Program Director
Dr. Richard Kelnhofer, P.E.
Office: S-300
Phone: (414) 277-2306
Email: kelnhofer@msoe.edu
Have you ever thought about who created items you so commonly use? Your livelihood depends on electrically engineered products such as your cell phone, HDTV, GPS navigators and implantable defibrillators. Electrical engineers create all such things that use electricity to improve peoples’ lives.
Consider becoming an electrical engineer if you:
- like to work with physical things you can touch and see, such as electronic components and products, yet use a computer to control and interact with these components and products.
- want a broad choice of career opportunities, yet be able to specialize in topics of your choosing.
- are looking for a career that can last a lifetime, yet can also serve as a springboard for other opportunities, such as management, business and law.
Consider studying electrical engineering at MSOE for the following reasons:
- The curriculum is broadly based with a primary focus on hardware equipment that is real; objects you can see, hold and break. Some of what you will work with can only be seen under a microscope (integrated circuits, nanotechnology) and some will dwarf you (power station generators, wind turbines and solar arrays).
- You will experience a strong emphasis on design and hands-on laboratory experimentation.
- You will learn about communications, controls, motors, embedded systems, electronics, microprocessors and more, and use software applications.
- The curriculum has one or more electrical engineering courses in every quarter of each academic year, including the entire freshman year.
Program Educational Objectives
The electrical engineering program is preparing graduates to attain the following objectives within a few years of graduation:
- Be productive and successful in their chosen career field by assuming greater degrees of responsibility and/or assuming leadership roles.
- Actively participate in the affairs of their profession and continue with their professional development.
Student Outcomes
In support of the program objectives, graduates of the program will have:
- An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering.
- An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
- An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability.
- An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams.
- An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems.
- An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
- An ability to communicate effectively.
- The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context.
- A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
- A knowledge of contemporary issues.
- An ability to use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
The Electrical Engineering Curriculum
The electrical engineering program (BSEE) at MSOE places a very strong emphasis on design, applications and hands-on laboratory experimentation. Think for a moment of how you can demonstrate that you learned something very well. What if, in addition to the normal exams, you designed, built and debugged an electronic circuit that functions just like it is supposed to? The laboratory is a great place to work out the details of your understanding of the theory. Consequently, the BSEE program at MSOE prepares its graduates for successful entry into the engineering profession, as well as for graduate school.
Design and laboratory projects grow in complexity throughout the four-year BSEE curriculum. In the freshman year students start with experiments that range over electrical engineering topics, such as microprocessors, communications, motors and digital circuits. Students learn structured programming executed on an embedded system and the basics of circuit theory. In succeeding years typical topics covered include: designing decision-making circuits and sing the software applications MATLAB and Simulink in the analysis and design of automatic control systems.
This design process culminates in the senior design project where a team of senior students (often coming together from different disciplines) work on a single major project for the entire academic year. The project is taken from concept to a working prototype. Recent projects included:
- Tactical Response SWAT Robot
- Internet-Enabled Heart Health Monitor
- Universal Test Platform for NASA Zero-Gravity Flights
- Solar Powered Boat for Competitive Racing
- SAE Formula Hybrid Vehicle
Many of the projects use wireless communication and microprocessors. The projects are usually defined by the students, sometimes with the help of faculty and/or local industry. Because of its urban location, MSOE has a very strong relationship with local industry. This is very advantageous for students, not just for design projects, but also for industry internships or summer jobs.
BSEE students have the option of a very unique junior year study-abroad program with the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences in Lübeck, Germany. This is a tremendous opportunity for anyone who is thinking about a career path that involves the global economy and viewpoint. For details, please see Electrical Engineering Study-abroad, B.S. of this catalog.
Careers in Electrical Engineering
Graduating with a degree in electrical engineering prepares the student for an extremely wide variety of careers in almost any industry.
Examples of the types of industries graduates could work in include:
Aerospace
Automation
Automotive
Communications
Computers
Electronics
Instrumentation
Integrated circuits
Medical
Power generation/distribution
Examples of typical electrical engineering topical areas implemented in these industries are:
Expert systems
High-definition television
Micro-electromechanical systems
Microprocessor controls
Optical communications
Programmable controllers
Robotics
Wireless communications
Examples of the types of jobs that are available:
Computer automation
Computer modeling/simulations
Development of new products
Design of products or equipment
Manufacturing/production
Project leader
Researcher of new ideas
Technical marketing
Examples of specific career opportunities:
Design engineer - Uses computer simulations and modeling to design new high-frequency circuits for digital cellular phones.
Research engineer - Invents new optoelectronic devices to build an optical computer.
Project engineer - Leads a team of engineers from different disciplines to design, test and manufacture an undersea optical amplifier.
Test engineer - Writes and implements the computer program to do automated testing of an electronic ignition system.
Application engineer - Defines and integrates existing equipment to solve customer problems.
System engineer - Defines and develops a communications network.
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