Engineer the electrical future with North America’s elite universities

12 Feb 2019

Take a second to look around you. You’d be hard-pressed to find an object that has not been touched or designed to some extent by an engineer. From the design of ergonomic chairs in the workplace to the highways you use to travel to school or work, it’s clear that the work of engineers impacts just about every aspect of our lives, whether we realise it or not.

While engineering has many disciplines, one field that continues to be in-demand is electrical engineering. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, “Electrical engineers design, develop, test, and supervise the manufacturing of electrical equipment, such as electric motors, radar and navigation systems, communications systems, and power generation equipment.

“Electronics engineers design and develop electronic equipment, including broadcast and communications systems, such as portable music players and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices.”

Our rapidly-advancing technology puts electronic gadgets and tools at the heart of businesses, in addition to changing the way we work in various industries, from healthcare to education. Thus, a degree in electrical engineering can bring pathways of opportunity into companies in various industries as they rely on the power of electrical goods.

Prospective students will be heartened to know that electrical engineering graduates go on to work across a range of sectors, from research and development to manufacturing and education. Meanwhile, electrical engineering is also among the in-demand jobs in countries such as the US, Canada and across Europe.

Despite that, reports suggest that vacancies in this field can be difficult to fill. This makes it pivotal for prospective electrical engineering students or graduates looking to specialise in the area to find universities that prepare industry-ready students.

So, whether you’re an engineering graduate deliberating furthering your studies in the field or a high school graduate looking to pursue an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, below are four leading universities in North America to help you carve out a career in the field.

MIN H. KAO DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE – UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE (UT) AT KNOXVILLE

Students looking for an electrical engineering graduate school will want to consider UT’s Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. It stands among the Top-25 public EECS departments and the premiere EECS department in the state of Tennessee.

This public research institution’s ranking in the 2019 edition of the US News and World Report’s Best Colleges is 33rd in Best Public Engineering Schools. This is in addition to its 301–350^th ranking in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2019.

University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Meanwhile, UT’s Center for Ultra-Wide-Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, is jointly supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy (DoE). This engineering research center involves a consortium of academia, industry and national laboratories and has played a central role in former US President Barack Obama’s goal to overhaul the nation’s power grid.

Its vision is to develop a nationwide or continent-wide transmission grid that is fully-monitored and dynamically-controlled in real-time for high-efficiency, high-reliability, low-cost accommodation of renewable energy sources, full utilization of energy storage and accommodation of responsive load; and as well as a new generation of electric power and energy systems engineering leaders with global perspectives and diverse backgrounds. CURENT’s unique hardware testbed capabilities provide unmatched insight into operating electrical power systems from cars and ships to the national grid.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY – WHITING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is research-centric and offers a dynamic educational program featuring innovative learning opportunities in the classroom, the laboratory, and on student design teams.

Students conduct research and put theories and facts learned in the classroom to work to solve real-world programs under the guidance of faculty members who are leaders in their fields.

Source: Johns Hopkins University

These professors and lecturers are scholars and expert instructors who craft their courses to reflect the latest available knowledge and techniques, ensuring students are adequately equipped to succeed in an evolving and in-demand field. This creates an enriching experience for students, from both a personal and professional perspective.

Prospective undergraduate students can study the BSc in Electrical Engineering while prospective graduate engineering students can choose the comprehensive and flexible Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) degree programme that includes courses from several areas of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Johns Hopkins University is located in Baltimore, Maryland.

The university’s THE World University Rankings 2019 stands at =12, while the school is ranked 18 (tie) in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges Best Engineering Schools.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING – UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

This public research university’s Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department is the largest in the university, with over 2,500 students, 93 full-time faculty members and 50 support staff.

Located in Ontario, Canada, the website notes that all undergraduate students “are in Waterloo’s world-renowned co-operative study programme, participating in up to six four-month work terms that alternate with their study terms. As a result, our students graduate with considerable experience in the practical application of their skills, while gaining comfort and familiarity with the job-seeking and interview skills that are critical to their careers.”

The Electrical Engineering Programme is controlled and administered by the Canadian Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The department’s research prides itself for encompassing all major areas of electrical and computer engineering, and is led by faculty members who are internationally-recognised for their expertise. Many of them hold prestigious awards, such as the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, IEEE Fellowships, Royal Society Fellowships, among others, and research chairs.

University of Waterloo

Prospective undergraduate students can choose to pursue their BASc (Honours) Electrical Engineering programme, while prospective postgraduate students can pursue their Master of Engineering (MEng) or Master of Engineering (MEng) in Electric Power Engineering (online) course.

Waterloo is ranked 201-250^th in the THE World University Rankings 2019.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING FACULTY – UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO (USD)

Located in California, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering will help you thrive academically and professionally.

All engineering students at the school will earn a dual BS/BA degree, which means you’ll embark on your career with a more balanced skill-set than other graduates hitting the job market. Meanwhile, USD’s nationally-ranked programmes for electrical engineering, industrial and systems engineering and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), so you can be assured that it meets the high-quality standards of the profession.

USD notes that engineering majors “have the highest starting salaries and electrical engineers are the most in demand of all engineering disciplines at San Diego high-tech companies.” Electrical engineering graduates go on to have careers in wireless communications, digital data storage and robotics, and more.

Students can also benefit from their small classes which can provide opportunities for students to ask questions while the Catholic-affiliated university’s ranking in the 2019 edition of the US News and World Report’s Best Colleges is currently 85.

*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International