Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MSECE)
To connect directly to the School of Engineering, call (203) 254-4147, or e-mail jsergent@mail.fairfield.edu, dlyon@mail.fairfield.edu
Introduction
Electrical and computer engineering are leading in innovation across a broad swath of technology including microelectronics, semiconductors, power and power electronics, photonics, image and signal processing, computer architecture, telecommunications, electromagnetics and bioengineering. Given that often a single technology product or process incorporates an array of technologies, including microprocessors, random and probabilistic processes, feedback and control, software and computing methods, the MSECE program incorporates knowledge across several disciplines by taking advantage of the School of Engineering's master's degree programs in software engineering and management of technology, as well as the University's computer science program. As a result, students gain a sense of the economic and business values needed to employ technology to serve society's needs.
Program Overview
The MSECE program provides students with the knowledge and skills to innovate and lead in their discipline in the framework of research and development in academic institutions, the industrial workplace, research laboratories, or service organizations. These outcomes are achieved through carefully chosen academic experiences that students gain from purposeful curriculum design, instruction, inquiry, and professional development. The basic objectives of the MSECE program include the following:
1. Students receive the tools they need to take the lead in creating the next generation of information technologies using fundamental design principles. Sequences of electives, as well as a master's thesis, provide depth in their learning experiences.
2. Students gain exposure to the high-tech areas of electrical and computer engineering, including system and product engineering, hardware and software design, embedded systems, communications, control systems, computer architecture, and visualization and multimedia systems. Students have the opportunity to become skilled in creating unique object-oriented designs. State of the art facilities available in the School of Engineering, and close interactions with industry assist in those tasks.
3. The MSECE program provides undergraduate students in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science with the opportunity to pursue, upon completion of their undergraduate studies, a graduate program that would allow them broader career paths, ultimately leading to leadership roles in the IT area.
Students
Electrical and computer engineering embodies the science and technology of design, implementation, and maintenance of systems or components of modern electrical, electronics, and computing systems, incorporating also suitable software for feedback and control. This discipline has emerged from the traditional fields of electrical engineering and computer science. Hence, the student population for the proposed program has several origins. Typical examples include the following:
1. Engineers and scientists who, responding to the specific needs of their industry across the spectrum of electrical and computer engineering domains, need to acquire skills to effectively guide the development technologies that will enhance product quality and business opportunities.
2. Engineers and scientists who wish to fulfill their needs for personal and professional growth in the domains electrical, electronic and computer engineering.
3. Engineers who aspire to academic careers and those who wish to eventually continue their studies toward a Ph.D. degree.
4. Engineers aspiring to a career change.
5. Undergraduate engineering students and alumni, who seek an opportunity to continue their studies for an advanced engineering degree at Fairfield University.
In addition to mathematics and science, MSECE graduates will have a solid foundation in electronics, logic design, micro-devices, computer organization and architecture, and networking, as well as an understanding of software engineering like software design, data structures, algorithms, and operating systems.
Graduates may seek employment in most industries, including the computer, aerospace, telecommunications, power, manufacturing, defense, and electronics industries. They can expect to design high-tech devices ranging from tiny microelectronic integrated-circuit chips to powerful systems that use those chips and efficient telecommunication systems that interconnect those systems. Applications include consumer electronics; advanced microprocessors; peripheral equipment; and systems for portable, desktop, and client/server computing; communications devices; distributed computing environments such as local and wide area networks, wireless networks, Internets, Intranets; embedded computer systems; and a wide array of complex technological systems such as power generation and distribution systems and modern computer-controlled processing and manufacturing plants.
The MSECE Curriculum
Students in the MSECE program must complete either 34 credits, including a thesis, or a non-thesis option comprising 37 credits. Four required courses build a foundation; students then choose a core area among nine domains of knowledge and skills that set the foundation specialization in a functional area of electrical and computer engineering. Upon admission, students meet with an advisor to prepare a plan of study that will lead to a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering in the most time-effective manner.
Required courses - 18 to 21 credits with thesis
- SW 408 Java I
- SW 409 Java II
- ECE 415 Engineering Applications of Numerical Methods
- ECE 420 Readings in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Core Courses and Electives
Nine domains of knowledge and skills, shown below, specify available tracks and electives in the MSECE program. This portion of the program provides students with areas of study that are at the core of their major interest and career objectives. These major courses are recommended for setting the foundations for specialization in a functional area of electrical and computer engineering.
Thesis Option
Credits: 18 to 21 with thesis
ECE 550, ECE 551, ECE 552
Domains
1. Electronic product design. The courses in this domain cover the nature and properties of materials used in electronic devices and, in particular, management of the thermal environment for the safe operation of the devices. Seven credits.
ECE 405 Electronic Materials
ECE 425 Thermal Management of Microdevices
ECE 510L Product Design Lab
2. The architecture of microelectronics. The courses in this domain consider the design of analog, digital, and mixed-mode integrated circuits, along with the methods of fabricating high density interconnection structures for manufacturing microelectronic assemblies: thick films, thin films, and printed circuit boards. Seven credits.
ECE 435 High Density Interconnection Structures
ECE 445 Integrated Circuit Design
ECE 515L Microelectronics Lab
3. Systems Design. This domain includes studies of the fundamentals of the analysis of linear and nonlinear electric circuits. Seven credits.
ECE 455 Sensor Design and Applications
ECE 465 Nonlinear Control Systems
ECE 520L System Design Lab
4. Communications Systems. This domain considers the generation and transmission of electromagnetic waves. Structures used in microwave propagation, including transmission lines, waveguides, resonators, and antennas are also considered. 10 credits.
ECE 475 Microwave Structures
ECE 480 Wireless Systems
ECE 485 Digital Communications
ECE 525L Communications Lab
5. Power and Power Electronics. The courses in this domain consider the design and application of electronic circuits related to power generation and conversion. Seven credits.
ECE 495 Power Generation and Distribution
ECE 505 Advanced Power Electronics
ECE 530L Power Electronics Lab
6. Signal Processing. The courses in this domain cover one-dimensional digital signal processing such as audio processing (CD players, electronic music synthesizers, personal computer sound cards) and two-dimensional processing such as image processing (image and video processing in consumer equipment, machine inspection, robotics, automation, remote sensing, security, and medical imaging). Six credits.
ECE 410 Voice and Signal Processing
ECE 430 Image Processing
7. Scientific Visualization. This domain examines the process of converting scientific data into a visual form to improve understanding of the data implications. Applications include the visualization of fluid flow in fluid dynamics, the communication of ecological data, data in computational biology (blood clotting, chemical kinetics, electrical waves in muscles and the brain), and computational physics in such areas as high-energy astrophysics, cosmology, high energy physics, and other subatomic phenomena. Students learn to use the power of graphics boards for interactive visualization and rendering techniques. Six credits.
ECE 440 Computer Graphics
ECE 450 Computer Animation
8. Embedded Systems. The embedded systems domain is critical to the creation and deployment of smart systems, which are today embedded in networks that use microchips and computers. Understanding the process by which software and hardware mechanisms allow computations and communications with networks of computers is crucial to this domain. Six credits.
ECE 460 Network Programming
ECE 470 Network Embedded Systems
9. Enterprise Computing. The enterprise computing domain addresses the needs of companies based on information technology for their successful operations by providing expertise in server-side application development. This is the enabling technology for deploying business services on the Web; it is further in accord with the new model of Internet services where Web content is replicated in different geographic locations on the Internet for faster accessibility by Web browsers. Six credits.
SW 402 Database Management
SW 410 Enterprise Java | 
