Electrical and Computer Engineering

Q: Why do programmers frequently confuse Halloween and Christmas?

A: Because OCT 31 = DEC 25

Photo by Infralist.com on Unsplash

What is Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)?

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) underpins the foundation of many of the modern technologies we use every day. ECE is often described as having two distinct components. The “electrical” half involves concepts like signals and materials science. An electrical engineer may develop a device to detect signals far underground or a new type of material that conducts electricity at an extreme temperature. The “computer” half involves either programming and computer science or computer hardware. Some examples of the practical applications of ECE include designing control systems for automated manufacturing, consumer electronics for home theatres, and high-speed communication systems on Earth, beneath the seas, and in space. The ECE major offers you opportunities in a diverse range of industries and research areas. These include telecommunications, medical diagnostics, autonomous vehicles, and more.

Why Choose ECE?

  • You’re interested in both software and the hardware side of computers (like circuits and processors). 
     
     
  • You’re interested in research related to electricity and magnetism. ECEs do heavy research on topics like superconductive materials, wireless systems and signals, and electromagnetic radiation. 
     
     
  • You want a flexible major! ECE has a diverse range of applications and will give you the fundamentals to follow any field you want. 

Courses in Years 1 & 2 That Relate to ECE:

Year 1

ESC180 – Introduction to Computer Programming 

ESC180 will be your first programming course in university. The course will give you an introduction to programming using Python. The labs in this course provide you with some valuable practical experience in programming.

ESC190 – Algorithms and Data Structures 

ESC190 will be your second programming course. It will give you an introduction to programming in C. This course focuses more on the algorithms you can create using code. 

ECE159 – Fundamentals of Electric Circuits 

This is your introduction to circuitry. The practicals are hands-on experiences where you build and measure the properties of your own circuits. The lectures give you a theoretical understanding of course concepts. Combining the theoretical with the applied, ECE159 gives you a strong base for your future electricity courses and provides insight into the hardware aspect of ECE. 

[Source]

Year 2

ECE253 – Digital and Computer Systems 

This course combines features of circuits with programming. ECE253 bridges the gap between the small electrical components that build computers and the programming we use the components for. You will learn everything from basic logic circuits to logic computation to computer processors. You will also learn to program simple processors in the ultra-low-level Assembly language. 

AER210 – Vector Calculus and Fluid Mechanics 

AER210 is a course that combines two concepts. The first half is an extension of first year’s calculus courses and focuses on vector calculus. Vector calculus is math in more dimensions. Electrons, wires, insulators and other objects in electronics exist in three dimensions, so this math is crucial.  

The second half of the course covers fluid mechanics, which is the study of the motion of fluids (liquids and gases). Many things in fluid mechanics are analogous to things in electricity. For example, conservative fields appear in both fluid mechanics and electric field theory! 

ECE259 – Electromagnetism 

ECE259 is really a physics course. Here, you’ll use your tools from vector calculus to explore features of electricity like electric force, voltage, current and field strength. If you’re interested in the theoretical side of ECE, then this will be a very fun course: it combines fundamental physics with useful techniques from math. 

Interesting Courses in This Major

ECE360 – Electronics 

This course builds on students’ knowledge of voltage and current. You will learn about amplifiers and transistors, which are crucial to every modern piece of electronics. 

ECE356 – Introduction to Control Theory 

This is a design course that builds on the mathematics learned in the first two years of EngSci. The goal of control system design is to obtain a desired dynamical response despite the presence of disturbances. During the first half of the course, you learn the fundamentals of stability analysis and modeling of control systems. The second half of the course teaches important design methods. 

Where To Get Some Experience Before Deciding?

There are so many clubs involving ECE that we couldn’t list them all. For example, almost all design teams have a circuitry team and a programming team. If you are interested in ECE, you can join just about any design team and get relevant experience. There are also a lot of software and AI-focused teams that you can join for experience with programming. Below we’ve listed a few design teams that you can check out, all of which have strong ECE components. 

 
Visit the Skule Clubs and Design Teams pages to find more extracurriculars. 

Check out the EngSci majors website here for more info: