Electrical and Computer Engineering

More detailed requirements for students enrolling at JHU for Fall 2025 will be available on this page when the JHU e-Catalogue is published in early July.

Overview

​​The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department takes a human-centric approach to research and education, with a focus on applications in speech processing, medical imaging, photonics, computer-integrated surgery, renewable energy, human inspired electronic systems for perception and cognition, and other cutting-edge technologies that address real-world problems. Our courses cover wide-ranging topics in three broad areas: signal, systems, and control; electro-physics; and computational systems.

Programs

​​​Design a program that fits your interests

​As a department, we take pride in offering a flexible curriculum, yet with sufficient structure that balances the tradeoffs between depth and breadth. For example, working closely with your ECE mentor, an Electrical Engineering (EE) major can focus on the fundamentals of signals, image/pattern analysis and machine intelligence, iterative algorithms and optimization, and dynamic systems. You can complement these core courses with classes in another area of ECE to broaden your knowledge in photonics, microelectronics and/or embedded computational systems such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays. Another example program could consist of core courses in electrophysics, focusing on semiconductor physics, lasers, solar cells, and integrated photonics, with complementary electives in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and signal processing. We offer a bachelor’s degree (BS) in Electrical Engineering.

Computer Engineering (CE) majors can pursue a bachelor’s degree (BS) in a program jointly sponsored by the ECE and Computer Science departments. CE majors take core courses and electives from both departments, and may choose an ECE mentor with a dual appointment. The ECE Department is also the academic home in the school of engineering for the Energy Minor.​​

Research

Research is an essential tool

Hands-on research is one of the best tools for learning. Right from the beginning, you’ll work with your instructors in their area of research as well as on projects of your own. Some of the areas that faculty are currently researching include parallel signal processing, VLSI analog architectures for machine vision, nonlinear systems, photonics, optical communications, semiconductor devices, biomorphic systems for robotics and sensory information processing, medical imaging, machine learning, solar energy, and much more.

You’re only as good as your tools

The department maintains extensive facilities for teaching and research in Barton Hall, Hackerman Hall, the Wyman Park building, and Clark Hall. Lab classes make extensive use of state-of-the-art design environments such as CADENCE, Xilinx Tools, TI DSP systems, VHDL, and Verilog. The Microfabrication Laboratory in Clark Hall (jointly run with the Biomedical Engineering program) offers opportunities for hands-on experience with lithography (hard and soft), and deposition and etching of materials. In addition, the department also includes the Computational Sensory-Motor Microsystem Lab, the Cellular Signaling Control Lab, the Image Analysis and Communications Lab, the Complex Systems Science Lab, the Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception, the Photonics and Optoelectronics Lab, the NanoEnergy Lab, the Photoacoustic and Ultrasonic Systems Engineering (PULSE) Lab, the Integrated Photonics Lab, the Neural Systems Analysis Lab, the Computer Vision Lab, the Artificial Intelligence for Engineering and Medicine Lab, the Ultrafast and Nonlinear Photonics Lab, the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, and the Sensory Communication and Microsystems Lab.

Current and recent noteworthy accomplishments

• ECE researchers are combining optics, acoustics, and robotics to deliver new technology that will reduce the risk of patient death and other accidental injuries during surgeries.
• Algorithms for speech processing that were pioneered by ECE researchers can be found in most speech recognition applications worldwide.
• ECE researchers have developed a satellite based, high-power fiber-optic laser system to monitor air pollution and atmospheric changes associated with global warming and ozone depletion.
• ECE researchers are pioneering signal processing and algorithm developments to introduce new diagnostic capabilities for ultrasound imaging.
• Researchers have developed an algorithm that improves the clarity of partial MRI scans.
• ECE researchers are developing new technology for flexible, colorful, portable solar cells that can generate renewable energy from the sides of buildings, vehicles, windows, and other surfaces.
• A team of ECE researchers recently created a new lens-free, ultra-miniaturized endoscope– the width of only a few human hairs – that can produce high-quality images of live neuron activity.
• A team of researchers in ECE working with colleagues in Mechanical Engineering and School of Medicine, have developed a wearable acoustic array with embedded AI processing for monitoring cardiovascular system health at home in post-operative patients.
• ECE researchers in collaboration with Northrop Grumman have developed energy efficient machine intelligence perception and cognition chips for “green” data centers and embedded processing in Internet of Things.
• Researchers studying epilepsy are utilizing a seizure-tracking algorithm to detect the source of epileptic seizures in the brain.
• A faculty and student team created a smartphone app that analyzes users’ suffering from COVID-like symptoms in a study to predict geographical areas at risk for outbreaks of the coronavirus.

After Graduation

​​Where do you go from here?

​Hopkins graduates take their degrees lots of different places:

Activities

​​Learning in the real world

​Join many of your fellow Hopkins students who take part in an internship at some point in their college career. Recent ECE student internships include:

​Microsoft   |   ​Eli Lilly and Company   |  ​ IBM   |   Northrop Grumman   |   Columbia Teleco   |  ​ Ernst & Young   |   NASA   |  ​ Leidos   |   Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center   |   ​Booz Allen Hamilton   |  ​ Intel   |  ​ National Semiconductor   |   Capital One   |   Applied Physics Laboratory   |   Google   |   Facebook   |   Duolingo

​Additionally, there are a variety of activities related to ECE that you can get involved with including the IEEE student group, AstroJays, HopHacks, and the Hopkins Wind Energy Team, to name just a few.​