Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

UC Berkeley

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Degree Programs

  B.S.     B.A.     Minors     B.A./M.S. or B.S./M.S.     M.S.     M. Eng     Ph.D.   MOT Certificate Program

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

The Berkeley EECS major, offered through the College of Engineering (COE), combines fundamentals of computer science and electrical engineering in one major. The EECS Department offers two undergraduate programs: Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), and Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). Students working for the B.S. degree select an Option within their program and are then assigned an appropriate advisor on the basis of their selection.

        ECE         CSE         Honors Program         Double Majors    

  • Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

    Within the ECE program, students may choose to further specialize their course of study by selecting one of the following options within the EECS curriculum:

    • Electronics (Option I)

      For students interested in integrated circuits, including fabrication technology, solid state devices, digital and analog circuits analysis and design, VLSI design, and computer-aided design and manufacturing; and for students interested in microelectromechanical systems, electromagnetics, acoustics, optoelectronics, plasmas, cryoelectronics, and antennas and propagation.

    • Communications, Networks and Systems (Option II)

      For students with interests in networks, control, robotics, digital and analog communications, computer networks, signal processing, systems design and optimization, or power systems planning and operation; or for students with an interest in biology or medicine as well as electrical engineering, including biological sensors and signals, signal and image processing, and analysis and modeling of biological systems.

    • Computer Systems (Option III)

      For students interested in machine architecture and logic design, operating systems, database systems, programming systems and languages, or digital devices and circuits.

    • Computer Science (Option IV)

      See Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) below.

    • General Course of Study (Option V)

      For students whose interests are broad or are not yet focused on a specific field, this very flexible program enables students to explore several of the areas of electrical engineering and computer sciences.

  • Computer Science and Engineering (CSE)

    There are two different major programs in CS at Berkeley. One major leads to the Bachelor of Arts (see below) and the other, the CSE major, leads to the Bachelor of Science.

    The CSE program includes Option IV (Computer Science). The Computer Science option is for students with interests in all aspects of computer science, including design and analysis of algorithms, complexity theory, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, and database systems. The transcripts of students in Option IV indicate that their degree is from the computer science and engineering program.

  • EECS Honors Degree Program

    The EECS Honors Degree Program is designed to provide very talented undergraduate students with more flexibility at the undergraduate level. Honors students select an academic concentration outside of EECS, and are allowed twenty extra units beyond the B.S. degree requirements to explore this "breadth" area. In addition, students receive a special faculty advisor, engage in research, receive official notation of the honors degree on their Berkeley transcript, and are invited to special events with faculty and EECS Honors alumni.

  • Double Majors

    The Department offers Double Major Programs designed to qualify students for employment in either of two major fields of engineering, or for positions where competence in both fields is required. Both majors are listed on the student's transcript. Two such double majors are currently established, which we describe below.

    • EECS/Materials Science and Engineering

      For students interested in materials and devices, a double major in EECS/MSE can be valuable. The program combines the study of materials from a broad perspective, as taught in MSE, with the study of their applications in electronic devices and circuits, as taught in EECS. Students selecting this double major program have two Faculty Advisors, Professors Lutgard De Jonghe in MSE and Richard Muller in EECS.

    • EECS/Nuclear Engineering

      The EECS/NE double major combines the traditional EE program with one in the nuclear sciences. Nuclear Engineering shares with EE a concern for electrical power generation, automatic control, computer sciences and plasmas. The Faculty Advisors for this program are Professors David Hodges for EECS and Joonhong Ahn for NE.

Undergraduate Admissions EECS Undergraduate Handbook Undergraduate Student Programs   Back to top  



Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

This CS major is for students enrolled in the College of Letters & Science (L&S). There is no difference in the CS course content between the B.S. and B.A. programs. The difference is in what else you take: mainly engineering, or mainly humanities and social sciences. In particular, an interest in hardware suggests the EECS route; an interest in double majoring (for example, in math or cognitive science) suggests the L&S route.

The L&S Computer Science program does not admit students to the major as freshmen. Instead, students intending this major are admitted as undeclared majors, and must later declare the Computer Science major upon completion of the technical prerequisite courses with a GPA of 2.0 or better.

At Berkeley, we construe computer science broadly to include complexity theory, the design and analysis of algorithms, machine architecture and logic design, digital devices and circuits, programming systems and languages, operating systems, computer graphics, database systems, and artificial intelligence. Our goal is to prepare students both for a possible research career and long-term technical leadership in industry. We must therefore look beyond today's technology and give students the big ideas and the learning skills that will prepare them to teach themselves about tomorrow's technology.

The B.A. program in Computer Science is not an ABET accredited program.

Info for Prospective L&S CS Students Info for Prospective Undergraduates   Back to top  



Undergraduate Minors

  • The EECS Minor

    The EECS minor, offered through the College of Engineering (COE), is an optional program for students interested in coherent EECS study outside of their major. It is open to any undergraduate who has declared a major other than EECS on the UC Berkeley campus, completed two of the four lower division course requirements, and has a GPA (in required lower division courses) no less than 0.2 points below the Letters & Science Computer Science Major "cutoff" GPA for the semester in which they are applying.

  • The CS Minor

    The minor program is offered through the College of Engineering (COE) and is open to all upper division Berkeley undergraduates with a declared major other than EECS. To be admitted to the CS minor, you must have a declared major in some field and have acquired a grade point average for required technical electives .2 below the cut-off GPA for admission to the major, which differs every semester.

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Five Year Bachelor/Master's Program (B.A./M.S. or B.S./M.S.)

This program, beginning Fall 2006, is available only to Berkeley EECS and CS L&S Undergraduates. It is a five year combined Bachelor/Master's program geared toward outstanding and highly motivated students who desire a program of study that offers greater breadth than is practical in the B.S. or B.A. programs alone. The M.S. component of this program is equivalent to the "M.S.-only" program described below, except that there is an additional breadth requirement.

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Master of Science (M.S.)

The Master of Science (M.S.) emphasizes research preparation and experience, and for most students is a chance to lay the groundwork for pursuing a PhD. It requires either a research thesis (Plan I) or a report on a research project (Plan II). It is possible to complete the M.S. degree in a single academic year, but most students take three to four semesters while they are also filling in undergraduate prerequisites they may be missing, preparing for PhD preliminary exam, and becoming involved in a research group. The Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) below is specifically designed as a professional masters for students planning to immediately join the engineering profession without pursuing a PhD. The following types of M.S. degrees are offered:

  • M.S. in Engineering

    For EE students with a B.S. degree in one of the accredited engineering curricula or who have satisfied the equivalent of a B.S. degree as determined by the department.

  • M.S. in Computer Science

    For CS students with a B.S. in computer science or as determined by the department.

    The CS "M.S. Only" Program

    An MS-only program is available in both EE and CS, but admits very few students. It is appropriate for research-oriented students who may have particular reasons not to continue on to the PhD immediately or who want to try their hand at research without committing to the Ph.D. We do not guarantee any sort of financial support for M.S.-only students. The M.S.-only requirements are identical to those of the M.S. that is regularly obtained by Ph.D. students along the way, including a mandatory research project with written report or thesis. Applicants to the M.S.-only program are considered separately from those applying for a Ph.D. and can later apply for admission for the Ph.D., where they will be considered in competition with other Ph.D. applicants.

EECS Graduate Admissions EECS Graduate Handbook EE and CS Graduate Student Affairs   Back to top  



Master of Engineering (M.Eng)

The Master of Engineering (M.Eng.), first offered by the EECS Department in the 2011-12 academic year, is a professional masters with a larger tuition, and is designed for students who plan to join the engineering profession immediately following graduation. The accelerated program is designed to develop professional engineering leaders of the future who understand the technical, economic, and social issues of technology. This one-academic year interdisciplinary experience includes three major components: an area of technical concentration, courses in leadership skills, and a rigorous capstone project experience. More information about this degree program can be found at the M.Eng. Program description and the College of Engineering Fung Institute. Students planning to pursue a PhD degree should consider the Master of Science (M.S.) degree above.

Master of Engineering Program Application Deadline: December 14, 2011 at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.

Areas of Concentration:

When you apply, you will be asked to specify the Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering or the Masters of Engineering in Computer Science as well as your desired area of concentration.

Electrical Engineering

Physical Electronics: Prepares you for engineering careers in industries needing an understanding of state-of-the-art devices and design techniques used in today’s most advanced integrated circuits.

Robotics & Embedded Software: Prepares you for engineering careers in industries applying robotics and embedded software to markets for manufacturing, automation, process control, automotive, aerospace, medical instruments, entertainment and other fields.

Signal Processing and Communications: Prepares you for engineering careers in industries applying signal processing or communications. Markets include wireless communication, computer networking, entertainment, video processing, biomedical, etc. Applicants to this area should choose Signal Processing (SP) as their area of study.

Computer Science

Visual Computing & Computer Graphics: Prepares you for engineering careers in industries applying advanced computer graphics, computer-aided design, human-computer interaction and methods to markets for education and training, entertainment, commerce, design and manufacturing, electronic journalism and similar fields.

Robotics & Embedded Software: Prepares you for engineering careers in industries applying robotics and embedded software to markets for manufacturing, automation, process control, automotive, aerospace, medical instruments, entertainment and other fields.

For information about this professional, accelerated degree program please see the Master of Engineering homepage.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

The EECS Department offers two types of Ph.D. degrees awarded to students under the same conditions as the corresponding M.S. degrees (above). The principal requirements for the Ph.D. are (I) coursework (a major field and two minor fields), (II) departmental preliminary requirement (oral exam and breadth courses) which are different for EE and CS, (V) the qualifying exam, and (IX) the dissertation. There is no foreign language requirement. The EECS Department requires that a student establish a major subject area and two minor subject areas. The median time of completion for the Ph.D. is five and a half years. The following degrees are offered:

  • Ph.D. in Engineering - EECS

  • Ph.D. in Computer Science


Designated Emphasis

Ph.D. students may choose to add a designated emphasis to their program. A designated emphasis is a specialization, such as a new method of inquiry or an important field of application, which is relevant to two or more existing doctoral degree programs. Designated emphases are available in:

The Management of Technology (MOT) Certificate Program

A joint effort between the College of Engineering and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. MOT is the largest interdisciplinary program at UC Berkeley, with classes and fellowship programs made up of roughly an equal number of MBA students and Engineering M.S. and Ph.D. students. An associated MOT Certificate program allows graduate students to specialize in the Management of Technology as they obtain their degrees.

   
EECS Graduate Admissions EECS Graduate Handbook EE and CS Graduate Student Affairs   Back to top