Electrical Engineering News
Why Electrical Engineering at UTC?
- Faculty - Our faculty are committed to undergraduate education, teaching the lower-level courses and labs taught frequently by graduate students at other institutions.
- Lab Focus - Electrical engineering students take more laboratory-based courses than other engineering disciplines, assuring students are versed in the application of classroom knowledge.
- Design Projects - Real world design problems are stressed, with multiple courses dedicated solely to teaching design. Seniors participate in two separate design projects: an electrical engineering capstone project and a two-semester interdisciplinary project.
Why Electrical Engineering?
- Career Diversity - Electrical engineers work in every industry, from automobiles and aircraft, to video games and manufacturing.
- Hands-on - Many electrical engineers follow their designs from conception to manufacture, routinely leaving their desks to work in labs or in the field.
- Cutting Edge - All major advances in technology heavily leverage electrical engineering. Whether it's developing the fastest computer or controlling a stealth fighter, electrical engineers are there.
- Compensation - Nationwide the average starting salary for electrical engineers is $60,125, higher than most other engineering disciplines.*
Department of Electrical Engineering
The Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) offers an undergraduate B.S.E.E. degree and a graduate M.S. degree. Strengths of the program include significant student-faculty interaction, strong engagement with local industry, and a hands-on laboratory focus. Total enrollment in the department now exceeds 140 students.
The objectives of the department are five-fold:- Our graduates will take their place as competent practitioners of electrical engineering, displaying the modern skills and knowledge of theoretical and practical engineering, including social and communication skills.
- Our graduates will be active in professional societies, and will be progressing towards professional registration.
- Our graduates will pursue continuing education and/or graduate studies, and will be proactive in mentoring novice or prospective engineers.
- Our graduates will take responsibility for their work’s effect on domestic and global; environment al, safety, social and economic factors.
- Our graduates will function effectively independently or in multi-disciplinary environments.
Embodying our approach to meeting these objectives is our mission:
"To educate Electrical Engineering students for professional practice or further study, to contribute to the body of knowledge in Electrical Engineering education, and to create a supportive environment that enables students and faculty to achieve their best."
All tenured faculty hold Professional Engineers licenses, a mark of professionalism that is uncommon in other programs. The electrical engineering professors come from diverse backgrounds, spanning instrumentation, electronics, power, and computers. An external advisory board of local engineering professionals ensure that the department's objectives align with industry needs.
The broad-based undergraduate curriculum exposes students to multiple aspects of electrical engineering, including analog and digital electronics, instrumentation and control, communications, and power systems. Multiple laboratories, all with state-of-the-art equipment, assure that our graduates are well versed in the practice of electrical engineering, as well as the theory. A heavy focus on design ends with a two-semester senior year design sequence in which students deal with real-world interdisciplinary design problems.
Graduates of our program are well prepared for jobs in industry as well as graduate studies. Our graduates have pursued advanced degrees at some of the top research schools in the country, including MIT, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech.
The graduate program provides opportunities to specialize in communications, controls, or power. Ongoing faculty research in these areas expose students to current industry concerns. The department's TVA Power Engineering Lab is one of the best in the South, sporting the latest in digital power protection equipment. Funding opportunities exist for both teaching and research assistants.
* - Source Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm
