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Meet Phuong Truong: alumna, lecturer, adjunct faculty, education specialist, and mom

June 30, 2025

Meet Phuong Truong: alumna, lecturer, adjunct faculty, education specialist, and mom

Phuong Truong has done it all at UC San Diego: from an undergraduate student in structural engineering, to master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering and now an adjunct lecturer and education specialist, Truong has been a strong presence at the Jacobs School of Engineering for more than a decade. Full Story


Sensitive Yet Tough Photonic Devices Are Now a Reality

June 25, 2025

Sensitive Yet Tough Photonic Devices Are Now a Reality

Engineers have achieved a long-sought milestone in photonics: creating tiny optical devices that are both highly sensitive and durable. This work could lead to a new generation of photonic devices that are not only precise and powerful but also much easier and cheaper to produce at scale. Full Story


2025 Jacobs School Award of Excellence Recipients

June 12, 2025

2025 Jacobs School Award of Excellence Recipients

The Jacobs School of Engineering will celebrate the undergraduate students in the class of 2025 at its annual Ring Ceremony on Friday, June 13. Six students were selected from the nearly 1,500  students receiving bachelor’s degrees from the Jacobs School of Engineering to receive an Award of Excellence from their academic department.   Full Story


Reimagining RFID: UC San Diego Researchers Develop Award-Winning Real-Time, Battery-Free Sensors

June 10, 2025

Reimagining RFID: UC San Diego Researchers Develop Award-Winning Real-Time, Battery-Free Sensors

UC San Diego engineers' award-winning SenSync system turns conventional RFID technology into a reliable sensing platform without using wires or batteries or requiring calibration. Full Story



Engineering Physics Major

This major provides a strong background in physics and mathematics, and it is intended for students interested in applying theory to applied problems in acoustics, optics, continuum mechanics, and materials science. The structure of the program is very similar to that of electrical engineering except the depth requirement includes seven courses and there are only five electives.

For course plans, please click here .

Undergraduate Program FAQ

    Prerequisites

    Can I take an ECE course without the prerequisites?

    The department recommends you complete and pass the prerequisites for the ECE core courses. Learning the material in the prerequisite courses helps students understand and be successful in more advanced courses.

    Network Inference: from Passive to Active Learning

    Seminar Speaker
    Negar Kiyavash

    One of the paramount challenges of this century is that of understanding complex, dynamic, large-scale networks. Such high-dimensional networks, including social, financial, and biological networks, cover the planet and dominate modern life. In this talk, we propose novel approaches to inference in such networks, for both active (interventional) and passive (observational) learning scenarios. We highlight how timing could be utilized as a degree of freedom that provides rich information about the dynamics.

    Seminar Contact
    Prof. Todd Coleman <tpcoleman@ucsd.edu>

    State of the Search for Majorana Fermions in Semiconductor Nanowires

    Seminar Speaker
    Sergey Frolov
    Department of Physics
    University of Pittsburgh

    Majorana fermions are non-trivial quantum excitations that have remarkable topological properties and can be used to protect quantum information against decoherence. Tunneling spectroscopy measurements on one-dimensional superconducting hybrid materials have revealed signatures of Majorana fermions which are the edge states of a bulk topological superconducting phase. We couple strong spin-orbit semiconductor InSb nanowires to conventional superconductors (NbTiN, Al) to obtain additional signatures of Majorana fermions and to explore the  topological phase transition.

    Seminar Contact
    Cheryle Wills, clwills@eng.ucsd.edu
    858-534-2498

    Electrical Engineering and Society Major

    This major intends to better prepare engineering students in the areas of social sciences and the humanities, as a response to the globalization of engineering and technology. We recognize that "engineering only" training may not be sufficient when students seek alternate career paths besides engineering upon graduation, such as in in the law, finance, and public policy sectors.

    For course plans, please click here .

    Electrical Engineering Graduate Programs

    The Electrical and Computer Engineering department offers graduate programs leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in thirteen disciplines within electrical and computer engineering.  More than 60 faculty members in ECE perform cutting-edge research in areas including Signal and Image Processing, Machine Learning and Data Science, and Intelligent Systems, Robotics, and Control, just to name a few.  

    Ph.D. Degree Requirements

    Overview

    The Ph.D. is a research degree requiring completion of the Ph.D. program course requirements, satisfactory performance on the Preliminary Examination and University Qualifying Examination, and submission and defense of a doctoral dissertation.

    Students in the Ph.D. program must pass the Preliminary Examination by the end of their second year of graduate study. To ensure timely progress in their research, students are strongly encouraged to identify a faculty member willing to supervise their doctoral research by the end of their first year of study.

    The Undergraduate Programs

    The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers undergraduate programs leading to the BS in electrical engineering, engineering physics, and computer engineering, and the BA in electrical engineering and society. Each of these programs can be tailored to provide preparation for graduate study or employment in a wide range of fields.

    Selective Major Application

    Selective Major 

    Beginning with the SUMMER 2025 continuing student application cycle, students will be able to apply to one of our majors once per year (between Summer and Fall quarters).  Note that space will be limited and acceptance to our majors is not guaranteed.  For more information about the admission process and criteria please see the UC San Diego Selective Majors Page

    The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department traces its roots back to the establishment of the Applied Electrophysics department in 1965, under its founding chair Henry Booker. Through a succession of department realignments emerged today’s ECE in 1987, when the then-combined Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department was split into two departments. Since then, ECE has earned a world-class reputation for producing top-notch engineers for industry and academia.

    By the Numbers

    $38M+

    In Research
    Expenditures

    17,000+

    Alumni

    2,200+

    Remarkable
    Students

    65

    Award-Winning
    Faculty