Bachelor of Science

Careers in Electrical and Computer Engineering

An ECE degree is a path to making a positive difference in the world.

Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) is a broad, dynamic and rapidly evolving field that encompasses a wide spectrum of technical areas related to electrical engineering and computer science. ECE involves the design of devices and systems that can range greatly in scale — from multinational electrical power grids to nanoscale computer chips. The skills developed in an ECE program have a vast range of potential applications which stem from the prevalence of computers and electrical systems in everyday life.

A degree in electrical and computer engineering is extremely versatile. Graduates are well prepared for professional and academic careers in a diverse array of fields, and an ECE degree prepares students to design and build hardware and software for a variety of devices that use electricity, electromagnetics, photonics and quantum phenomena, such as robots, smartphones, lasers, electric power, vehicle control, medical devices and much more. Explore where ECE can take you!

Examples of common ECE career path industries include:

Air and Space From the embedded systems that control the flight systems in aircraft, to the autonomous guidance and driving of a Mars rover, computer engineers are experts in creating such hardware and software systems.	Computing Data and Digital Technologies Development of computing systems focuses on the hardware and software underpinning of computational systems and in harnessing current and future digital technologies.
Environmental Sustainability and Energy There is an evolving need for developing new sensing systems that can better monitor energy in homes and buildings, as well as better monitor the environment (wildfires, soil, air quality) so appropriate action can be taken on information these sensors deliver.	Health and Medicine As health and medicine evolve to use ever greater amounts of electronics, development of computing systems helps to create these diagnostic and treatment systems. From a smartphone that can automatically detect disease to the electronics that capture data and recreate imaging from CT and PET scanners, this technology relies heavily on computing systems.
Infrastructure, Transportation, and Society As the COVID crisis has shown, modern automobiles are reliant on a large number of digital chips and embedded systems to function. As we move toward self-driving automobiles, this will increasingly be the case. Development of computing systems brings together the hardware and software that underpins this technology.	Robotics and Manufacturing Control systems are often used in factory assembly (pick-and-place, packaging) and delivery (drones, cars and other semi-autonomous vehicles).

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Where do ECE alumni go to work after getting their degree(s)? 

Outside of the classroom, students pursue internships and leadership opportunities and work on research with renowned faculty in one of 40 department labs. Real, hands-on experience prepares graduates to work for companies such as Intel, IBM, Agilent, T-Mobile, Verizon, Motorola, Boeing, Qwest, National Instruments, Lockheed Martin and many others.