About Us

Graphic "our people" 43 faculty, 228 grad students, 553 undergrads
Graphic "IEEE Fellows" 71% of current full profs are fellows
research funding graphic $26.6
Graphic "#14 US News & World Report" public graduate program

Faculty Awards & Honors

Here’s an overview of some of the awards and honors received by our faculty:

  • 2 Nobel Prize Laureates
  • 2 National Medal of Technology and Innovation
  • 1 IEEE Medal of Honor
  • 5 National Academy of Sciences members
  • 15 National Academy of Engineering members
  • 1 American Academy of Arts & Sciences Members
  • 9 National Academy of Inventors Fellows
  • 41 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows
  • 2 Association for Computing Machinery Fellows
  • 9 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
  • 8 The Optical Society Fellows
  • 4 UCSB Faculty Research Lecturers
  • 10 UCSB Distinguished Teaching
  • 22 NSF CAREER
  • 5 NSF PYI / NYI Young Investigators

More faculty awards and honors are at the bottom of this page.

Letter from the Chair

Greetings! – We just completed a very unusual yet highly productive 2020-21 academic year. We added three new outstanding faculty members: Kerem Camsari and Bongjin Kim in Computer Engineering and Nina Miolane in Communications and Signal Processing. Our faculty’s excellence in teaching and research is recognized by major awards, including the senate distinguished teaching award and early career awards. A new AI/Machine learning instructional lab is set up with gift funds to address the growing need for computing resources in this emerging area. We had several initiatives towards enhancing diversity at all and planning recruitment activities targeting underrepresented groups. The Department received close to $27 million in extramural support during the 2020-21 academic year, continuing its tradition of exceptional research. We all are excited to be back on campus as we welcome our new undergraduate and graduate students return to a “normal” environment, noting that about half of these students are on campus for their very first in-person quarter! We look forward to another productive year — B.S. Manjunath, ECE Chair

Department Numbers

Faculty & Staff

  • 43 current tenured or tenure-track faculty
  • 6 Adjunct / Visiting Faculty
  • 13 Affiliated Faculty
  • 23 Emeritus Professors
  • 2 Lecturers - 2 SOE Lecturers
  • 47 Staff Members

Enrollment (Fall 2021)

Degrees (2020-2021)

ECE Mission Statement

ECE has a dual mission for excellence in both education and research. These two components mutually benefit each other — Full Statement

ECE and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Research and teaching in ECE thrives most when diverse people participate. For success, we make Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion a priority — More on ECE & Diversity

Research

We attract some of the top faculty researchers from academia and industry. Our research is categorized into four focus areas – Control Systems, Communications & Signal Processing, Computer Engineering, and Electronics & Photonics. Our faculty partner their research efforts with industry, government, outside academic institutions, other UCSB departments, and within the Department.

Undergraduate Studies

We offer BS degrees in Electrical Engineering (EE) or Computer Engineering (CE). Qualified EE students may apply in their junior year for the combined BS/MS program with an MS degree either in ECE or Materials. Qualified CE students may apply for the combined BS/MS program with an MS degree in either ECE or Computer Science. A range of options are available including communications, control systems, signal processing, computer engineering, microwaves, and semiconductor devices & applications.

Graduate Studies

We offer both Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The Department has three types of degree programs (MS, MS / PhD, or PhD) with emphases in Communications, Controls & Signal Processing, Computer Engineering, and Electronics & Photonics. One of the department's strengths is its history of collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

Invest in ECE

We invite you to invest in the Department by visiting Giving to ECE. Opportunities include:

  • Unrestricted Support to the ECE Department
  • Undergraduate Capstone Project Fund
  • George Matthaei Undergraduate Award Fund
  • Herbert Kroemer Endowed Fellowship Fund
  • Roger C. Wood Endowed Fund
  • Petar V. Kokotovic Distinguished Visiting Professorship

For more information contact Steve Ramirez, Sr. Dir. of Development, College of Engineering

Academic & Admin Officers

  • Department Chair: ECE Professor B.S. Manjunath
  • Vice Chair and Graduate Program Director: ECE Professor Clint Schow
  • Vice Chair and Undergraduate Program Director: ECE Professor Luke Theogarajan
  • Academic Business Officer: Robin Jenneve

Faculty w/ Endowed Chairs

• Cree Chair in Solid State Lighting and Display (Materials) - Shuji Nakamura
• Doluca Family Chair in ECE – Mark Rodwell
• Donald W. Whittier Chair in ECE – Umesh Mishra
• Fred Kavli Chair in Optoelectronics and Sensors – Larry Coldren
• Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology – John Bowers
• Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. Chair in Solid State Lighting and Display (Materials) – Steve DenBaars
• Richard A. Auhll Professorship and Dean's Chair in Engineering (CoE) – Rod Alferness

Newsletters

2021 ECE Current newsletter cover

ECE Newsletter Fall 2021

ECE Newsletter Fall 2020

ECE Newsletter Fall 2020

ECE Newsletter Fall 2019

ECE Newsletter Fall 2019

ECE Newsletter Fall 2018

ECE Newsletter Fall 2018

Newsletter Archives: 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009

Faculty Honors & Awards

Nobel Prize Laureates

National Medal of Tech. & Innovation

IEEE Medal of Honor

Members and Fellows

 National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Sciences

  • Lawrence Rabiner (1990) *
  • David Auston (1991) *
  • Arthur Gossard (2001)
  • Herbert Kroemer (2003) *
  • Evelyn Hu (2008) *
National Academy of Inventors

National Academy of Inventors

  • Steven DenBaars (2014)
  • Shuji Nakamura (2014)
  • Umesh Mishra (2015)
  • John Bowers (2015)
  • Larry Coldren (2016)
  • Dan Blumenthal (2017)
  • Rod Alferness (2018) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (2019) *
  • Nikil Jayant (2020)
AAAS Fellows

American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows

  • Venkatesh Narayanamurti (1983) *
  • David Auston *
  • Evelyn Hu (1998) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (1982) *
  • Pierre Petroff (2009) *
  • Arthur Gossard (2010)
  • Kaustav Banerjee (2016)
  • Yuan Xie (2019) *
  • John Bowers (2021)
National Academy of Engineering

National Academy of Engineering

  • Lawrence Rabiner (1983) *
  • Arthur Gossard (1987)
  • David Auston (1989) *
  • Venkatesh Narayanamurti (1992) *
  • Petar Kokotovic (1996) *
  • Nikil Jayant (1996)
  • Herbert Kroemer (1997) *
  • Evelyn Hu (2002) *
  • Rod C. Alferness (2003) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (2003) *
  • Shuji Nakamura (2003) 
  • Larry Coldren (2004)
  • John Bowers (2005)
  • Umesh Mishra (2009)
  • Steven DenBaars (2012)
IEEE Fellows

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows

  • Phillip Ordung (1959) *
  • Glen Wade (1962) *
  • Herbert Kroemer (1970) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (1974) *
  • Lawrence Rabiner (1976) *
  • Petar Kokotovic (1980) *
  • David Auston *
  • Allen Gersho (1982) *
  • Larry Coldren (1982)
  • Nikil Jayant (1982)
  • Venkatesh Narayanamurti (1987) *
  • Adel Saleh (1987) *
  • James Merz (1988) *
  • Rod C. Alferness (1989) *
  • Pochi Yeh (1991) *
  • Jerry Gibson (1992)
  • Hua Lee (1992)
  • John Bowers (1993)
  • Evelyn Hu (1994) *
  • Umesh Mishra (1995)
  • Behrooz Parhami (1997)
  • Margaret Marek-Sadowska (1997) *
  • Tim Cheng (2000) *
  • Arthur Gossard (2001)
  • Andrew Teel (2002)
  • Dan Blumenthal (2003)
  • Mark Rodwell (2003)
  • Ken Rose (2003)
  • Steven DenBaars (2005)
  • U. Madhow (2005)
  • B.S. Manjunath (2005)
  • Nadir Dagli (2006)
  • Joao Hespanha (2008)
  • Bob York (2009)
  • Kaustav Banerjee (2012)
  • Yuan Xie (2015) *
  • Peng Li (2016)
  • Li-C. Wang (2017)
  • Clint Schow (2017)
  • Yasamin Mostofi (2020)
  • James Buckwalter (2022)
Other Fellows

Other Fellows

 American Academy of Arts & Sciences

American Academy of Arts & Sciences

  • David Auston (1992) *
ACM Fellows

Association for Computing Machinery Fellows

  • B.S. Manjunath (2018)
  • Yuan Xie (2019) *

IEEE Awards

IEEE

IEEE

Medals

Technical Field Awards

Other IEEE Awards

IEEE Society

IEEE Society

Computer Society

Circuits and Systems Society (CAS)

Control Systems Society (CSS)

Education Society

Electron Devices Society (EDS)

Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S)

Photonics Society

Signal Processing Society (SPS)

More Awards

Societies

Other Societies

American Physical Society (APS)

Acoustical Society of America (ASA)

The Optical Society (OSA)

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)

The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS)

Fellowships

Fellowships

Early Career

Early Career

Industry

Industry

UC System & UCSB

U. of California & UCSB

U. of California Systemwide

UC Santa Barbara

  • Distinguished Teaching Award
    Glen Wade (1978) *
    John Skalnik (1986) *
    Hua Lee (1988)
    Roger Wood (1989) *
    Nadir Dagli (1990)
    John Shynk (1992) *
    Alan Laub (1993) *
    Evelyn Hu (1999) *
    Steve Butner (2007) *
    Yogananda Isukapalli (2021)
Other Awards

Other Awards

* No longer active in the Department