Thursday, January 27, 2011

Electrical Engineering Department

This is the Third in a 5 part blog post series about every single department we have at Discovery Park.

UNT's College of Engineering at Discovery Park has 5 departments, each significantly different from the other, but with a few similarities.

  1. Materials Science and Engineering
  2. Computer Science and Engineering
  3. Electrical Engineering
  4. Engineering Technology
  5. Mechanical and Energy Engineering


As the name implies, Electrical Engineering has everything to do with electricity. Elements of Physics and Chemistry are also applied in this field, as well as computer science, digital logic, mathematics, and even Understanding the Human Community. OK so that one is just thrown in there by the University as a requirement to graduate, but it's all part of a well rounded education I guess. An EE Degree plan has you sitting at about 15 hours per semester. In case you're not familiar with semester hours, here's a brief summary - each class you take represents a certain number of hours. 12 hours of classes in one semester is considered full time. I believe 19 hours is the max any student is allowed to take. Most classes are three hours - that is - you'll be spending about 3 hours in that class every week, not including homework time. A Physics class though, for example, is 4 hours - 1 extra hour for the lab.

Look at how much fun they're having!!!

Anyway, with a degree in EE, you could find yourself working at any minor or major engineering firm, tech company, design company, the government, work in electronic systems in computers, household appliances, televisions, communications equipment, automobiles, airplanes, missiles, sub munitions, satellites and even space shuttles. Electrical Engineers are the guys who gave us calculators, wireless internet, cell phones, (HD/3D)TVs, etc. This requires understanding of electronic circuits, measurement systems, digital and analog signal processing, control systems, computer-aided design, microprocessors, video and image processing, and wireless communication (Source). Master's degrees are also highly encouraged.

So come out here and get your EE degree. The EE department is ABET accredited, by the way, so you can legally call yourself a full on Engineer. That title is reserved by law for only those who deserve it!

Also, in case you need any more encouragement, EEs make anywhere from 82-$160K a year. And your job prospects are great too! Worried about the economy? Don't be, in Electrical Engineering.