Introduction

The Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Clemson University offers the Master of Science (MS), the Master of Engineering (MEngr) and the PhD degrees in electrical engineering. Among the ECE faculty are nine IEEE Fellows, two endowed chairs and six named professorships. In addition, several of the department’s young faculty members have recently won prestigious national and international awards and grants. The department offers a rich curriculum which includes more than 70 graduate courses. The ratio of students to faculty is low, and the department prides itself on observing the Clemson tradition of close interaction between faculty and students.

Programs of Study

Available focus areas for electrical engineering majors are communications systems and networks, digital signal processing, electromagnetics, electronics, intelligent systems and power.

MS The MS program includes an all-course work option and a thesis option. In the former, your plan of study will include a minimum of 33 credit hours, at least 18 of which must be at the 800 level. In the latter, you will be required to write a thesis that is approved by your advisory committee and the Graduate School. If you choose the thesis-option, you must take a minimum of 30 credit hours, including six hours of ECE 891 (Master’s Thesis Research). At least 12 of the credit hours, excluding the six ECE 891 credits, must be at the 800 level. If you are supported as a research assistant, you will most likely be required by your advisor to choose the thesis option. If you anticipate continued studies toward the PhD, you should strongly consider the thesis option.

Independent of which option you choose, you will be required to take a final examination (oral and/or written) administered by your advisory committee. If you are a thesis-option student, you must pass an exam consisting of an oral defense of your thesis or report. If you are a nonthesis candidate, your examination will consist of an oral review and a written summary of a published paper that has been approved by your advisory

committee. You may also include a minor area in the degree program, which requires two courses (six hours) in some area outside of the major, such as math, physics, computer science or industrial engineering, as approved by your advisory committee.

MEngr The MEngr degree program is distinct in that you are not required to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for admission into the program, and you are not required to satisfy a focus-area requirement once in the program. In the MEngr program, an engineering report is submitted in lieu of a conventional master’s thesis. The engineering report is fundamentally the same as a thesis, but it is more design oriented.

PhD The PhD program requires 24 hours of graduate course work and 18 hours of research beyond the master’s degree. Direct entry into the PhD program is available for highly qualified students with baccalaureate degrees who are accepted into the program.

Program requirements include passing qualifying and comprehensive exams and completing, and orally defending, a dissertation.

Research

The research activities of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are clustered into four major areas:

Communications

This research focus area includes the wireless communications program, applied electromagnetics, computer networks and digital signal processing (including communications signal, speech signal and image processing).

 

Computer Systems Architecture

This field represents the primary research interests of the computer engineering faculty and includes computer architecture, sensor fusion, computer vision, high-performance computing, computer security and sensor networks.

Electronics

This group has active research projects in the areas of semiconductor devices and materials, metal organic chemical vapor deposition of electronic materials, power electronics and integrated circuit design. Research in this area also involves metallization, dielectrics organic semiconductors and the development of computer-aided design tools which aid engineers in developing integrated circuits.

Systems (mechatronics, power and artificial intelligence)

Our faculty in these areas are excited about this new organization and are currently involved in collaborative work involving the integration of vision with robotics. In addition, they continue to explore other possibilities for joint activities. Since mechatronics includes controls and robotics, many obvious linkages to power and artificial intelligence exist. Another factor that glues these technologies together is the trend for applying neural network, genetic and fuzzy systems-based solutions to problems in these subareas.

Centers, Institutes and Facilities

Among the many top-notch research facilities available to students in the program are:

Center for Research in Wireless Communications

Rockwell Automation Laboratory

Computational Electromagnetics Laboratory

CU Electrical Power Research Association (CUEPRA)

Image Processing and Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory

Microelectronics Research Laboratory

Parallel Architecture Research Laboratory

Power Quality and Industrial Applications Laboratory

Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory

Georgia Power Laboratory

Speech Processing Laboratory

Wireless Communications and Networks Facilities

Barnes Telecommunications Laboratory

Microstructures Laboratory (Clean Room)

Financial Aid

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering uses two different mechanisms for funding graduate students. One is the department assistantship that is normally offered at the beginning of your enrollment at Clemson. The offer for this assistantship comes from the ECE department chair and typically covers four semesters for MS students and six semesters for PhD students, contingent upon your satisfactory performance and progress toward the degree. The other form of aid is the research assistantship offered directly by a faculty member. In many cases, as an entering student, you will be offered an assistantship both by the department and by a faculty researcher. In this case, if you elect to accept the research assistantship and the research funding ends,

the department’s offer is still available if the time limit of the original offer has not expired. Some students have a joint assistantship consisting of both a part-time teaching assistant position and a part-time research assistant appointment. In addition, there are various fellowships available from the ECE department, the College of Engineering and Science, the University, industry, philanthropic organizations and from several US government agencies. Many of these fellowships are restricted to US citizens.

Faculty Listing

• Carl W. Baum, Associate Professor; PhD, Illinois, 1992. Electrical Engineering.

• Stanley T. Birchfield, Assistant Professor; PhD, Stanford, 1999. Electrical Engineering.

• Michael A. Bridgwood, Associate Professor; PhD, Portsmouth Polytechnic, 1979. Electrical Engineering.

• Richard R. Brooks, Associate Professor; PhD, LSU, 1996. Computer Science.

• Timothy C. Burg, Assistant Professor; PhD, Clemson, 1996. Electrical Engineering.

• Chalmers M. Butler, Alumni Professor and Owen Professor; PhD, Wisconsin-Madison, 1962. Electrical Engineering.

• Edward R. Collins Jr., Associate Professor; PhD, Georgia Tech, 1989. Electrical Engineering.

• Darren M. Dawson, Quattlebaum Professor; PhD, Georgia Tech, 1990. Electrical Engineering.

• Adly A. Girgis, Duke Power Professor; PhD, Iowa State, 1981. Electrical Engineering.

• John N. Gowdy, Professor and Department Chair; PhD, Missouri-Columbia, 1971. Electrical Engineering.

• Richard E. Groff, Assistant Professor; PhD, Michigan, 2003. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

• William R. Harrell, Associate Professor; PhD, Maryland, 1994. Electrical Engineering.

• Adam W. Hoover, Associate Professor; PhD, South Florida, 1996. Computer Science and Engineering.

• Todd H. Hubing, Michelin Chair of Vehicular Electronics; PhD, North Carolina State, 1988. Electrical Engineering.

• John J. Komo, Professor; PhD, Missouri-Rolla, 1966. Electrical Engineering.

• Walter B. Ligon, Associate Professor; PhD, Georgia Tech, 1992. Computer Science.

• Elham B. Makram, South Carolina Electric and Gas Professor; PhD, Iowa State, 1981. Electrical Engineering.

• Anthony Q. Martin, Associate Professor; PhD, Clemson, 1989. Electrical Engineering.

• Daniel L. Noneaker, Associate Professor; PhD, Illinois, 1993. Electrical Engineering.

• L. Wilson Pearson, Rhodes Professor; PhD, Illinois, 1976. Electrical Engineering.

• Kelvin F. Poole, Professor; PhD, Manchester (England), 1969. Electrical Engineering.

• Michael B. Pursley, Holcombe Chair; PhD, USC, 1974. Electrical Engineering.

• Harlan B. Russell, Associate Professor; PhD, Illinois, 1993. Electrical Engineering.

• Samuel T. Sander, Assistant Professor; PhD, Georgia Tech, 2002. Electrical and Computer Engineering.

• Robert J. Schalkoff, Professor; PhD, Virginia, 1979. Electrical Engineering.

• Rajendra Singh, Banks Professor; PhD, McMaster, 1979. Physics.

• Melissa C. Smith, Assistant Professor; PhD, Tennessee, 2003. Electrical and Computer Engineering.

• Tarek M. Taha, Assistant Professor; PhD, Georgia Tech, 2002. Electrical and Computer Engineering.

• Ian D. Walker, Professor; PhD, Texas-Austin, 1989. Electrical Engineering.

• Kuang-Ching Wang, Assistant Professor; PhD, Wisconsin-Madison, 2003. Electrical Engineering.

• Pingshan Wang, Assistant Professor; PhD, Cornell, 2004. Electrical Engineering.

• Xiao-bang Xu, Professor; PhD, Mississippi, 1985. Electrical Engineering.

Student Group

There are approximately 52 students in the MS and MEngr programs and approximately 33 PhD students. Of all the electrical engineering students, nearly 24 percent are women, and approximately 73 percent are international students.

Applying

Admission is based on academic performance, standardized scores (excluding the MEngr program) and reference letters. Your statement of purpose will provide insight into your goals and interests. Relevant work experience should be highlighted in your application. You may apply on the web at www.grad.clemson.edu/Admission.php. Applications with a $55 nonrefundable fee should be received no later than five weeks prior to registration. Every required item in support of your application must be on file by that date.

For More Information

A. Lane Swanson, Graduate Student Services Coordinator
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
102-A Riggs Hall
Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina 29634
Telephone: 864-656-5902
Email: aswanso@clemson.edu