Program Description

Mission Statement

The mission of the Electrical Engineering Department is to build and sustain a teaching and research program to provide undergraduate and graduate students with inspiration and quality education in the theory and practice of hardware- and information-processing-oriented electrical engineering, complementing the computer science and computer engineering programs; serving industry, science, and government; and bringing faculty and staff a rewarding career in teaching, research, and service.

Summary of Objectives

The educational objectives that the Electrical Engineering Department strives to provide for students are focused in five areas: fundamental prerequisites in theory, design, and basic science for a career based on electrical engineering; a scope of application that provides theory and practical knowledge as well as specialized training in hardware- and information-oriented electrical engineering; a professional approach to engineering in terms of high quality work skills in communication, teamwork, responsibility, high ethical standards, and participation in lifelong learning and the professional engineering community; encouragement and motivation based on a milieu of readily available opportunities, mentoring, and advising; and the basis for a successful transition to an engineering career, including an ability to apply research to engineering and opportunities for experience in an industry setting.

Engineering is a profession that emphasizes analysis and design, and electrical engineers apply their knowledge to an expanding array of technical, scientific, and mathematical questions. A good engineering education has three parts: a sound foundation in mathematics and science, substantial design experience to develop skills and engineering aesthetics, and a focus in the humanities and social sciences to learn how and where to apply the skills developed. Electrical engineering is a very broad discipline; the program at UC Santa Cruz is meant to complement existing campus programs, emphasizing three general areas: photonics and electronics (including analog and optoelectronics); communications (including signal and image processing); and VLSI design, micro-technology, and nanotechnology.

The UCSC electrical engineering program, leading to a bachelor of science degree, began in fall 1997 with the admission of first-year students. The curriculum is designed to provide a balance of engineering science and design. For the first two years, all electrical engineering students are expected to take a basic set of lower-division mathematics, physical science, and engineering courses, along with fulfilling some of the campus’s general education requirements. After the first two years, electrical engineering students focus on topics within the discipline and specialize in one of three options: electronics, including digital and analog circuits and devices, VLSI packaging and design, and electromagnetics; communications, including optical, wireless, signal processing, and networks; and signals, systems, and control, including signal processing, instrumentation, and control. Students interested in admission to the electrical engineering major should contact the Baskin School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office.

Electrical Engineering Policies

Admissions Policy

Admission to the electrical engineering major is selective. First-year applicants may receive direct admission at the time they apply to UCSC based on their high school record and test scores. Admission to the electrical engineering major after a student has entered UCSC is based on performance in the foundation courses: Mathematics 19A-B, Engineering 27, Physics 5A, 5B, and 5C. Please refer to the School of Engineering section of the catalog for the full admissions policy.

Course Substitution

It is the intent of the Baskin School of Engineering that all degree requirements be completed at UCSC or prior to first enrollment at UCSC. Course substitutions, such as taking a course at another UC campus, in the Education Abroad Program, or at a community college, require preapproval to be obtained prior to taking the class. Applications and procedures for preapproval are obtained from and given to the School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office.

Articulation agreements do not apply to enrolled students. You must obtain preapproval before taking a class at a community college. The School of Engineering does not provide course substitution for School of Engineering general education courses, such as topical courses, Computer Science 2, 10, or 3.

Disqualification Policy

Please refer to the Engineering section of this catalog for the School of Engineering’s Major Disqualification Policy.

Letter Grade Policy

The Electrical Engineering Department requires letter grading for all courses applied toward the B.S. degree, with the exception of two lower-division courses, which students may elect to take Pass/No Pass. This exception does not include course 70/L, which must be taken for a letter grade.

Transfer Students

Please refer to the School of Engineering section of the catalog for the policy regarding transfer students.

School of Engineering Policies

Please refer to the School of Engineering section of the catalog for additional policies that apply to all School of Engineering programs.

Major Requirements

In addition to completing UCSC’s general education requirements, students must complete 13 lower-division science and engineering courses, plus associated laboratories; seven upper-division engineering courses, plus associated laboratories; five engineering electives; and a comprehensive senior design project course. In order to plan for completion of these requirements within the normative time, students should consult with an adviser at the Baskin School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office as early as possible.

Lower-Division Requirements

Students gain a solid foundation in calculus, engineering mathematics, physics, computer science, and computer engineering during their first two years. Majors must complete the following 13 lower-division courses (including corresponding laboratories). These courses form part of the prerequisite sequence and should be completed during the first two years at UCSC. The requirements are rigorous; students must be prepared to begin these courses early in their studies.

Electrical Engineering

70/L, Introduction to Electronics/Laboratory

Computer Engineering

16, Applied Discrete Mathematics; or

16H, Honors Applied Discrete Mathematics

Computer Science

12A, Introduction to Programming

12B, Introduction to Data Structures

Mathematics

19A-B, Calculus for Science, Engineering, and

Mathematics 23A-B, Multivariable Calculus

Engineering

27/L, Mathematical Methods for Engineers/Laboratory (formerly Mathematics 27)

Physics

5A/L, 5B/M, 5C/N, Introduction to Physics/Laboratories; and

5D, Heat, Thermodynamics, and Kinetics

Ethics
Students must take one of the following courses:

Computer Engineering 80E, Engineering Ethics;

Philosophy 22, Introduction to Ethical Theory;

Philosophy 24, Introduction to Ethics: Contemporary Moral Issues;

Philosophy 28, Environmental Ethics;

Biomolecular Engineering 80G/Philosophy 80G/Chemistry 80G, Bioethics in the Twenty-First Century: Science, Business, and Society.

This course is required even for transfer students who have had their general education requirements waived.

Upper-Division Requirements

Twelve upper-division courses along with associated 1- or 2-credit laboratories are required for the major. The course requirements include both depth and breadth, technical writing, and a comprehensive design project.

All students are required to take the following seven upper-division courses, with associated laboratories:

Electrical Engineering

103, Signals and Systems

135/L, Electromagnetic Fields and Waves/Laboratory

145/L, Properties of Materials/Laboratory

171/L, Analog Electronics/Laboratory

Computer Engineering

100/L, Logic Design/Laboratory

107, Mathematical Methods of Systems Analysis: Stochastic

185, Technical Writing for Computer Engineers

Required Electives. In addition to completing the above required courses, electrical engineering majors must complete five elective courses chosen from the list below. At least three must be from one of the depth-sequence tracks listed. Certain graduate-level courses may also be used to fulfill an elective requirement with department approval. No course may be counted twice. See the electrical engineering web site for course descriptions: www.ee.ucsc.edu/academics.htm.

Electronics/Optoelectronics Track

Electrical Engineering

130, Introduction to Optoelectronics and Photonics

136, Engineering Electromagnetics

178, Device Electronics

Computer Engineering

121/L, Microprocessor System Design/Laboratory (Note that 12C/L, Computer Organization/Laboratory, is not a program requirement but is required for this class.)

172/L, Linear and Nonlinear Circuits/Laboratory

173/L, High Speed Digital Design/Laboratory

Engineering

147, Computational Methods and Applications

Communications Signals and Systems Track

Electrical Engineering

151, Communications Systems

153, Digital Signal Processing

Computer Engineering

150, Introduction to Computer Networks

Engineering

147, Computational Methods and Applications

Signals and Control Systems Track

Electrical Engineering

153, Digital Signal Processing

154, Feedback Control Systems

Engineering

147, Computational Methods and Applications

The senior-year curriculum is designed to enable students to pursue independent study with a faculty member. Electrical engineering students are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to work within a faculty member’s research group as part of their educational experience. Internship programs with local industry are available.

Comprehensive Requirement

The senior comprehensive requirement for electrical engineering majors is in two parts: a project course and assessment options.

Project Course
Students must complete one project course. Courses 127 and 128 are considered a single project course as are the sequences 125 and 126 and Computer Engineering 123A and 123B. These senior-level courses encompass an in-depth project, including analysis, design, testing, and documentation, requiring students to call upon knowledge acquired throughout their undergraduate studies. Current choices include the following:

Computer Engineering

123A, Computer Engineering Design Project I and

123B, Computer Engineering Design Project II; or

Electrical Engineering

125, Hardware Design I, and

126, Hardware Design II; or

127, Interdisciplinary System Design I, and

128, Interdisciplinary System Design II; or

195, Senior Thesis Project (7 credits over two quarters)

Outcomes Assessment Options
The Electrical Engineering Department requires an outcomes assessment. All students are required to complete an exit survey. The specifics of the outcomes assessment may change from year to year; for this catalog year, students must complete one of the following options:

(1) portfolio review;
(2) senior thesis submission;
(3) students must maintain a 2.5 grade point average in all required and elective courses for the major.

Portfolios will be reviewed quarterly during the final year and must include the following:

• a project report(s);
• an exit survey;
• a one- or two-page overview of your contribution to the project(s).

The portfolios must be turned in at least seven days before the end of the instruction in the quarter of graduation. Portfolios will not be returned.

Electrical Engineering Major Planners

The following are two sample academic plans for students to complete during their first two years as preparation for the electrical engineering major.

Additional information about this program can be found on the department’s web site at http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/programs/undergraduate/.

Graduate Programs

The Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of California Santa Cruz offers M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs and conducts research in photonics and electronics, focusing on VLSI, electronic and opto- electronic materials, devices, circuits, and systems for information transmission, storage, processing, and display, especially for optical fiber communications and lower power, high performance systems; communications and signal processing, including wireless and optical communications, coding, digital signal processing, image, and video processing; electromagnetism and remote sensing, including numerical electromagnetics, packaging, wave propagation and scattering radar oceanography, and microwave remote sensing. Future areas include MEMS and nanotechnology.

Electrical Engineering enjoys a close relationship with the Departments of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy and Astrophysics, as well as Biomolecular Engineering and the new applied mathematics and statistics graduate program currently in development. Electrical engineering faculty carry out both research and teaching inside and outside their own departments. The department also has ties to nearby industry, employing electrical engineering professionals as visiting faculty and arranging for students to gain practical research experience through work in industrial labs.

Students start the program with both depth and breadth courses and then proceed to do research in their area of specialization. The M.S. degree can be completed in two years. M.S. students must complete a master’s thesis. A Ph.D. degree is usually completed in four to six years. Ph.D. students are required to take a preliminary exam within their first two years of study. After completing the course requirements, students must pass an oral qualifying exam and write a dissertation. Part-time study is possible for students working in industry while going to school.

Requirements for the Master’s Degree

Course Requirements
Each student is required to take 45 graduate credits (level 200 or above) from a list of approved courses, which must consist of

• at least 10 credits from fundamental courses*;
• at least 10 credits from the single depth sequence* (electronics and photonics, etc.);
• at least 5 credits from breadth courses in the School of Engineering, outside the Department of Electrical Engineering**;
• at least 5 credits from breadth courses at UCSC outside the School of Engineering***;
• at most, 10 credits of independent study (courses 297 and 299) will be counted toward course requirements.

Total credits required for the M.S. degree: 45.

Note that each graduate course satisfying the above requirements typically covers 5 credits.

* A list of fundamental and depth courses is available on the electrical engineering web site at http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/programs/ee/graduate/approved_courses.html.

** Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering/ Computer Science 200 and 2-credit seminars will not count.

***Requires adviser approval.

Thesis

Completion of a master’s thesis is required for the master’s degree. To fulfill this requirement, the student submits a written proposal to a faculty member, usually by the third academic quarter. By accepting the proposal, the faculty member becomes the thesis adviser. In consultation with the adviser, the student forms a master’s thesis reading committee with at least two additional faculty members, each of whom is provided a copy of the proposal. Upon completion of the thesis work, the student presents an expository talk on the thesis research, and the final thesis must be accepted by the review committee before the award of the master of science degree.

M.S. students admitted to continue on to the Ph.D. program must pass a preliminary exam covering fundamental undergraduate course work (see below).

Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Course Requirements*
Each student is required to take 55 graduate credits (level 200 or above) from a list of approved courses, which must consist of

• at least 5 credits from fundamental courses*;
• at least 15 credits from the single depth sequence*;
• at least 10 credits from breadth courses in the School of Engineering, outside the Department of Electrical Engineering**;
• at least 5 credits from breadth courses at UCSC outside the School of Engineering***;
• at most, 10 credits of independent study (courses 297 and 299) will be counted toward course requirements.

Total credits required for the Ph.D. degree: 55.

* A list of fundamental and depth courses is available on the Electrical Engineering web site at http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/programs/ee/graduate/approved_courses.html

** Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering/ Computer Science 200 and 2-unit seminars will not count.

***Requires adviser approval.

For students already holding an MSEE or equivalent degree, 20 credits of transfer credit, at most, may be granted for equivalent course work performed at the student’s M.S. granting institution. Credit transfer is subject to approval by the adviser and the electrical engineering graduate committee.

Preliminary Examination

At the end of the first year, i.e., no later than the fall quarter in the following year after their entry, students admitted to the Ph.D. program must take a written exam covering basic knowledge in electrical engineering. This examination will cover material from the following technical areas:

• devices and circuits at the level of courses 171, 178, and 145;
• electromagnetics at the level of courses 135 and 136;
• systems and signals at the level of courses 103 and 153;
• optics and optoelectronics at the level of course 130;
• applied mathematics and statistics at the level of Computer Engineering 107 and Engineering 27.

The student will choose three areas from the above list in which to be examined. If the student does not pass the preliminary examination, the electrical engineering graduate committee may allow the student to repeat the preliminary examination once. If the student is to leave the Ph.D. program, and the student wishes to obtain an M.S. degree prior to departure, all requirements for the M.S. degree listed above (including an M.S. thesis) must still be satisfied.

After the student passes the preliminary examination, the student begins work on a thesis prospectus in preparation for the qualifying examination. During this period, the student finds an adviser willing to supervise the student’s thesis research; works with the adviser to prepare for the qualifying examination; and assembles a dissertation reading committee, consisting of the student’s research supervisor (chair of the committee) and three or four appropriate faculty members in Electrical Engineering and other relevant departments. The committee must consist of at least two electrical engineering faculty members in addition to the student’s supervisor.

Qualifying Examination

This oral examination is a defense of the student’s thesis prospectus and a test of the student’s knowledge in advanced technical areas of relevance to the dissertation topic. This oral examination consists of a seminar-style talk before the examining committee, where the student will describe the thesis prospectus, followed by questions from the committee on the substance of the talk or the areas of presumed expertise of the student. The exam, taken typically in the third year of Ph.D. study, is administered by a Ph.D. qualifying exam committee, consisting of at least four examiners. The composition of the committee is proposed by the department (in consultation with the student and his/her adviser) to the dean of graduate studies at least one month before the date of the exam. The composition of the committee must be approved by the dean of graduate studies, whereupon the student and the committee are notified.

If the student does not pass the qualifying exam, the student may be asked to complete additional course work, or other research-related work, before retaking the exam. The student may be allowed to retake the qualifying exam once, and the composition of the examining committee will remain the same for the second try. Students who fail the qualifying exam twice may be dismissed from the Ph.D. program.

Ph.D. students who have not advanced to candidacy by the end of the fourth year may be recommended for academic probation.

Dissertation and Advancement to Ph.D. Degree Candidacy

Advancement to candidacy requires that the student

(A) pass the preliminary exam;

(B) complete all course requirements prior to taking the qualifying exam;

(C) clear all Incompletes from the student’s record;

(D) pass the qualifying exam; and

(E) have an appointed Ph.D. dissertation reading committee.

After advancement to candidacy, work on the thesis research progresses until the dissertation is completed. The Ph.D. dissertation must show the results of in-depth research, be an original contribution of significant knowledge to the student’s field of study, and include material worthy of publication. The student is strongly advised to submit research work for publication in advance of completing the thesis so that the latter requirement is clearly satisfied. The Ph.D. thesis results are presented in both oral and written forms, the oral form being a dissertation defense (see below) and the written form being the Ph.D. dissertation. The student must submit his or her written Ph.D. dissertation to the dissertation reading committee at least one month before the defense.

Dissertation Defense

Each Ph.D. candidate submits the completed dissertation to a Ph.D. thesis reading committee at least one month prior to the dissertation defense. The appointment of the dissertation reading committee is made immediately after the qualifying exam and is necessary for advancing to candidacy. The candidate presents his or her research results in a public seminar sponsored by the dissertation supervisor. The seminar is followed by a defense of the dissertation to the reading committee (only), who will then decide whether the dissertation is acceptable or requires revision. Successful completion of the dissertation fulfills the final academic requirement for the Ph.D. degree.

Transfer Credit

For students already holding an MSEE or equivalent degree, at most 20 credits of transfer credit may be granted for equivalent course work performed at the student’s M.S. granting institution. Credit transfer is subject to approval by the adviser and the electrical engineering graduate committee.

Students not already holding an MSEE degree, who are studying for the Ph.D. degree, may apply to be granted a M.S. degree when they have fulfilled all the M.S. degree requirements (including an M.S. thesis).

Review of Progress

Each year, the faculty reviews the progress of every student. Students not making adequate progress toward completion of degree requirements (see the Graduate Student Handbook for policy on satisfactory academic progress) are subject to dismissal from the program. Students with academic deficiencies may be required to take additional courses. Full-time students with no academic deficiencies are normally expected to complete the degree course requirements at the rate of at least two courses per quarter. Full-time students must complete all course requirements within two years for the M.S. and three years for the Ph.D.

Students receiving two or more grades of U (unsatisfactory) or below B in the School of Engineering courses are not making adequate progress and will be placed on academic probation for the following three quarters of registered enrollment. Withdrawing or taking a leave of absence does not count as enrollment. Part-time enrollment is counted as a half quarter of enrollment.

If an electrical engineering graduate student fails a School of Engineering course while on probation, the Electrical Engineering Department may request the graduate dean to dismiss that student from the graduate program. If after being removed from probation, the student again fails a School of Engineering course, he or she will return immediately to academic probation.

Graduate students experiencing circumstances or difficulties that impact their academic performance should contact their adviser and the graduate director immediately. Students may appeal their dismissal to the graduate committee.

Materials Fee

Please see the section on fees under School of Engineering heading.