About EECS

The University of Tennessee College of Engineering's (COE) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Computer Science (CS) were officially merged as the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) on July 1, 2007. [more...]

The combined department offers three academic programs: Electrical Engineering; Computer Engineering; and Computer Science. Each program provides degrees at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. levels.

Electrical Engineering deals with the application of the physical laws governing charged particles. From miniature integrated circuits that contain millions of microelectronic devices, to high-speed fiber-optic communication systems that span international boundaries, electrical engineering impacts every aspect of modern-day living.

Electrical engineering is unique among the engineering disciplines because of its wide range of applications. Subject areas within electrical engineering are so diverse that it is not always apparent that there is an underlying connection. The range of subjects is not only broad but is also expanding.

Computer Engineering deals with the electronic hardware side of electrical engineering and the programming side of computer science. Often, a student can study electrical engineering to cultivate a background in computer engineering. However, with the increasing needs of both industry and technology that drive our future, computer engineering has now become a discipline by itself. Typically, a computer engineering curriculum provides a background in three broad areas—hardware, software and hardware- software integration. Students will also have the opportunity to explore fundamental topics such as microprocessors, computer architecture, digital signal processing, operating systems, data communications, and other related material. In addition, the program includes core engineering subjects that are common to all engineering disciplines.

Computer Science is the study of software and hardware systems and of the theory of computation. Students must be able to integrate material and concepts from these areas. For example, students use analysis of algorithms to select or design software to solve a problem on a computer with parallel architecture. Another example would be selecting or writing the software for a network router, combining optimization theory, graph algorithms, networking, knowledge of the hardware, and professional software methods. The emphasis is on foundations and the ability to learn new developments in the field.