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Letter from the ECE Chair

As we begin a new academic year, I want to extend a warm welcome to our incoming students and welcome back our returning students, faculty, and staff. Each new year brings fresh ideas, new collaborations, and opportunities to rethink what is possible. Despite the challenges facing higher education and research today, I remain deeply optimistic about the future of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Santa Barbara.

We are living through a remarkable period of technological change. Advances in artificial intelligence, quantum information science, photonics, semiconductor devices, and computing are transforming not only the technologies we build but also how we understand and interact with the world. ECE sits at the intersection of many of these developments. Our responsibility is not simply to keep pace with change, but to help shape it by asking difficult questions, exploring new ideas, and educating engineers and scientists who will define what comes next.

Our faculty and students continue to demonstrate the breadth and impact of this work. This past year, Steven DenBaars received prestigious honors from IEEE and Optica, B. S. Manjunath was appointed the Frank Koenig Distinguished Chair, and Galan Moody and collaborators secured $1.15 million to advance 3D printing technologies. Research across the department continues to open new directions, from photonic technologies that extend the capabilities of laser scanners to probabilistic computing, quantum systems, and new approaches to scientific discovery. We are equally proud of our students, including those recognized through NSF Graduate Research Fellowships and other national honors. These achievements reflect both individual excellence and the collaborative environment that makes such work possible.

 

Yet the strength of a department cannot be measured by awards and research accomplishments alone. It is also reflected in the quality of the education we provide, the opportunities we create for our students, and our willingness to explore ideas whose impact may not be immediately apparent. At a time when research is increasingly judged by its immediate applications, we must preserve the freedom to pursue fundamental questions. Many of the technologies that define our world today began as ideas whose significance was far from obvious. I believe that some of the most important advances emerge when we cross traditional disciplinary boundaries and remain open to unexpected directions. Fostering that curiosity and intellectual independence is central to our mission.

I also want to express my appreciation for our dedicated staff. Their professionalism, commitment, and care sustain nearly every aspect of the department, often behind the scenes. They make it possible for our faculty and students to pursue ambitious goals, and their contributions are essential to our success.

As we look ahead, I hope we continue to build a department defined not only by the quality of its research and teaching, but also by its intellectual curiosity, generosity, and willingness to take risks. The challenges ahead are real, but so are the opportunities. I look forward to another year of discovery, learning, and working together.

– Professor Luke Theogarajan

Faculty Awards & Honors

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
  • 11 National Academy of Inventors Fellows
  • 44 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows
  • 2 Association for Computing Machinery Fellows

 

 

  • 10 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
  • 11 Optica (formerly OSA) Fellows
  • 4 UCSB Faculty Research Lecturers
  • 10 UCSB Distinguished Teaching
  • 4 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
  • 27 NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program 
  • 5 NSF PYI / NYI Young Investigator Awards
  • 3 Clarivate Analytics "Highly Cited Researchers"

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

Department Numbers

Faculty & Staff

  • 41 Faculty (tenured / tenure-track)
  • 4 Adjunct / Visiting Faculty
  • 17 Affiliated Faculty
  • 36 Emeritus Professors
  • 1 Lecturers
  • 2 Teaching Professors (Sr. Lecturer SOE)
  • 49 Staff Members

Enrollment (Fall 2026)

Degrees (2025-26)

  • 104 Master's | 37 PhD
  • 73 BS EE | 75 BS CE

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 info contact Hannah Hultgren or John Sawyer, Directors. of Development, Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering

Academic & Admin Officers

  • Department Chair: ECE Prof. Luke Theogarajan
  • Vice Chair & Graduate Program Director: ECE Assoc. Prof. Elaheh Ahmadi
  • Vice Chair & EE Undergraduate Program Director: ECE Prof. Shiv Chandrasekaran
  • Vice Chair & CE Undergraduate Program Director: ECE Prof. Yogananda Isukapalli
  • Academic Business Officer: Mike Moore

ECE Advisory Board

The board's mission is to help craft and guide the strategic directions for the ECE Dept., for maximal alignment w/ the needs & involvement of industry.

Faculty w/ Endowed Chairs

  • Doluca Family Chair in ECE – Mark Rodwell
  • Frank Koenig Chair – B.S. Manjunath
  • Mehrabian Endowed Career Development Chair – Elaheh Ahmadi
  • Richard A. Auhll Professorship and Dean’s Chair of Engineering – Umesh Mishra
  • Donald W. Whittier Professor of ECE – Umesh Mishra
  • Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. Chair in Solid State Lighting and Display (Materials) – Steven DenBaars
  • Cree Chair in Solid State Lighting and Display (Materials) - Shuji Nakamura

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) *
  • B.S. Manjunath (2022)
  • U. Madhow (2022)
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) *
  • Chris Palmstrøm (2023)
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)
  • Dmitri Strukov (2023)
  • Richard Mirin (2023)
  • Jason Marden (2024)
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

Circuits and Systems Society (CAS)

Communications Society

Computer Society

Control Systems Society (CSS)

Education Society

  • McGraw-Hill / Jacob C. Millman Award
    Sanjit Mitra (2001) *

Electron Devices Society (EDS)

Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S)

Photonics Society

Signal Processing Society (SPS)

  • Technical Achievement Award
    Lawrence Rabiner (1978) *
    Sanjit Mitra (1996) *
  • Society Award
    Lawrence Rabiner (1980) *
    Sanjit Mitra (2001) *
  • Education Award
    Sanjit Mitra (1989) *

More Awards

Societies

Other Societies

Acoustical Society of America (ASA)

American Physical Society (APS)

American Society for Engineering Education

Optica (formerly OSA)

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)

The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS)

  • John Bardeen Award
    Arthur Gossard (2005) *
Fellowships

Fellowships

Early Career

Early Career

Industry

Industry

UC System & UCSB

U. of California & UCSB

U. of California Systemwide

  • Outstanding Faculty Leadership in Presidential Initiatives
    David Auston (2015) *

UC Santa Barbara

Academic Senate

  • 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)
  • Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award
    Kaustav Banerjee (2023)
  • B.S. Manjunath (2025)
Other Awards

Other Awards

* No longer active in the Department.