What will you learn?
The Computer Engineering and Design track is oriented to the design of computer hardware circuits and systems.  It gives students expertise in a range of technologies from transistor-level design and analysis of digital VLSI and analog integrated circuits to register-transfer level and microarchitectural design. It emphasizes digital and analog IC design, testing and instrumentation, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) design, and the use of hardware description languages for design, synthesis and verification of digital systems.

What jobs are available?
CED graduates have gone on to rewarding engineering careers at leading technology companies such as Intel, Tektronix, and Mentor Graphics.

Student background
Students usually enter the CED program with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or computer science; however students can also enter the program with bachelor’s degrees in other engineering disciplines, or in applied physics or applied mathematics.

About the program
CSEE’s CE&D program offers a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) degree. The MSEE curriculum includes a core of six required courses giving mastery of digital very-large scale integration (VLSI) circuit design, and using hardware description language (HDL) to functional design and verification digital systems for both VLSI and programmable logic implementations.  In addition to the six core courses, six elective courses are required to complete the MSEE degree. Students can choose their elective courses from offerings in electronics, instrumentation, embedded systems design, digital and analog integrated circuit design, transmission line and interconnect design, and technology management (through the Department of Management of Science and Technology)

We recommend that students take a couple of courses before matriculating to determine if graduate study works for them in both their professional and private lives. Once the decision is made, the matriculation process (application for admission) can begin while taking classes. Up to 21 credits taken in the department prior to matriculation may be applied toward an MSEE degree.

Students can also take CE&D courses with matriculating or seeking any degree. Often, students take one or two courses to advance their careers by gaining knowledge of new technologies.  For example, many students take our highly-rated courses in the growing field of FPGA design.

The CE&D program is designed to be convenient for working professionals. All courses are scheduled weekday evenings after 5:00PM. Students should plan on a minimum of 6-8 hours per week of outside homework study for each class.

Students taking two courses per quarter, three quarters per year, can graduate in two years. Many students take one course per quarter and graduate in three to four years.

Faculty
The CE&D faculty are experts from Oregon’s leading technology companies. They are engineers themselves, with years of experience in the industry working on the cutting edge of hardware design.