Ph.D. Degrees

The Doctoral Degrees offered in the electrical and computer engineering department can enhance and strengthen a career in industry. The degree is designed for the recent graduate or professional who wishes to expand their engineering knowledge, with or without a thesis, depending on the degree. The degrees emphasize practical aspects of engineering, along with management and communication coursework, allowing graduates to rapidly advance in their career.

The degrees are a bridge to industry, designed to provide advanced learning and specialized training in the applied aspects of ECE technology.

Your success is at the forefront, with a variety of programs in-place to help you succeed as a researcher. These include panels and workshops covering research skills, Ph.D. careers in academia or industry, technical communication, and job hunting.

 

Purposeful Academics

Programs at NC State provide a variety of excellent education and research opportunities for outstanding students from around the world. With constant feedback from employers and alumni, our courses are carefully designed—including complex projects, demonstrable knowledge and real-world skills. Employers know our graduates are ready to be productive from their first day at work.

4-Year Funding Guarantee

Central to the mission of NC State ECE is the preparation of graduates to meet the country’s need for advanced technical knowledge, equipped with the skills and ingenuity to advance society. Our Ph.D. students are vital to this mission, and we are proud to conditionally guarantee a funded academic appointment for all Ph.D. students for their first four years.

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Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering

With a robust Ph.D. program, our students are a critical part of a nationally recognized research program in power electronics, power systems, nanoelectronics, photonics, communications, controls and robotics, signal processing, and machine learning.

Students develop the analytical, technical and engineering design skills necessary to innovate and create electronic components, sensors and systems which are the foundation for mobile and deep space communications, optical networks, robotics, biomedical devices, renewable energy sources, power generation and distribution, vehicle electronics, imaging systems, and all consumer electronics.

Research Areas

  • Bioelectronics Engineering
  • Communications and Signal Processing
  • Control, Robotics and Mechatronics
  • Electronic Circuits and Systems
  • Nanoelectronics and Photonics
  • Power Electronics and Power Systems

Financial Aid/Funding

Students are funded through Fellowships, Teaching Assistant appointments and Research Assistant appointments. For more information visit the ECE Department Fellowships and Graduate School Financial Support webpages.

Requirements

Plan of Work: EE and CPE Requirements
Minimum Overall and Major (ECE courses) GPA to Graduate: 3.0
Credit Hours Required to Graduate: 72
Maximum hours transferred from another institution: 0
Residency Requirement: 1 year

Ph.D. in Computer Engineering

Our Computer Engineering Ph.D. programs prepare students to succeed in a world where computers are now embedded in nearly everything ranging from smartphones and household appliances to autonomous vehicle systems and medical diagnostic systems. They now involve not only computation, but multi-modal sensing, signal processing, machine learning, communications and cyber-physical systems. Functions that were previously considered to be strictly software or strictly hardware can no longer be distinguished in that way.

Providing hands-on experience through projects within their coursework, and through collaborations with leading researchers, we provide an in-depth understanding of the concepts of digital and mixed-signal integrated circuit design; of computer architecture, networks, and system software; and of cutting-edge machine learning techniques.

Research Areas

  • Computer Architecture and Systems
  • Networking

Financial Aid/Funding

Students are funded through Fellowships, Teaching Assistant appointments and Research Assistant appointments. For more information visit the ECE Department Fellowships and Graduate School Financial Support webpages.

Requirements

Plan of Work: EE and CPE Requirements
Minimum Overall and Major (ECE courses) GPA to Graduate: 3.0
Credit Hours Required to Graduate: 72
Maximum hours transferred from another institution: 0
Residency Requirement: 1 year

“Opportunities to take coursework in other departments, engineering, math, business school etc. makes students ready to work in cross-domain teams in the real world. There is no better time in your career to learn cross-domain problem solving skills than in graduate school.”
Sonali Luniya, Ph.D., 2006

Co-Founder and VP Customer Experience, Patagonia Health

Graduate Plans of Work

The Plan of Work is a formal list of the courses a graduate student plans to enroll in to complete the academic requirements for a desired degree. The Plan of Work must be completed online in consultation with the Advisor and Advisory Committee. Doctoral students must submit their Plan of Work and their Advisory Committee prior to taking the Preliminary Oral Examination. Details of ECE degree requirements are given in the ECE Graduate Student Handbook.

Consult the Ph.D. Plan of Work Worksheet for more information.

PEPM (Physical Electronics, Photonics & Magnetics) Required Courses

The Ph.D. Curriculum in PEPM consists of required core courses followed by specialization electives. The core courses cover fundamentals on materials and devices, determined by PEPM faculty as essential for every doctoral student.  Specialization electives are intended to provide further breadth and depth within the area.

Core Curriculum

In consultation with his/her thesis advisor, each PhD candidate in PEPM area is required to choose one of the following two concentrations:

  1. PEPM with Semiconductor Emphasis
  2. PEPM with Optics Emphasis

Each concentration includes three required courses. The required courses under each concentration are listed below.

Semiconductor Emphasis

  • ECE 530 Physical Electronics
  • ECE 724 Electronic Properties of Solid-State Devices
  • Choose one:
    1. ECE 523 Photonics and Optical Communications
    2. ECE 529 Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices

Optics Emphasis

  • ECE 523 Photonics and Optical Communications
  • ECE 792 Radiometry, Diffraction & Polarized Light
  • Choose one:
    1. ECE 530 Physical Electronics
    2. ECE 529 Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices

Specialization Electives

After successfully completing the core courses, each PhD candidate is required to choose four (4) courses from the specialization electives listed below.

  • ECE 518 Wearable Biosensors
  • ECE 538 IC Fabrication
  • ECE 553 Semiconductor Power Devices
  • ECE 557 Principles of MOS Transistors
  • ECE 589 Solar and Thermal Energy Harvesting
  • ECE 592 Lasers & PICs (Jonathan Wierer)
  • ECE 592 Photonic Devices for Quantum (Dima Farfurnik)
  • ECE 592 Optical Biosensors (Abraham Vazquez-Guardado)
  • ECE 592 Active Thin-Film Devices (Veena Misra)
  • ECE 592 MEMS Fabrication (Omer Oralkan)
  • ECE 722 Electronic Properties of Solid-State Materials
  • ECE 723 Optical Properties of Semiconductors
  • ECE 792-047 Wide Bandgap Device Fabrication (Spyridon Pavlidis)

Graduate Catalog

The Graduate Catalog contains Graduate School requirements and pertinent information for individual graduate programs, a current list of graduate faculty, and a selection of other resources for new students.

Course Details & Specialty Areas

Find out more about the various specialty areas of research and instruction and the relevant courses offered by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Still have questions?

The staff of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Office is available to answer any questions you may have.

Current students contact us at: ecegradoffice@ncsu.edu
Prospective students contact us at: eceadmissions@ncsu.edu
You can also reach the Graduate Office by phone at 919.515.5460