Curriculum
Research
Getting Involved
Getting Involved
After Graduation
Curriculum
Research
Getting Involved
Getting Involved
After Graduation

The PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering program at WPI inspires graduate students to deeply explore, investigate, and uncover groundbreaking research in the field.

You’ll work alongside our dedicated faculty researchers and industry and government partners to explore compelling issues and solve critical problems, to produce more efficient and reliable computing networks, to develop new data security and cryptography techniques, to improve medical diagnostic equipment and processes—or, using wireless systems, to increase bandwidth for ever-increasing data streams and to locate emergency responders.

You’ll find WPI’s research focus areas are varied and include the following:

  • Analog Microelectronics
  • Communication and Signal Analysis
  • Computer Engineering
  • Cryptography and Data Security
  • Medical/Health Engineering
  • Power Systems Engineering
  • RF Circuits and Microwave
ECE
Graduate Admissions

Curriculum

Candidates in the Electrical & Computer Engineering PhD program work alongside faculty who challenge you to strengthen your knowledge through advanced course work, original research in our extensive and well-funded innovative labs, special graduate seminars, and supplementary courses in areas such as mathematics, computer science, and physics.

The program also requires two minors, seminar attendance, a diagnostic exam, an area exam, and preparation and defense of a dissertation.

Graduate Catalog

Research

As an Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) graduate student, your research opportunities include access to state-of-the-art equipment and modern facilities to experiment, model, build, and innovate. Our department boasts over a dozen specialty labs with an annual funding level of nearly $5 million.

You may also tap into such resources as our fabrication lab, ECE shop, and dedicated computer clusters. Our more than 60 science and engineering computer applications range from development and modeling programs to digital signal processing and data visualization tools.

Samples of current WPI faculty research:

  • Preventing chaos in deregulated energy environment
  • Development of special purpose coils for functional magnetic imaging in high-field scanner of 4.7-9.4 Tesla field strength based on 3-D numerical modeling
  • Development and design of medical/health devices
  • Cryptography and securing engineering
  • Integrity monitoring of the Global Positioning System for precision approach and landing of aircraft
  • Performance evaluation of wireless telecommunication and geolocation terminals

As a PhD student, you’ll have access to facilities and equipment to further your research and allow you to reach your fullest potential. In Atwater Kent Laboratories, the first building in the nation devoted exclusively to electrical engineering education, extensive laboratory and workstation space fosters a collaborative and exciting approach to innovative research projects.

Research & Facilities

Getting Involved

Alexander Wyglinski

Associate Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
In today’s information age, wireless communication is the highway that connects all of us together. My goal as a teacher is to mentor students along a path of discovery and research in wireless communications, including cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum access. Given the increasing number of wireless users and applications, there is an urgent need to devise new approaches for accommodating this rapid growth and counteract the wireless spectrum issue currently faced by modern society.
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Jie Fu

Assistant Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
My research leverages control theory, formal methods, and machine learning to construct adaptive, provably correct cyber-physical systems with respect to complex specifications. The challenges I am currently interested in include: reactive robotic systems under partial information and modeling uncertainty, multi-robot coordination, optimal control of hybrid systems, and design of adaptive semi-autonomous systems.
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Kaveh Pahlavan

Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
I am a professor of ECE, a professor of CS, and director of the Center for Wireless Information Network Studies (CWINS). My laboratory, the first of its kind in the world, specializes in radio propagation study for the design of algorithms used in wireless networks. Beginning in 1985 we applied our research to the design of wireless local and personal area networks and since the mid-’90s to wireless localization applications. My passion is in innovation and entrepreneurship and my students and I have been involved in a number of leading-edge start-up companies.
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Thomas Eisenbarth

Associate Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Data and network security have become of utmost importance in today's highly interconnected world. Embedded systems security is a great research area at the core of any secure cyber-infrastructure, with unique challenges: Besides classical problems found in security, systems must meet tough constraints on power consumption, interoperability and cost. At the same time, adversaries may have physical access to the system, allowing them to perform a whole new class of attacks. The sum of these challenges is what makes work in embedded systems security so fascinating.
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Getting Involved

Getting Involved

You may get involved in the events, meetings, and networking opportunities offered to our diverse grad student population. You’ll also find campus chapters of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

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Students walking around the fountain in the springtime

After Graduation

As a PhD graduate of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, you’ll land in a job market that's seeking candidates with your research experience and the collaborative approach WPI imparts. You’ll be well prepared to lead research at companies and in academia or through various research opportunities.

Career Outlook
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Electrical & Computer Engineering Department