1998 - 2000 Catalog Archive

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Thomas A. Seliga, Chairperson
Mansoor Alam, Graduate Director


The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department (EECS) offers advanced study leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Graduate courses and research include topics in computer systems design and applications (hardware and software), communications, control and manufacturing systems, intelligent systems, machine vision and imaging, power systems, power electronics, microelectronics, VLSI design automation, fault tolerance and reliability, computer networks, robotics, acoustics, signal processing, computer graphics and visualization, automotive systems, electromagnetics, remote sensing and transportation informatics.

Faculty of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department participate in six academic and research focus areas. Research activities of faculty often overlap the focus area, and therefore several faculty participate in more than one focus area. Each focus area has a recommended list of courses for all graduate students pursuing that area of specialization. Courses to complete the degree requirements are to be selected by the student in consultation with an adviser. In order to provide some breadth in their programs of study, students also are encouraged to select courses from other focus areas in consultation with their advisers. The focus areas are as follows:

Applied Electrosciences: power systems and electronics, remote sensing, acoustics, applied meteorology, electric vehicles, electromagnetics.

Computer Systems Design: digital systems design, real-time systems, computer networks, fault-tolerant systems, performance evaluation, parallel computing, multiple processors.

Control and Manufacturing Systems: adaptive control, robotics, intelligent and fuzzy control systems, computer and manufacturing systems.

Imaging, Communication and Intelligent Systems: communication systems, signal processing, image analysis, image and video compression, intelligent transportation systems.

Software: language design and implementation, data base systems, systems software and security, software engineering, computer/human interface, computer graphics.

VLSI: low voltage CMOS/BiCMOS design, channel routing, definition and compaction, tool development for design database organization, PLD and FPGA design.


Master of Science Degree Program

Two M.S. degrees are offered by the Department: one in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) and the other in Engineering Science (MSES). Students studying under either the Computer Systems Design or Software focus groups receive the MSES while those working under the other groups receive the MSEE degree.

A minimum of 30 semester hours of approved graduate credits are required for a Master's degree. All credits applied to the required 30 hours must be listed on the plan of study. Students must complete the following requirements: · an approved plan of study · a minimum of 18 hours of EECS courses (including thesis and independent study · at least 6 hours of EECS courses at the 6000 level excluding thesis and independent study · 1 credit hour (included in the 30 hours for the program) of the EECS graduate seminar course, EECS 5930 for a total of at least thirty hours. Students pursuing non-thesis options are strongly encouraged to take the projects course.

Nine hours of courses (course option) may be replaced by nine hours of thesis (thesis option). Students are encouraged to include higher level math course s in their program (subject to approval of the adviser).

Courses taken on an audit basis do not count toward the degree. Courses outside of the College of Engineering require prior approval.

Inorder to be awarded the Master of Science degree, the student must have at least a B average (GPA of 3.0/4.0) for all graduate course credits in the program of study as well as for the entire graduate transcript.


Doctor of Philosophy Degree Program

Doctoral study in EECS leads to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Science. Briefly, a student must complete a total of not less than 90 hours of graduate credit (including dissertation) beyond the Bachelor's degree, less allowances for transfer credits or other credits such as an M.S. degree. Doctoral candidacy requires satisfactory performance on the Doctoral Qualifying Examination, selection of an academic advisor and formation of a Dissertation Committee. Candidates are awarded the Ph.D. degree following: 1) satisfactory completion of a minimum of 60 semester credit hours beyond the M.S. degree or a minimum of 90 semester hours beyond the B.S. degree in a closely related field and 2) successful defense of a dissertation that constitutes a fundamental advancement to knowledge in the field. The Ph.D. usually takes a minimum of three full years of graduate study beyond the M.S. degree.

The general requirements for the Ph.D. degree are: · A minimum of 60 semester credits beyond the M.S. degree and a minimum of 90 semester credits beyond the B.S. degree. · At least 45 semester credits of graduate-level course work beyond the B.S. degree of which the credit allowance for the Master's degree will not exceed 30 semester credit hours. · No more than 3 semester credits of Independent Study for students with M.S. degree and no more than 15 semester credits of Independent Study for direct admittees with a B.S. degree may be counted toward the Ph.D. course requirement. · The student must pursue, complete and publish a research study that is demonstrated to be an original contribution to the field of study. · The dissertation must be written and successfully defended publicly before the Ph.D. degree is conferred. · The student must submit a minimum of two journal papers based on the dissertation research. Copies of the official letters of acknowledgments for the submitted papers should be given to the Graduate Director. Also, every student is required to attend the seminar class in EECS and maintain at least a 75% attendance rate.

Itis the responsibility of both the student and the faculty adviser to formulate a program of study to meet the objectives and needs of the student and to satisfy requirements for the Ph.D. degree. The student's program of study should contain both breadth of knowledge and depth of specialization in one of the focus areas outlined earlier. The program of study must be approved by the faculty adviser, the advisory committee, the Graduate Program Director and the Graduate School.

Last Updated: 11/15/23