Electrical and Computer Engineering
Consistently ranked in the top 10 percent nationally, Ohio State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering enjoys an excellent academic and research reputation not only among peer programs, but from industry and government research facilities as well. The department is ranked 19th in the 2006 U.S. News and World Report. Research expenditures by federal, state, local and industrial resources totaled nearly $16 million in 2005-2006. The graduate program offers master of science and doctoral degrees in electrical and computer engineering, with a diverse student body of 300 students. In 2005-2006, we granted 38 doctoral degrees and 58 master’s degrees.
Opportunities for Students
The graduate program in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) prepares students for technical leadership roles in industry, academia and government. The training here is meant to provide students with a fundamental understanding of engineering sciences so that our graduates can develop creative and innovative approaches to solving important engineering problems of interest to mankind. The graduate program offers degrees leading to either a master’s or doctoral degree in ECE with specializations in circuits and electronics, communications and signal processing, computer systems, computer networks, computer vision/image processing/multimedia, control, electromagnetics and electro-optics, power, and solid state electronics/photonics.
The course work for the master’s program is meant to be very flexible to fit the needs of the student. Only 15 credits out of a total of 45 credits must be ECE courses; however, in a traditional master’s program the student usually takes significantly more courses in ECE. The master’s program has two options: thesis and nonthesis. The two options produce identical degrees, but the emphasis of the two options is very different. In the nonthesis option the main emphasis is the coursework. The thesis option allows the student to work on a significant research project during the course of the program.
The purpose of the doctoral program in Electrical and Computer Engineering is to produce graduates who can think independently and solve engineering problems based on first-principle scientific and mathematical concepts. The training to produce such a graduate involves the in-depth study of a challenging research problem that has not been previously solved or has not been solved to a desired level of effectiveness. The student is expected to work closely with a faculty advisor on the research problem (resulting in a dissertation), and it is expected that the overwhelming majority of his/her time in the doctoral program will be devoted to solving the research problem. Approximately 90 percent of the doctoral students are on either a fellowship or a University Graduate Assistantship. The fellowship or assistantship provides a stipend and covers tuition and fees.
About the Department
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s 48 faculty members and 14 research scientists include 21 IEEE Fellows; many others are fellows in other societies. There are four endowed chairs and two endowed professorships. Many in the faculty are internationally renowned researchers with large research programs and a large number of graduate students. Faculty members have recently received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and National Science Foundation CAREER Awards.
The training of the graduate students is recognized by many companies and government agencies as being outstanding, and they come specifically to Ohio State to recruit these students. Most of these students have gone on to have highly successful careers, with many eventually becoming executives within their company or internationally renowned faculty in academia. Some notable examples are:
- Bami Bastami, CEO and President of Anadigics
- Robert Chau, Senior Intel Fellow and Director of Transistor Research and Nanotechnology
- Alan Ecker, Executive Vice President of Scientific Atlanta
- Eric Evans, Director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory
- Matt Ganz, CEO and President of HRL (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories)
- Anna Hauksdottir, Vice Rector of the University of Iceland
- William C.Y. Lee, Chairman of LinkAir Communications (Previously CTO of Vodaphone Airtouch, which became Verizon)
- Yilu Ellen Liu, Professor, Virginia Polytechnic University and IEEE Fellow
- John Procario, Senior Vice President and COO of CINERGY Corp.
- Marvin White, Sherman Fairchilds Professor, Lehigh University; member of the National Academy of Engineering
Research
The department features more than 25 laboratories that cover research in virtually all areas of electrical and computer engineering. Among the major laboratories are:
- ElectroScience Laboratory (10 faculty, 11 research scientists, 67 graduate students): ESL is one of the top academic laboratories in the nation for electromagnetics, with ongoing research in microwave and wireless technology, computational electromagnetic modeling, new electromagnetic materials, electromagnetic compatibility, RF MEMS, ground penetrating and airborne radar, sensors, remote sensing, GPS systems, bioelectromagnetics and optics.
- Information Processing System Laboratory (8 faculty, 1 research scientist, 35 graduate students): The IPS Lab is nationally renowned for research in wireless communication and networking, statistical signal and image processing, speech processing and distributed sensor systems.
- Control Research Laboratory (8 faculty, 1 research scientist, 35 graduate students): CRL is considered one of the best academic control system laboratories in the nation. The researchers in CRL work on all aspects of control, including nonlinear, robust, distributed, and intelligent control. They have applied these to autonomous vehicles, biological systems, intelligent transportation, motion of humans and robots, automotive systems, aerospace systems, traffic monitoring and flexible structures.
- Solid State Electronics and Photonics Laboratory (8 faculty, 3 research scientists, 40 graduate students): SSEP is internationally recognized for research ranging from the synthesis and characterization of nanoscale electronic, photonic and multi-function materials, including both inorganic and organic compounds, to the creation of devices for ultra-high speed, energy conversion, sensor and optoelectronic applications. More than $25 million of shared facilities are housed within SSEP to carry out research in these areas.
- Mixed Signal Electronic Systems Laboratory (4 faculty, 30 graduate students): The MISES Lab is a research leader in the areas of analog, digital, mixed-signal ICs, power management, integrated RF and microwave circuits, information electronics, computer aided design and reverse engineering of ICs with emphasis on higher levels of integration leading to complete systems on chip. The group has world-class facilities in RFIC and Non-Linear RF testing. Faculty work closely with industry on projects allowing students to secure internships while pursuing their studies.
- High Performance Computing and Networking Laboratory (2 faculty, 8 graduate students): The HPCN Lab leads internationally recognized efforts to integrate high performance computing with communication networks. The primary areas of research of HPCNL members include real-time distributed computing, resource management in real-time and distributed systems, wireless sensor and mobile ad hoc networks, inter-vehicle communication systems, parallel algorithms and network measurement and modeling. The group collaborates with other ECE laboratories and the Ohio Supercomputing Center on several projects.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering also has significant research programs in computer vision and pattern recognition, power electronics and power engineering, medical image processing, multimedia and robotics.
Graduate Applications
Applications to Ohio State University must be submitted online. Please visit the Ohio State University Office of Graduate Admissions Web site to apply online with a credit card. Also, the electrical and computer department‘s Web site provides links to the university admissions Internet site.
