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Bulletin Archive

This archived information is dated to the 2011-12 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Electrical Engineering

In this section:

Electrical Engineering Course Catalog Numbering System

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering

Engineer Degree in Electrical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering

Ph.D. Minor in Electrical Engineering

Areas of Research in Electrical Engineering

Overseas Studies Courses in Electrical Engineering

Up one level:

School of Engineering

Emeriti: (Professors) Clayton W. Bates, Richard Bube, John Cioffi *, Von R. Eshleman, Michael J. Flynn *, Gene F. Franklin *, Joseph W. Goodman, Robert M. Gray *, Stephen E. Harris *, Martin E. Hellman, Umran S. Inan *, Thomas Kailath *, Gordon S. Kino *, Albert Macovski *, Laurence A. Manning, Edward J. McCluskey *, Malcolm M. McWhorter, James D. Meindl, Richard H. Pantell *, R. Fabian W. Pease *, Anthony E. Siegman, Leonard Tyler *, Robert L. White, Bernard Widrow *, Bruce A. Wooley *; (Associate Professor) Bruce B. Lusignan; (Professors, Research) Donald L. Carpenter *, Aldo da Rosa *, Antony Fraser-Smith *, C. Robert Helms, Ingolf Lindau *, David Luckham, Arogyaswami J. Paulraj *, Calvin F. Quate

Chair: Mark Horowitz

Vice Chairs: Robert W. Dutton, Dwight G. Nishimura

Associate Chair (Admissions): Howard Zebker

Chair (Academic Affairs Committee): Dwight G. Nishimura

Professors: Nicholas Bambos, Dan Boneh, Stephen P. Boyd, Thomas M. Cover, Donald C. Cox, William J. Dally, Robert W. Dutton, Abbas El Gamal, Hector Garcia-Molina, Bernd Girod, Andrea G. Goldsmith, Patrick Hanrahan, James S. Harris, John L. Hennessy, Lambertus Hesselink, Mark A. Horowitz, Roger T. Howe, Joseph M. Kahn, Gregory T. A. Kovacs, Thomas H. Lee, Marc Levoy, Nick McKeown, Teresa H. Y. Meng, David A. B. Miller, Dwight G. Nishimura, Oyekunle Olukotun, Brad G. Osgood, John M. Pauly, James D. Plummer, Krishna Saraswat, Fouad A. Tobagi, Shan X. Wang, Jennifer Widom, H. S. Philip Wong, S. Simon Wong, Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Howard Zebker

Associate Professors: Dawson Engler, Shanhui Fan, John T. Gill III, Christoforos E. Kozyrakis, Sanjay Lall, Subhasish Mitra, Andrea Montanari, Boris Murmann, Balaji Prabhakar, Mendel Rosenblum, Krishna V. Shenoy, Olav Solgaard, Benjamin Van Roy, Jelena Vuckovic, Tsachy Weissman

Assistant Professors: Audrey Ellerbee, Sachin Katti, Philip Levis, Ada Poon

Professors (Research): James F. Gibbons, Leonid Kazovsky, Butrus Khuri-Yakub, Yoshio Nishi, Piero Pianetta

Courtesy Professors: Stacey Bent, Emmanuel Candes, David Cheriton, Amir Dembo, David L. Dill, Per Enge, Gary Glover, Peter Glynn, Leonidas Guibas, Monica S. Lam, David G. Luenberger, John C. Mitchell, Sandy Napel, Richard Olshen, Norbert Pelc, Zhi-Xun Shen, Julius Smith, Claire Tomlin, Brian Wandell, Yinyu Ye, Shoucheng Zhang

Courtesy Associate Professors: Kwabena Boahen, Hari Manoharan, David Mazieres, Michael McConnell, Andrew Ng, Daniel Spielman, Barbara van Schewick

Courtesy Assistant Professors: Sigrid Close, Kerwyn C. Huang, Ramesh Johari, Amin Saberi

Lecturers: Dennis Allison, Craig Burkhart, Andrew Freeman, Wendy Ju, Roger Melen, John Provine, Hamid Rategh, Dieter Scherer, Jason Stinson, Howard Swain, James Weaver

Consulting Professors: Richard Dasher, Leslie Field, Silvano Gai, Fred M. Gibbons, Dimitry Gorinevsky, Bob S. Hu, Theodore Kamins, David Leeson, Madihally Narasimha, Gurudatta Parulkar, Ronald Schafer, David Su, Simon Sze, John Wenstrand

Consulting Associate Professors: Micah Siegel, Katelijn Vleugels, Jun Ye

Consulting Assistant Professor: Jatinder Singh

Visiting Professors: David Allstot, Michael Black, Byuung-Gook Park, Tianling Ren, Thomas Wiegand, Zhiping Yu

Visiting Associate Professors: Yonina Eldar, Maneesh Sahani, Lin Zhang

Visiting Assistant Professors: Ofer Levi, Damon Wischik

* recalled to active duty

Mail Code: 94305-9505

Phone: (650) 723-3931; Fax: (650) 723-1882

Web Site: http://ee.stanford.edu

Courses offered by the Department of Electrical Engineering are listed under the subject code EE on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site.

Mission of the Undergraduate Program in Electrical Engineering

The mission of the undergraduate program of the Department of Electrical Engineering is to augment the liberal education expected of all Stanford undergraduates, to impart a basic understanding of electrical engineering built on a foundation of physical science, mathematics, computing, and technology, and to provide majors in the department with knowledge of electrical engineering principles along with the required supporting knowledge of mathematics, science, computing, and engineering fundamentals. The program develops students' skills in performing and designing experimental projects and communicating their findings to the scientific community effectively. Students in the major are required to select one sub-discipline for specialization. Choices include computer hardware, computer software, controls, circuits and devices, bioelectronics and bioimaging, fields and waves, signal process and communications, and solid state and photonic devices. The program prepares students for careers in government agencies, the corporate sector, or for future study in graduate or professional schools.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The department expects undergraduate majors in the program to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are used in evaluating students and the department's undergraduate program. The educational objectives of the program are:

  1. Technical knowledge—provide a knowledge of electrical engineering principles along with the required supporting knowledge of computing, engineering fundamentals, mathematics, and science. The program must include depth in at least one specialty area, currently including computer hardware, computer software, controls, circuits, fields and waves, communication and signal processing, and semiconductor and photonic devices.
  2. Laboratory and design skills—develop the basic skills needed to perform and design experimental projects. Develop the ability to formulate problems and projects and to plan a process for solution, taking advantage of diverse technical knowledge and skills.
  3. Communications skills—develop the ability to organize and present information and to write and speak effective English.
  4. Preparation for further study—provide sufficient breadth and depth for successful subsequent graduate study, postgraduate study, or lifelong learning programs.
  5. Preparation for the profession—provide an appreciation for the broad spectrum of issues arising in professional practice, including economics, ethics, leadership, professional organizations, safety, service, and teamwork.

Undergraduate Programs in Electrical Engineering

To major in Electrical Engineering (EE), undergraduates should follow the depth sequence in the "Undergraduate Degree in Electrical Engineering" section of this bulletin. Students are required to have a program planning sheet approved by their adviser and the department prior to the end of the quarter following the quarter in which they declare their major and at least one year prior to graduation. Program sheets for the general EE requirements and for each of the EE specialty sequences may be found at http://ughb.stanford.edu. Majors must receive at least a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) in courses taken for the EE depth requirement; all classes must be taken for a letter grade.

Students interested in a minor should consult the ''Minor in Electrical Engineering" section of this bulletin.

A Stanford undergraduate may work simultaneously toward the B.S. and M.S. degrees. University requirements for the coterminal M.A. or M.S. are described in the "Coterminal Bachelor's and Master's Degrees" section of this bulletin. For University coterminal degree program rules and University application forms, see http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/publications#Coterm.

HONORS PROGRAM

The Department of Electrical Engineering offers a program leading to a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with honors. This program offers a unique opportunity for qualified undergraduate majors to conduct independent study and research at an advanced level with a faculty mentor, graduate students, and fellow undergraduates.

Admission to the honors program is by application. Declared EE majors with a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.5 in Electrical Engineering are eligible to submit an application. Applications must be submitted by Autumn quarter of the senior year, be signed by the thesis adviser and second reader (one must be a member of the EE Faculty), and include an honors proposal. Students need to declare honors on Axess.

In order to receive departmental honors, students admitted to the honors program must:

  1. maintain a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.5 in EE courses.
  2. complete at least 10 units of EE 191 for a letter grade with their project adviser.
  3. submit two final copies of the honors thesis approved by the adviser and second reader.
  4. attend poster and oral presentation in the Electrical Engineering Honors Symposium held at the end of Spring Quarter or present in another suitable forum approved by the faculty adviser.

Graduate Programs in Electrical Engineering

University regulations governing the M.S., Engineer, and Ph.D. degrees are described in the "Graduate Degrees" section of this bulletin.

The profession of electrical engineering demands a strong foundation in physical science and mathematics, a broad knowledge of engineering techniques, and an understanding of the relationship between technology and man. Curricula at Stanford are planned to offer the breadth of education and depth of training necessary for leadership in the profession. To engage in this profession with competence, four years of undergraduate study and at least one year of postgraduate study are recommended. For those who plan to work in highly technical development or fundamental research, additional graduate study is desirable.

A one- to two-year program of graduate study in Electrical Engineering may lead to the degree of Master of Science. The program is typically completed in five academic quarters. A two- to three-year program, offering a wider selection of engineering course work, more opportunity for study in the related fields of engineering, mathematics, and physics, and in particular, more independent work and individual guidance, may lead to the degree of Engineer.

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is offered under the general regulations of the University. The doctoral program, requiring a minimum of 135 units of graduate study, should be considered by those with the ability and desire to make a life work of research or teaching.

Application for Admission—Applications for graduate admission in Electrical Engineering (EE) should be completed electronically at http://gradadmissions.stanford.edu. For information concerning Electrical Engineering graduate admissions, see http://ee-admissions.stanford.edu. The application deadline for admission for Autumn Quarter 2012-13 is December 13, 2011.

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