About Us

graphic of 43 faculty / 238 grad & 551 undergrad students
Graphic "IEEE Fellows" 71% of current full profs are fellows
research funding graphic $26.6
Graphic "#15 US News & World Report" public graduate program

Faculty Awards & Honors

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

  • 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
  • 40 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows
  • 2 Association for Computing Machinery Fellows
  • 8 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

Department Numbers

Faculty & Staff

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

Academic Statistics

Enrollment

  • 238 Graduate (Fall 2020)
  • 280 Electrical Engineering Undergraduates (Fall 2020)
  • 271 Computer Engineering Undergraduates (Fall 2020)

Degrees (2019-2020)

Letter from the Chair

The Electrical and Computer Engineering department at UC Santa Barbara is one of the leading departments in the country with a rich history of fundamental and broad ranging contributions to the field. The department has continued its growth, adding two new faculty members, Peng Li in Computer Engineering and Galan Moody in Electronics & Photonics. Our junior faculty continue to excel, garnering best paper and young investigator awards. The department received close to $28M in extramural support during the 2019-20 academic year, continuing its tradition of exceptional research.

The past several months have been unprecedented due to the COVID pandemic that disrupted normal life around the world. Remote instruction, which started during the Spring quarter, will continue through the Fall ’20 quarter, and we greatly appreciate the patience and cooperation of our undergraduate and graduate students and their families. In the middle of all of this, normal departmental and campus activities must continue, and our staff deserves special thanks for making the transition as smooth as possible.

As we welcome the new group of students and start a new academic year, we acknowledge the social, educational and intellectual challenges we face as a community. Electrical Engineering as a discipline has evolved significantly over the past few decades, and new opportunities continue to emerge in diverse fields such as information processing and quantum computing, machine learning, AI & robotics, advanced semiconductor devices and photonics. To address these emerging trends, the department has initiated a plan to revamp the undergraduate curriculum and advising to better suit the needs of the current students and their future careers in industry and academia.

Our student body is diverse and the department aims at creating a healthy environment that students from all backgrounds can benefit. We look forward to a stimulating and productive year ahead.

B.S. Manjunath, ECE Chair

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

ECE Newsletter Fall 2020

ECE Newsletter Fall 2020

ECE Newsletter Fall 2019

ECE Newsletter Fall 2019

ECE Newsletter Fall 2018

ECE Newsletter Fall 2018

ECE Newsletter Fall 2017

ECE Newsletter Fall 2017

Newsletter Archives: 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) *
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)
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