Undergraduate Program Electrical Engineering

Two PSU Electrical Engineering students working in a lab

Electrical Engineering Bachelor's Degree and Minor Overview

PSU's Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science

The electrical engineering degree in the FMaseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science will provide you with a background in the electrical sciences. You will gain the skills necessary for employment in the electrical engineering field. This includes power systems, electromagnetics, and acoustics, signal processing, analog/radio frequency design, digital/very-large-scale integration, among other areas. Students interested in focusing on software development should explore computer science.

We Offer:

  • Hands-on experience early in the program. You will learn hardware interfacing and project management. You will get to interact with the technology in our teaching labs. We also have a one-of-a-kind Electronics Prototyping Lab, where you can walk in with an idea and walk out with a working prototype.
  • Valuable work experience through internships. We help our students take part in Engineering Work Experience (EWX) and Multiple Engineering Co-Op Program (MECOP). These competitive programs offer paid internships at Intel, Mentor Graphics, Daimler Trucks, and other local tech companies.
  • Expert faculty who bring the best research and real-life perspectives into the classroom. Our faculty tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues. They protect the power grid, develop new sensors to treat Parkinson’s disease, and use machine learning to solve problems ranging from air and water pollution monitoring to geothermal energy prospecting. You will learn to develop technologies to make your own unique impact on society.

We offer a fast path to a graduate degree with our 4 + 1 and bridge programs. Full-time students can earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 5 years. Post-Baccalaureate students have the option of skipping the bachelor's degree and going right into our bridge program, which prepares you for graduate school admission with a specialized ECE undergraduate curriculum.

About the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science

The Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science includes five departments, 84 full-time faculty and more than 3,000 students. We offer academic programs that provide transformative opportunities within the classroom and beyond. If you join our college, you'll be connected to Portland’s growing, innovative industries and prepared to gain competitive jobs in engineering and computer science. Our close ties to leading tech companies give you the opportunity to build your professional skills through internship programs while you complete your degree. You can participate in undergraduate research, community-based learning projects and opportunities to develop your own ideas from proposal to prototype through our innovation programs. Our students are in demand in the Portland job market and beyond, and they report the highest annual earnings of all PSU graduates one year after graduation.

Degree Details


Electrical Engineering Bachelor's Degree or Minor: Why PSU?

We have a vibrant community of students and faculty from all walks of life. We are proud to be the home of many cultures with a dedication to excellence and developing technologies for the benefit of society. There are many areas of overlap with the computer engineering program. Students in both programs are able to collaborate with each other and to interact with the faculty in each area.

Our proximity to the tech industry sets us apart from other computer engineering programs. Portland State University is in the heart of the “Silicon Forest”, where large companies and small startups call Portland home. All students collaborate with a local company as part of their senior capstone course. They create projects involving electric vehicles and smart cars, GPS receivers for satellites, and protection of the power grid. These projects all have real-world applications. There are also opportunities to complete internships and gain industry experience before graduating.

The computer engineering department is a tight community. Our students engage in academic and extracurricular life through clubs and groups:

  • The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers student chapter
  • Portland State Aerospace Society
  • The National Society of Black Engineers PSU chapter
  • The Society of Women Engineers PSU chapter
  • Viking Robotics
  • You can network in the “Circuit Lounge” where tutoring is available.
  • Our Electronics Prototyping Lab is open for students from any major to build devices

What can I do with a bachelor's degree or Minor in Electrical Engineering?

Our alumni graduate with jobs in the computer engineering industry. They work as:

  • electrical engineers
  • product development engineers
  • systems engineers
  • integration engineers
  • analog engineers

Our alumni can be found working at companies like Portland General Electrical, Bonneville Power Administration, Daimler Trucks, Intel, Apple, Boeing, Tektronix, and Interface Engineering

Many of our students go on to graduate programs, researching topics such as:

  • environmental monitoring and sensing
  • wind and ocean renewable power generation applications
  • machine learning
  • biomedical signal processing
  • wireless communications
  • integrated circuit design
  • intelligent robotics

Our alumni are impacting the world through the technology they design and build. Join them in this growing and rewarding field.

Featured Courses

  • ECE 101 Exploring Electrical Engineering
  • ECE 102 Engineering Computation
  • ECE 103 Engineering Programming
  • ECE 171 Digital Circuits
  • ECE 172 Digital Systems
  • ECE 211 Intro to Design Processes
  • ECE 212 Intro to Project Development
  • ECE 221 Electric Circuit Analysis I
  • ECE 315 Signals and Systems I
  • ECE 321 Electronics I
  • ECE 371 Microprocessors
  • EE 347 Power Systems I

Electives

  • ECE 425 Digital Integrated Circuit Design
  • ECE 478 Intelligent Robotics I
  • ECE 481 ASIC Modeling and Synthesis
  • EE 348 Power Systems II

Accreditation

Portland State University is fully accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).

Our Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission / ABET (EAC/ABET).

Other Programs of Interest

A student turning knobs on a computer

Computer Engineering
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