Electrical and Computer Engineering – Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Return to: USC Viterbi School of Engineering  

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hughes Aircraft Electrical
Engineering Center 100
(213) 740-4446 or (213) 740-7874
FAX: (213) 740-4449 or FAX: (213) 740-8677
Email: ece.studentservices@usc.edu or eepdept@usc.edu

Chair: Richard M. Leahy, PhD*

Vice Chair: Michelle Povinelli, PhD

Associate Chair (Graduate Programs): Peter Beerel, PhD

Associate Chair (Undergraduate Programs): Mark Redekopp, MS

Presidential Chair: Andrew J. Viterbi, PhD

A.V. “Bal” Balakrishnan Chair: Petros Ioannou, PhD

Kenneth C. Dahlberg Early Career Chair: Rahul Jain, PhD

Solomon Golomb - Andrew and Erna Viterbi Chair: Andreas Molisch, PhD

Ming Hsieh Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering Systems: Chung Chieh Jay Kuo, PhD

Ming Hsieh Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering-Electrophysics: Mahta Moghaddam, PhD

Lloyd F. Hunt Chair in Electrical Power Engineering: Murali Annavaram, PhD 

Gordon S. Marshall Chair in Engineering: Urbashi Mitra, PhD

Jack Munushian Early Career Chair: Paul Bogdan, PhD

Niki and Max Nikias Chair in Engineering: Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan, PhD

Robert C. Packard President’s Chair and Malcolm R. Currie Chair in Technology and the Humanities: C. L. Max Nikias, PhD

Colleen and Roberto Padovani Early Career Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Rehan Kapadia, PhD

George Pfleger Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Timothy Pinkston, PhD

Charles Lee Powell Chair in Engineering: Viktor Prasanna, PhD

Charles Lee Powell Chair in Engineering and Computer Science: Massoud Pedram, PhD

Steven and Kathryn Sample Chair in Engineering: Demetrios Christodoulides, PhD

Alexander A. Sawchuk Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Maryam Shanechi, PhD

Arthur G. Settle Trust Endowment for USC Leonard Silverman Chair: Richard M. Leahy, PhD*

Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair: Constantine Sideris, PhD

Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair: Mahdi Soltanolkotabi, PhD

Fred H. Cole Professorship in Engineering: Gianluca Lazzi, PhD

Arthur B. Freeman Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Joshua Yang, PhD

Gabilan Distinguished Professorship in Science and Engineering: Michelle Povinelli, PhD 

William M. Hogue Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Eun Sok Kim, PhD

Stephen and Etta Varra Professor: Leana Golubchik, PhD

Dean’s Professor: Salman Avestimehr, PhD

Dean’s Professor: Krishna Nayak, PhD

Dean’s Professor: Antonio Ortega, PhD

Dean’s Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Urbashi Mitra, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science: Chung-Chieh Jay Kuo, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Mahta Moghaddam, PhD

Provost Professor of Opthamology and Electrical and Computer Engineering: Gianluca Lazzi, PhD

University Professor: Shri Narayanan, PhD

Gabilan Assistant Professor: Feifei Qian, PhD

Gabilan Assistant Professor: Mengjie Yu, PhD

Ming Hsieh Faculty Fellow in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Hossein Hashemi, PhD

Ming Hsieh Faculty Fellow in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Bhaskar Krishnamachari, PhD

Viterbi Professorship in Engineering: Daniel Lidar, PhD

Professors: Murali Annavaram, PhD (Computer Science); Salman Avestimehr, PhD; Peter Beerel, PhD; Todd Brun, PhD (Computer Science, Physics and Astronomy); Michael Shuo-Wei Chen, PhD; Demetrios Christodoulides, PhD; Keith M. Chugg, PhD; Stephen B. Cronin, PhD (Physics); Leana Golubchik, PhD (Computer Science); Sandeep Gupta, PhD; Hossein Hashemi, PhD; Petros Ioannou, PhD (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering); Rahul Jain, PhD (Computer Science, Industrial and Systems Engineering); B. Keith Jenkins, PhD; Mihailo Jovanovic, PhD (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering); Mercedeh Khajavikhan, PhD; Eun Sok Kim, PhD; Bart Kosko, PhD (Law); Bhaskar Krishnamachari, PhD (Computer Science); Chung-Chieh Jay Kuo, PhD (Computer Science); Gianluca Lazzi, PhD (Ophthalmology); Richard Leahy, PhD* (Biomedical Engineering, Radiology); Anthony F. J. Levi, PhD (Physics); Daniel Lidar, PhD (Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy); Urbashi Mitra, PhD (Computer Science); Mahta Moghaddam, PhD; Andreas Molisch, PhD; Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan, PhD (Computer Science, Linguistics, Pediatrics, Psychology, Otolaryngology); Krishna Nayak, PhD (Biomedical Engineering, Radiology); Michael Neely, PhD; C. L. Max Nikias, PhD (Classics); Antonio Ortega, PhD; Massoud Pedram, PhD; Timothy Pinkston, PhD; Michelle Povinelli, PhD; Viktor Prasanna, PhD (Computer Science); Konstantinos Psounis, PhD (Computer Science); C. Raghavendra, PhD (Computer Science); Maryam M. Shanechi, PhD (Biomedical Engineering); Andrew J. Viterbi, PhD; Alan E. Willner, PhD*; Wei Wu, PhD; J. Joshua Yang, PhD; Chongwu Zhou, PhD

Associate Professors: Paul Bogdan, PhD; Justin Haldar, PhD (Biomedical Engineering); Rehan Kapadia, PhD; Christos Kyriakakis, PhD; Ashutosh Nayyar, PhD; Aluizio Prata Jr., PhD*; Paria Rashidinejad, PhD; Benjamin W. Reichardt, PhD (Computer Science); Mahdi Soltanolkotabi, PhD (Computer Science)

Assistant Professors: Corey Baker, PhD; Somil Bansal, PhD; Chia Wei Wade Hsu, PhD; Yasser Khan, PhD; Feifei Qian, PhD (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering); Constantine Sideris, PhD; Christopher Torng, PhD; Stephen Tu, PhD; Mengjie Yu, PhD; Quntao Zhuang, PhD

Professors of Electrical and Computer Engineering Practice: Mohammed Beshir, PhD; Gandhi Puvvada, MS*; Mark Redekopp, MS (Computer Science)*

Associate Professors of Electrical and Computer Engineering Practice: Shahin Nazarian, PhD; Allan Weber, PhD

Senior Lecturers: Brandon Franzke, PhD; Susan Schober, PhD

Lecturer: Ali Zahid, PhD

Research Associate Professors: Wael AbdAlmageed, PhD; Stephen Crago, PhD; Anand Joshi, PhD

Research Assistant Professors: Zaijun Chen, PhD; Jonathan Habif, PhD; Ajitesh Srivastava, PhD

Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Practice: George Papavassilopoulos, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Practice: Arash Saifhashemi, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Practice: Moe Tabar, PhD

Adjunct Research Professors: Giuseppe Caire, PhD; Ming Hsieh, PhD (Medicine); Rajgopal Kannan, PhD; Murali Kota, PhD; Willie Ng, PhD

Adjunct Research Associate Professors: Alexandros Potamianos, PhD; P. Thomas Vernier, PhD

Adjunct Research Assistant Professor: Bindu Madhavan, PhD

Emeritus Professors: P. Daniel Dapkus, PhD (Materials Science); Martin Gundersen, PhD (Materials Science, Physics); Edmond Jonckheere, PhD; Hans H. Kuehl, PhD*; William C. Lindsey, PhD; Jerry Mendel, PhD; Alice C. Parker, PhD*; Michael J. Safonov, PhD; Alexander A. Sawchuk, PhD*; Robert A. Scholtz, PhD; Leonard M. Silverman, PhD; John Silvester, PhD; William H. Steier, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering Practice: Edward W. Maby, PhD

Emeritus Instructor: Sidney A. Wielin, BS

Research Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Sanjit Mitra, PhD

Joint Faculty

Joint Professors: Andrea M. Armani, PhD (Chemical Engineering and Materials Science); Ramesh Govindan, PhD (Computer Science); Ellis Horowitz, PhD (Computer Science); Behnam Jafarpour, PhD (Chemical Engineering and Materials Science); Gianluca Lazzi, PhD (Keck Ophthamology); Yan Liu, PhD (Computer Science); Jia Grace Lu, PhD (Physics); Anupam Madhukar, PhD (Chemical Engineering and Materials Science); Ellis Meng, PhD (Biomedical Engineering); Ulrich Neumann, PhD (Computer Science); Ramakant Nevatia, PhD (Computer Science); Suvrajeet Sen, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Cyrus Shahabi, PhD (Computer Science); Gaurav Sukhatme, PhD (Computer Science); Paul Thompson, PhD (Ophthalmology); Arthur Toga, PhD (Ophthalmology); Francisco Valero-Cuevas, PhD (Biomedical Engineering); Curt F. Wittig, PhD (Chemistry, Physics); Stanley M. Yamashiro, PhD (Biomedical Engineering)

Joint Associate Professors: Barath Raghavan, PhD (Computer Science); Ketan Savla, PhD (Civil and Environmental Engineering); Yonggang Shi, PhD (Neurology)

Joint Assistant Professors: Eli Levenson-Falk, PhD; Jayakanth Ravichandran, PhD (Chemical Engineering and Materials Science); Meisam Razaviyayn, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Jongseung Yoon, PhD (Chemical Engineering, Materials Science)

Joint Research Assistant Professor: Mohammad Rostami, PhD (CS)

Joint Emeritus Professors: Michael Arbib, PhD (Computer Science, Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering); George A. Bekey, PhD (Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering); Aristides Requicha, PhD (Computer Science)

*Recipient of university-wide or school teaching award.

Electrical Engineering Honor Society: Eta Kappa Nu

Degree Requirements

Undergraduate Program Educational Objectives

The electrical and computer engineering program objectives are designed to promote technical competence, professional development and citizenship in the global community. Graduates of the undergraduate program in electrical and computer engineering are expected to attain the following objectives within a few years of graduation:

Technical Competence

Graduates will apply their technical skills in mathematics, science and engineering to the solution of complex problems encountered in modern electrical and computer engineering practice.

Graduates will model, analyze, design and experimentally evaluate components or systems that achieve desired technical specifications subject to the reality of economic constraints.

Professional Development

Graduates will compete effectively in a world of rapid technological change and assume leadership roles within industrial, entrepreneurial, academic or governmental environments in the broad context of electrical and computer engineering.

Some graduates who choose to redirect their careers will be employed in diverse fields such as healthcare, business, law, computer science, multimedia and music through graduate-level studies and the process of lifelong learning.

Citizenship in the Global Community

Graduates will have established the foundations for critical thinking that are needed to broaden or redirect their careers in diverse disciplines such as business, health care and the arts through graduate-level studies and/or the process of life-long leaning.

Graduates will adhere to highly ethical practices, and they will make exemplary engineering decisions that balance economic, environmental and societal factors for the betterment of the global community.

Undergraduate Program Criteria

The program leading to a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering provides both breadth and depth across the range of engineering topics implied by the title. The curriculum includes probability and statistics, including appropriate applications; mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and advanced mathematics, such as differential equations, linear algebra, complex variables and discrete mathematics; sciences (defined as biological, chemical or physical science); and engineering topics (including computing science) necessary to analyze and design complex electrical and electronic devices, software and systems containing hardware and software components.

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Computer Science

See the listing under Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science .

Master of Science in Computer Engineering

See the listing under Computer Engineering Program .

Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Engineering

See the listing under Computer Engineering Program .

Minor in Music Recording

A minor in music recording is offered through the USC Thornton School of Music to provide undergraduate students with the background necessary to enter the field of recording engineering and to familiarize them with the design needs of modern recording equipment. The minor is recommended to electrical and computer engineering majors with extensive musical training who would like to combine their technical and musical abilities while learning the engineering applications of physical and mathematical principles to the art of music recording. See the listing under the USC Thornton School of Music .

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Electric Power)

See listing in the Sustainable Infrastructure Systems Program  section.

Master of Science in Systems Architecting and Engineering

See the listing under Systems Architecting and Engineering Program .

Financial Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering Building 100
(213) 740-4447
FAX: (213) 740-4449
Email: studentinfo@ee.usc.edu
Faculty Contact: Professor Petros Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu

Second Master’s Degree

A graduate student who already holds a master’s degree from USC may apply up to 4 units toward a second master’s degree with the permission of the chair of the major department. All credit, including the transferred units, must be earned within seven calendar years.

For students who earned their first master’s degree at another institution, no course work may be repeated from the first program of study and no unit credit from the first program of study may be counted toward the second master’s degree.

Engineer in Electrical Engineering

Requirements for the Engineer in Electrical Engineering are the same as those listed under Engineer degree, except that both areas of concentration must be in electrical and computer engineering.

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

• •  Electrical and Computer Engineering (BS)

Minor

• •  Internet of Things Engineering Minor

Master’s Degree

• •  Applied Physics (MS)
• •  Computer Engineering (MS)
• •  Electrical and Computer Engineering (Analog, Mixed-Signal and Radio-frequency Integrated Circuits) (MS)
• •  Electrical and Computer Engineering (Hardware Systems for Machine Learning) (MS)
• •  Electrical and Computer Engineering (Machine Learning and Data Science) (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering (Computer Architecture) (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering (Computer Networks) (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering (Electric Power) (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering (VLSI Design) (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering (Wireless Networks) (MS)
• •  Electrical Engineering/Engineering Management (MS)
• •  Financial Engineering (MS)
• •  Quantum Information Science (MS)

Graduate Certificate

• •  Technology for National Security Graduate Certificate

Doctoral Degree

• •  Computer Engineering (PhD)
• •  Electrical Engineering (PhD)

Courses

Electrical Engineering

• •  EE 105 Introduction to Electrical Engineering
• •  EE 109L Introduction to Embedded Systems
• •  EE 141L Applied Linear Algebra for Engineering
• •  EE 155L Introduction to Computer Programming for Electrical Engineers
• •  EE 202L Linear Circuits
• •  EE 250L Distributed Systems for the Internet of Things
• •  EE 301L Linear Systems
• •  EE 322 Introduction to Digital Audio and Acoustics
• •  EE 326Lx Essentials of Electrical Engineering
• •  EE 337L Engineering Nano-Systems
• •  EE 338 Physical Electronics
• •  EE 348L Electronic Circuits
• •  EE 352L Computer Organization and Architecture
• •  EE 354L Introduction to Digital Circuits
• •  EE 355x Software Design for Electrical Engineers
• •  EE 364 Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• •  EE 370L Electromagnetics for Engineering Systems
• •  EE 390 Special Problems
• •  EE 415 Introduction to Microelectromechanical Systems
• •  EE 434Lx Digital Signal Processing Design Laboratory
• •  EE 436 Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics
• •  EE 439 Principles of Semiconductor Processing
• •  EE 443 Introduction to Power Systems
• •  EE 444 Power Systems Technology
• •  EE 445 Introduction to Robotics
• •  EE 447Lx Mixed Signal Electronic Circuits
• •  EE 448L Communication Electronics
• •  EE 450 Introduction to Computer Networks
• •  EE 451 Parallel and Distributed Computation
• •  EE 452L Game Hardware Architectures
• •  EE 453 Computing Platforms and Paradigms
• •  EE 454L Introduction to System-on-Chip
• •  EE 455x Introduction to Programming Systems Design
• •  EE 457 Computer Systems Organization
• •  EE 459Lx Embedded Systems Design Laboratory
• •  EE 460 Machine Learning for Engineers
• •  EE 467 Introduction to Communication Systems
• •  EE 471 Applied Quantum Mechanics for Engineers
• •  EE 475 Wireless Communication Technology
• •  EE 476 Chemical Engineering Materials
• •  EE 477L MOS VLSI Circuit Design
• •  EE 481 Control Systems Laboratory
• •  EE 482 Linear Control Systems
• •  EE 483 Introduction to Digital Signal Processing
• •  EE 484x Communication System Design
• •  EE 490x Directed Research
• •  EE 492a Undergraduate Project
• •  EE 492b Undergraduate Project
• •  EE 494a Undergraduate Thesis
• •  EE 494b Undergraduate Thesis
• •  EE 496 Capstone Design
• •  EE 499 Special Topics
• •  EE 501 Solid State
• •  EE 502 Advanced Solid State
• •  EE 503 Probability for Electrical and Computer Engineers
• •  EE 504L Solid-State Processing and Integrated Circuits Laboratory
• •  EE 505 Analog, Mixed-Signal, and RF Integrated-Circuit Tape-Out
• •  EE 506 Semiconductor Physics
• •  EE 507 Micro- and Nano-Fabrication Technology
• •  EE 508 Hardware Foundations of Machine Learning
• •  EE 509 Nanophotonics and Metamaterials
• •  EE 510 Linear Algebra for Engineering
• •  EE 511 Machine Learning Hardware Accelerators
• •  EE 512 Stochastic Processes for Financial Engineering
• •  EE 513 Solid State Energy Devices
• •  EE 514 Quantum Error Correction
• •  EE 515 Quantum Sensing: Machine Learning, Inference and Information
• •  EE 516 High-Voltage DC Transmission Systems
• •  EE 517 Statistics and Data Analysis for Engineers
• •  EE 518 Mathematics and Tools for Financial Engineering
• •  EE 519 Speech Recognition and Processing for Multimedia
• •  EE 520 Introduction to Quantum Information Processing
• •  EE 521 Power Systems Analysis and Design
• •  EE 522 Spatial Audio for Real and Virtual Spaces
• •  EE 523 Advanced Biomedical Imaging
• •  EE 525 Power System Protection
• •  EE 526 Renewable Energy in Power Systems
• •  EE 527 Net-Centric Power-System Control
• •  EE 528 Power Electronics
• •  EE 529 Optics
• •  EE 530 Optical Materials, Instruments and Devices
• •  EE 531 Nonlinear Optics
• •  EE 532 Wireless Internet and Pervasive Computing
• •  EE 533 Network Processor Design and Programming
• •  EE 534 Materials Characterization
• •  EE 535 Wireless Communications
• •  EE 536a Analog Integrated Circuits
• •  EE 536b Analog Integrated Circuits
• •  EE 537 Modern Solid-State Devices
• •  EE 538 Computing Principles for Electrical Engineers
• •  EE 539 Engineering Quantum Mechanics
• •  EE 540 Introduction to Quantum Electronics
• •  EE 541 A Computational Introduction to Deep Learning
• •  EE 542 Internet and Cloud Computing
• •  EE 543 Digital Control Systems
• •  EE 544 Radio Frequency Systems and Hardware
• •  EE 545 Robotics
• •  EE 546 Mathematics of High-Dimensional Data
• •  EE 547 Applied and Cloud Computing for Electrical Engineers
• •  EE 548 Analytical Methods in Robotics