Welcome to Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame!
Electrical engineers make our high-tech life possible. Look at the modern world and imagine what it would be like without electrical engineers. Robots as they existed in the early 1800s. Airplanes as in World War II. “Self-driving” cars as they were in the 1950s. And communications, no cellphones, let alone smart phones!
Electrical engineers make the modern versions of these basic necessities, and so much more, a reality. An old joke is that engineering comes down to building two things: electronics, and boxes that hold the electronics. Today’s fighter plane is a fancy box that needs electrical engineers to make it fly.
Jokes aside, in reality all technology today requires a collaboration of many engineering disciplines, and electrical engineering is involved in nearly everything. Electrical engineering is now the broadest engineering discipline, and electrical engineers are ready and able to lead not just in areas such as electronics, communications, and the internet of things, but in many other fields, like transportation, aerospace, robotics, and automation. It is an exciting time for electrical engineering!
Founded in 1895, our department has a long history at the University of Notre Dame and a strong tradition of academic excellence. Students have access to world-class laboratory facilities. You can build anything here!
With 33 faculty, and an excellent student-to-faculty ratio, professors really get to know their students. For undergraduates, our curriculum provides the foundation needed for you to make an impact in your chosen field, with the flexibility to tailor your courses to fit your passions in technology.
More than half of our undergraduates participate in research, working with professors on projects that often lead to co-authorship on a research paper. There are study abroad and internship opportunities that will set you on your career course. Extracurricular activities are available in clubs such as Audio Technology, Rocketry Team, Mechatronic Football, High Altitude Balloon and Cubesat, and others.
Graduate students can expect to perform their research under the mentorship of our outstanding faculty. As a medium-sized department, we have excellent facilities and a wide range of active research topics, but our student-to-faculty ratio means that professors can really spend the time to help their students grow and mature as researchers.
All pathways are open to our Ph.D. graduates. We have alumni who are professors at top universities in the U.S. and around the world, as well as leaders in a broad range of industries.
The future of electrical engineering is bright. The job prospects for our graduates are excellent. Please learn more about our department by exploring our website. If you are interested in joining the academic community at Notre Dame that is powering, connecting, digitizing, and automating a better future, please contact us at ee@nd.edu. I look forward to seeing you at Notre Dame!
Greg Snider
Professor and Chair
Department of Electrical Engineering