Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

HOW TO  SELECT A SPECIFIC GRADUATE PROGRAM

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at ISU offers several graduate degree options. The following desciption is designed to help you guide towards the right degree program based on your goals and objectives.

• What do you want out of a graduate degree?
• What are your goals after receiving your graduate degree?
• Do you wish to work in industry or in academia?
• Do you enjoy research and development kind of activities, teaching, product design, or manufacturing?
• Are you absolutely certain of your goals or are they still developing?

Answers to these questions will help determine which degree program you ought to apply to. The available degree programs are:

1. M.S. with thesis - Intended for students who wish to sample research but are not certain yet that they wish to pursue a research-oriented career; a B.S. is required for entry into this program.
2. M.S. with creative component - This is a supervised project based creative component which still leaves the door open to a Ph.D. program, but an M.S. with thesis is a better choice in this case; a B.S. is required for entry into this program.
3. Direct entry Ph.D. - This program is meant for the student with a B.S. degree who have already determined that they seek a research-oriented career (either in industry or adademia). Our assumption is that such a conviction on your part is formed due to your exposure to research as an undergraduate student. If you are still unsure in your mind about following a research-oriented career; or do not know for sure what research is about; or feel motivated to sample research but you are not sure if you would enjoy it, a M.S. with thesis might be a better choice for you. The advantage of the direct Ph.D. program is that you get to bypass many M.S. requirements which reduces time to a Ph.D.
4. Traditional Ph.D. (with a master's) program - If you have a M.S. degree, and have decided that a research-oriented career is for you, this is the program to apply to.

*pending approval

The attached .PDF flowchart describes these choices in relation to your goals.

The ECE department graduate programs are organized along the following academic areas. Each one of them offers a very vibrant research program. For more details, refer to the department research report. You need to choose one of these areas for your graduate studies.

Computer and Networking Systems (CNS): computer architecture, reconfigurable computing, computer networks inlcuding wireless and optical networks, hardware secruity, and embedded systems.

Software Systems (SWS): software engineering, real time and distributed systems, software secruity, and bioinformatics.

Information and Network Security (ISNN): network forensics, network security, information assurance.

Communications and Signal Processing (CSP): wireless communications, space-time signal processing, ultra-wide bandwidth communications, bioinformatics, coding, MIMO, modeling and visualization of uncertain information.

Systems and Control: communication and control, robust control, nanotechnology and molecular biology, discrete event dynamic systems, dynamical systems, systems approaches to VLSI.

Electromagnetics, Microwave, and Non-Destructive Evaluation (EM&NDE): computational electromagnetics, electromagnetic properties and behavior of materials, microwave circuits and systems, microwave remote sensing, optical communications, and electromagnetic non-destructive evaluation.

Energy and Power Systems: power system volate and oscillatory stability, reactive power conrol and optimization, pricing of reactive power, power system bifurcation analysis, power system dynamics, risk and uncertainty in power system analysis, asset management of energy infrasturctures, bulk energy transporation systems, pwoer system blackouts, cascading outages, impact of renewable energy and distributed energy sources, power system wide area control, power system markets and price forecasting, power system restoration, power electornics systems.

Microelectronics and Photonics: electronic and optical properties of materials, fabrication and characterizaiton of new electronic and photonic devices, and integration of new devies into systems for biological applications. Current focus areas include photovoltaics, thin-film transistors, photonic crystals, negative-index materials, and OLED-based sensors.

VLSI: design of analog, digital, mixed-signal and RF integrated circuits at the system, circuit and layout levels

GENERAL DEGREE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

The following information can be used to compare the variety of graduate programs at ISU:

Academic Requirements

Master's with thesis
Total Credits: 30
Course Credits: 21
Remaining Credits: 9 thesis credits

Master's without thesis (creative component)
Total Credits: 30
Course Credits: 27
Remaining Credits: 3 creative component credits

Direct entry Ph.D.
Total Credits: 72*

Traditional entry Ph.D.
Total Credits: 72*

*Further delineation of credits can be found at Graduate Degree Requirements.

The administrative requirements and deadlines for the various program entries are:

Master's with thesis
Program of Study Committee: no later than end of 2nd semester
Qualifying Exam: None

Master's without thesis (creative component)
Program of Study Committee: no later than end of 2nd semester
Qualifying Exam: None

Direct Entry Ph.D.
Program of Study Committee: End of 2nd - 4th semester
Qualifying Exam: 1st - 3rd semester

Traditional Ph.D.
Program of Study Committee: End of 2nd - 4th semester
Qualifying Exam: 1st semester

Students who are on a teaching assistantship or research assistantship appointment are assessed fees as follows:

Master's with thesis
Tuition scholarship: 1/2 in-state tuition
Fees: All

Master's without thesis
Tuition scholarship: 1/2 in-state tuition
Fees: All

Direct Entry Ph.D.
Tuition scholarship: full tuition
Fees: All

Traditional Ph.D.
Tuition scholarship: full tuition
Fees: All

MORE INFORMATION ON PH.D. PROGRAMS

The Ph.D. program applicants are most desirable from the viewpoint of the ECE department, since they contribute the most towards the department's mission. The following is meant to reinforce the two available Ph.D. programs:

Direct Entry Ph.D.: The direct entry Ph.D. encourages a student to work toward the Ph.D. without having (or getting) a master's degree. The benefit of the direct entry Ph.D. program is that the student could obtian a Ph.D. within 4 years from start to finish. The Ph.D. program is a minimum of 72 graduate credits of which at least 36 graduate credits, including all dissertation research, must be at ISU. A direct entry Ph.D. needs to be fully committed to obtaining the Ph.D. without the Master's. Only in specific circumstances a student may be allowed to change to a Master's degree program. The student must obtain special permission from his/her major professor for such a change.

Traditional Ph.D.: The traditional Ph.D. is geared toward a student who already holds an M.S. Once again, a minimum of 72 credit hours are required, of which 36 graduate credits need to be earned at ISU. This program does not lead to an intermediate M.S. degree.