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 sits at the core of all information computation and transmission as well as being central to the most useful form of energy: electricity! Electrical and computer engineering integrates concepts such as signals, materials science, power systems, programming, computer science, and computer hardware into a single field. The ECE major offers opportunities in a diverse range of industries and research areas; ECEs create signal processors for wireless systems, tools for medical diagnostics and imaging, control systems for automated manufacturing, consumer electronics, high-speed communication systems on Earth, underwater, and in space, and more!
ECE provides fundamentals and depth across several sub-disciplines:
the study and engineering systems that generate and transmit photons, including lasers and high-speed photonic transmission systems, which form the backbone of the internet.
the design of analog and digital integrated circuit chips.
the materials, chemical, physical and electrical fundamentals of the computer ‘chip’ industry, and related industries.
the theory and principles that underpin dynamic systems, including robots, aircraft, spacecraft and large-scale manufacturing.
the theory and practice of the connectivity that brings the world together through wireless and wired networking, cellular and high-speed local and global communication.
the reception and manipulation of signals – both analog and digital, including the fundamentals of AI computation.
the theory and practice of dealing with the physics and engineering of wireless signals, which are also used as an analytical system.
the study and engineering of large-scale electrical energy generation, transmission and storage, as well as small-scale energy harvesting and conversion.
the design of large-scale digital and computer systems at the architectural level, as well as at the implementation level.
the science and engineering behind the development and understanding of software systems, including the use of (rapidly evolving) AI in software development.
The major offers a broad range of technical electives. Courses are taught by world-renowned professors from U of T’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science – two of the largest and top-ranked departments in Canada. Students have access to advanced facilities and close research collaborations between professors and global partners, including the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory. Students also benefit from the university’s affiliation with organizations like the Vector Institute, U of T’s SciNet supercomputing consortium, and the vibrant tech and startup landscape in Toronto.
Why Choose ECE?
Why Choose This Major?
You’re interested in:
- Everything relating computers, including both the hardware and software sides
- Research related to electricity and magnetism, on topics such as superconductive materials, wireless systems and signals, and electromagnetic radiation
- Being on the leading edge technology such as self-driving cars, personal electronics, and more
- Learning and participating in Quantum computing and Quantum Communication from the physics side as well as the software
- Modern technology such as self-driving cars, personal electronics, and more
- A flexible major that will allow you to enter almost any field you want and has a diverse range of applications across nearly every industry
- Creating a cutting-edge tech startup with an impact upon the world
EngSci ECE is quite different from the Core 8 Computer Engineering and Core 8 Electrical Engineering majors. In EngSci, the foundation years enable you to learn more advanced topics later. Furthermore, the core courses in EngSci ECE cover fundamentals of both the EE and CE majors, so that Eng Sci ECEs have greater breadth across the entire ECE field.
Where Can This Major Take You?
Recent EngSci ECE graduates have pursued graduate studies at top universities such as:
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Cornell University
- Columbia University
- MIT
- Stanford University
- UC Berkeley
- University of Toronto
- University of Waterloo
Sample employers for recent ECE graduates include:
- AMD
- Apple
- McKinsey & Company
- Meta
- RBC
- Toronto Hydro
- Cerebras
- Tenstorrent
EngSci ECE graduates have also started companies such as SoundHound, Ergeon, Medchart, and Databricks.
Upper-Year Insights
EngSci ECE 2T4 + PEY, Summer Researcher @ U of T, Electrical Lead @ Blue Sky Solar Racing
“The EngSci ECE major is structured such that you get a broad exposure to various subfields within the discipline. In my third year, I was required to take core courses that covered every fundamental aspect of ECE, giving me a [deep and broad] understanding of the field. Having the ability to appreciate a system at all its different levels – from the semiconductor level to the hardware and up to the software level – has been perhaps the most rewarding experience for me. This holistic understanding allows me to see how each component and layer interacts and contributes to the overall functionality of a system.”
“One of my favorite courses was ECE350 (Semiconductor Electronic Devices). These devices are the fundamental building blocks for almost all the electronics that we use. I find the intricate and complex design of these nanometer-sized structures incredibly fascinating.“
Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Major
Professor Jonathan Rose
Professor Jonathan Rose was the Chair of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and has taught EngSci students for many years. He was a co-founder of Right Track CAD Corporation which delivered FPGA chip-level architecture and CAD tools to customers, and was acquired by Altera, now Intel. His current research focuses on software and natural language processing for mental health diagnosis and therapy, as well exploring Large Language Models at the conceptual level.
Courses in Year 1 and Year 2 That Relate to Electrical and Computer Engineering
Year 1
ESC180 will be your first programming course in university. This course gives you an introduction to programming using Python, which will open up the world of computer software.
ESC190 will be your second programming course. This course introduces the C programming language, which is much more low-level; as you learn C, you’ll learn more about computers themselves, including memory management and runtime complexity, as well as many algorithms and data structures found in modern software.
ECE159 will start from the basics of circuitry such as DC circuit analysis with different methods, before eventually leading to more intermediate topics such as Op-amps, transient circuit analysis, and AC circuits. The practicals are very hands-on and will require you to build many interesting circuits and analyze them with a variety of electrical measuring instruments. Combined with the theory-focused lectures, this course gives you a strong foundation for the hardware side of ECE.
Year 2
ECE253 combines features of circuits with programming, bridging the gap between the small electrical components that build computers and the programming we use the components for. You’ll learn everything from basic logic circuits to logic computation to computer processors. You’ll also learn to program simple processors in the ultra-low-level Assembly language.
AER210 combines two concepts. The first half of the course is an extension of Calculus II and focuses on vector calculus, which is math in higher 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 combines fundamental physics with useful techniques from vector calculus to explore features of electricity like electric force, voltage, current, and field strength.
Interesting Courses in This Major
ECE360: Electronics
This course introduces the fundamentals of electronics, covering the analysis and design of basic electronic circuits. Topics include introductory frequency-domain analysis, operational amplifiers, diodes, field-effect transistors, bipolar junction transistors, small-signal analysis, and single-stage amplifiers, along with practical experience using circuit analysis techniques.
ECE318: Fundamentals of Optics
This course explores the fundamentals of optics, including geometric optics, polarization, interference, diffraction, and Fourier optics. Topics include optical imaging systems, polarized light, interferometers, thin films, diffraction gratings, and basic optical signal processing.
ECE435: Quantum Computing Hardware
This course explores the engineering of quantum processors, covering quantum computing fundamentals, superconducting and semiconductor spin qubits, quantum hardware design, fabrication and characterization techniques, and the modelling, simulation, and testing of qubits and their control and readout systems.
ECE532: Digital Systems Design
This course covers practical applications of advanced topics in digital systems design, such as embedded processors, hardware/software interfacing and interactions, software drivers, embedded operating systems, and much more. You’ll implement significant design projects on FPGA development boards.
See the full course listing for each EngSci major in the academic calendar.
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 sub teams for circuitry and programming, so if you’re interested in ECE, you can join just about any design team and get relevant experience. Your choices can include software and AI-focused teams that’ll give you experience with programming. Here’s a short list of design teams, all of which have strong ECE components.
- U of T Blue Sky Solar Racing Team
- U of T Machine Intelligence Student Team (UTMIST)
- U of T Human Powered Vehicle Design Team (HPVDT)
- U of T Aerospace Team (UTAT)
- U of T Formula SAE Racing Team (UTFR)
- U of T IEEE Student Branch
- U of T Robotics Association (UTRA)
Visit the Skule Clubs and Design Teams pages to find more extracurriculars.
Check out the EngSci majors website here for more info: