Imagine a world where humans have established a base station on the moon and launched
a mission to Mars. Think of a place where renewable energy sources supply most of
our electric power needs and electric vehicles roam the roads. Picture a future where
6G communication make digital transmission of data faster, where new electrical materials
increase the resolution of smartphone cameras, and wearable electronics monitor our
health condition in real-time. As an electrical engineer, you will be empowered to
make these visions reality.
15:1
Student to Faculty Ratio
$77K
Average starting salary for our undergraduates in a full time engineering position
Electrical engineering is a diverse field that embraces many specialty areas. Experience hands-on, active learning in the following areas.
EXPLORE EACH AREA
EXPLORE EACH AREA USING THE DROPDOWN
Overview
Below is an overview of each of the specialty areas of study. Click on the individual area tabs to explore each area in depth.
Designing biomedical instruments, such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines;
collecting, processing and analyzing biomedical signals; develop biomedical devices,
such as pace makers.
Biomedical
Designing telecommunication systems such as next generation cell phone systems; developing
wireless networks for various applications, such wireless sensor networks, vehicular
networks, and unmanned aerial vehicle networks.
Communications
Designing integrated circuits (ICs) for computers and other digital systems, such
as cell phones, space shuttle controllers, industrial automation systems, etc.
Computers & Digital Circuit Design
A system of devices that manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of
other devices to achieve desired results. It can be used to control the operations
of a wide range of systems in various scales, such as power grids, industrial automation
system, autonomous driving, guided missiles, etc.
Control Systems
Analyzing, modifying, and synthesizing signals such as sound, images by using statistical
methods or artificial intelligence. It has wide range of applications such as image
processing, cancer detection, power grid cybersecurity, audio signal synthesis, etc.
Digital Signal Processing/Artificial Intelligence
The design and production of enclosures for electronic devices ranging from individual
semiconductor devices up to complete systems such as a mainframe computer.
Electronic Packaging
Designing and fabricating microscopic electronic and photonic devices on the scale
of micrometer or nanometers. It is one of the most in-demand field of electronics
because of the ever-increasing demand for inexpensive and lightweight equipment.
Micro-Electronics/Photonics
Developing devices and systems for radio frequency (RF), microwave, and Terahertz
applications, such as antennas, biomedical imaging, radars, space and environment
sensing, telecommunications, etc.
RF, Microwaves, and Terahertz
An integrated circuit (IC) is a small chip consisting of a large number of microscopic
semiconductor devices. It is used in almost all modern electronic systems, such as
computers, cell phones, appliances, instruments, land/air/space vehicles, etc.
Semiconductor Devices & Integrated Circuits
Biomedical
This includes MRI machines, CAT scanners, new types of imaging for breast cancer detection.
Medical Imaging
Artificial retinas for the blind, Cochlear implants for the deaf, and prosthetic limbs
controlled directly by the mind are examples of neural interfaces.
Neural and Brain Interfaces
Micro-fluidic MEMs systems may soon lead to a revolution in the design of new drugs
for treating diseases. Micro-fluidic systems may be able to generate and test thousands
of new compounds per hour in the search for new drugs.
Micro-electromechanical (MEMs) Systems
Communications
This includes cell phones, smartphones, and wireless internet.
Wireless Communications
Optical fibers, thinner than a human hair, form the backbone of the internet.
Optical Communications
Routers are the hardware and software that direct internet signals to the correct
destinations.
Design of Internet Routers
Protocols are the automated procedures and algorithms, implemented in computers, that
make the internet possible.
Design of Internet Protocols
Waves in the air, produced by antennas, received by antennas, and then interpreted
by electronics to produce everyday entertainment.
Radio and Television
Computer & Digital Circuit Design
Workstations, P.C.s and Apple Computers, tablet and pocket P.C.s, supercomputers,
and server farms - such as those maintained by Google.
Stand Alone Computers
Small computers embedded in other equipment. Examples include TV's, video games, DVR's,
medical equipment such as MRI's and CAT scanners, car engines and airplane navigation,
GPS devices, factory equipment and cell phones.
Embedded Computers
Most of the circuitry in televisions, factory equipment, and cell phones are digital,
although crucial parts of cell phones are analog. Almost everything relating to the
internet is a combination of special purpose digital circuitry and computers. Nearly
everything electronic has a digital component.
Most Other Electronic Devices
Control Systems
Controls the plane's control surfaces to keep the plane flying steadily. Control systems
may one day automatically land airplanes. Unmanned drones are controlled mainly by
automatic control systems.
Airplane Autopilots
Controls the brakes on all four wheels of a car in such a way that the car is prevented
from spinning out of control on sharp curves and turns. It uses single wheel braking
to help the car go where the driver wants it to go without spinning out of control.
Stability Control in Automobiles
Image stabilization in a video camera controls the motion of a tiny mirror in the
camera so that it compensates for jitter in the hands holding the camera. Image stabilization
in a camera looking down on a football game from a blimp compensates for the motion
of the blimp in the wind.
Image Stabilization
The autofocus circuitry in a camera controls the motion of the lense to bring the
image into sharp focus.
Autofocusing of Cameras
The positions of tools and grippers in industrial equipment must often be precisely
controlled.
Position Control in Robotics and other Industrial Equipment
Automatic control systems control such variables as temperature and flow rate in chemical
plants to achieve optimum performance.
Chemical Plants
Digital Signal Processing/Artificial Intelligence
For sorting mail, reading amounts on checks, reading and processing documents, or
interpreting for the blind.
Reading Print and Handwriting
For vocal control of computers and text entry in computers, especially small portable
computers with limited keyboards.
Speech Recognition
Finding genes and control patterns in DNA, finding similarities in genes and in proteins,
and finding genetic patterns of cancers.
Biotechnology
Efficient effective control of robot arms, vision for robots, autonomous or semi-autonomous
robots that need little supervision or bipedal humanoid robots that can walk and run
safely and efficiently.
Robotics
For carrying supplies in military convoys, for space exploration, or for safer highways.
Autonomous Vehicles
Automatic takeoff and landing, even semi-autonomous pilot-less drones.
Airplane Autopilots
Machines that can operate with less human supervision, machines with vision and some
intelligence that can deal with variability better than current machinery, and real-time
machine inspection for product flaws.
Better Factory Automation
Recognizing terrorists, recognizing bombs, and any other weapons.
Anti-Terrorism
Search engine companies are trying to create search engines that understand to some
extent the documents they are cataloging, and respond to natural language queries
instead of just looking for keywords.
Internet Search Engines
Internet routers use artificial intelligence for routing messages.
Internet Routers
Studying ways to produce machine intelligence often sheds light on how the human brain
works. Many advances in psychology, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence have
resulted from applying knowledge from one of these fields to another.
Understanding How the Human Brain Works
Electronic Packaging
Portable electronic devices like cell phones and iPods need to be as small as possible
for convenience. In order to obtain high performance, a large amount of complex circuitry
must be put into a very small package. Most of the circuitry in such devices consist
of integrated circuit chips connected together by nearly microscopic metal film wires.
Electronic packaging is the art of packing as many integrated circuit chips as possible
into a very small package and wiring them together. In addition to saving space, packing
chips close together inside a single package can improve performance by increasing
speed and decreasing interference. The High-Density Electronics Center (HiDEC) at the University of Arkansas is devoted to research in electronic packaging.
Micro-Electronics / Photonics
Micro-Electronics/Photonics (MicroEP) is a joint program between Electrical Engineering
and the Physics Department. As the name suggests, this program emphasizes microelectronics
and optical electronics. It also has a fairly strong emphasis on engineering management.
MicroEP offers an undergraduate minor, and at the graduate level it offers M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees.
Power Systems
Electrical engineers in the power area design the power distribution system that connects
homes and factories to power plants. Much work is being done currently on decreasing the
frequency of blackouts.
Design of Power Distribution Networks
Power engineers design the circuitry that controls high power semiconductor devices
of all kinds. The electronic circuitry in windmills and solar farms used for renewable
energy has a large impact on performance, as does the circuitry in electric cars.
Design of Power Electronic Interfaces
Power engineers design the motors and generators used in homes and in industry. The
motors and generators in an electric or hybrid car are a key part of the vehicle.
Design of Motors and Generators
RF, Microwaves, & Terahertz
Radar is used for tracking aircraft and missiles. Airborne radar is used for mapping
the earth and locating natural resources. Whether radar tracks storms and provides
storm warnings.
Radar
Cell phones and wireless internet operate using microwaves. The designers of this
equipment must design circuitry that produces, detects, and manipulates microwaves.
Cell Phones and Wireless Internet
Specialists in electromagnetic fields and waves are the people who design antennas.
Antennas
Work is being done on using microwaves to detect breast cancer.
Medical Imaging
Semiconductor Devices & Integrated Circuits
A process engineer studies physics, chemistry, and material science. The process engineer
designs the physical and chemical processes that are used to create a semiconductor
device or integrated circuit. This work is mostly applied to physics and chemistry.
Processing
A chip designer designs and lays out the circuitry on an integrated circuit chip.
The physical and chemical processes used are given to them by process engineers, and
he or she designs the circuitry on the chip and does the physical layout.
Electrical engineering professor Magda El-Shenawee’s effort to develop a more accurate
and less-invasive method for detecting breast cancer will benefit from a $424,545
grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Mantooth Named to Arkansas Future Mobility Advisory Council. "We are here today to
take a step into the future of mobility," which will "impact the options in transportation
and supply chain deliveries for generations to come."
Dereje Woldegiorgis and Yuqi Wei, earned best presentations at the Applied Power Electronics
Conference. Woldegiorgis won for his presentation "Simple Carrier Based Capacitor Voltage Balancing
Technique for Three-Level Voltage Source Inverters." Wei won two awards for presentations
titled "A Fast and Accurate Simulation Tool for LLC Converters" and "A Family of LLC
Converters with Magnetic Control."
Dereje Woldegiorgis and Yuqi Wei, Doctoral Students
Fact: Electrical Engineering covers a wide range of topics in math, science and engineering.
If you are someone who enjoys math and science, and you enjoy solving problems, then
you’ll probably find electrical engineering relatively easy to study.
Myth: Electrical Engineers work at power utility companies.
Fact: Electrical engineers are in high demands in a wide range of fields, such as aerospace,
biomedical instrumentation, electrical vehicles, embedded systems, radars and antennas,
nanotechnology, robotics and automations, semiconductor and microelectronics, smart
grid and renewable energy, and telecommunications, etc.
Myth: You should study Computer Engineering if you want to design computer chips.
Fact: Electrical engineering has the subfield of digital integrated circuit (IC), which
focuses on the design of computer chips that can be used in computers and other digital
systems, such as cell phones, space shuttle controllers, industrial automation systems,
etc.
Myth: Electrical engineering jobs will be outsourced.
Fact: Electrical engineering is an indispensable discipline and it plays an essential role
in continuously improving the critical infrastructure and economic development of
US. EE-related jobs are in high demands in the US, such as smart grid, sustainable
energy sources, telecommunication networks, microelectronics and semiconductors, aerospace,
industrial control and automations, radars and sensors, military applications, etc.
Electrical Engineering vs Computer Engineering, What's the Difference?
Electrical Engineering
The study and design of electrical and electronic systems, including computer hardware,
circuits, wireless communications, robotics, power and energy, optics, nanotechnology,
control, electromagnetics and more.
It can include subsets like computer engineering and hardware engineering.
Lower-level hardware oriented, with some programming and algorithm development.
Computer Engineering
The study and design of computer hardware and software, and embedded systems. Engineers
design computer hardware, such as hard drives and memory units.
Computer engineers often assist with the software engineering process as experts on
the hardware they build.