitoring of Medicare Patients
• Eric Psota: Image Processing and Computer Vision, Signal Processing and Communications
• Wei Qiao: Renewable Energy Systems, Microgrids, Electric Power Systems
• Liyan Qu: Modeling techniques to Facilitate the Analysis and Design of Complex, High-Performance Electric Energy Systems
• Khalid Sayood: Gene Regulation Using uORFs in Yeast, Whole Genome Phylogeny
• Mathias Schubert: Nanoscience of Hybrid Optical Materials, Generalized Ellipsometry
• Paul Snyder: Optical Properties of Semiconductors and Nanoscale Materials
• Rodney Soukup: Thin Film Semiconductors for Solar Cells, Tunable Antenna Applications
• Hamid Vakilzadian: Modeling and Simulation of Digital Systems, Embedded and Fuzzy Systems
• Jerald Varner: Digital Signal Processing
• Jun Wang: Wide-bandgap power electronics, Medium-voltage dc (MVDC) power distribution and protection systems
• John Woollam: Thin Films, Interfacial and Environmental Effects on Materials