The M.Eng. Program

Open doors with a Master of Engineering Degree with a concentration in the Electrical Engineering Department.

This is the definitive site for information on the Master of Engineering from the electrical engineering department. Information on this site supersedes all other information on this program.

Princeton's program in electrical engineering is part of a distinguished tradition in graduate education and scientific research at the University. Important contributors to the field worked at Princeton from its earliest history. Quoting from a 1940 publication "Engineering at Princeton":

"In 1873 Cyrus Fogg Brackett came to Princeton to occupy a new professorship of physics founded in honor of Professor Joseph Henry, who had meantime gone to Washington to organize the Smithsonian Institution. A pioneer in the field of electricity in this country and an early adviser to Thomas A. Edison, Professor Brackett was also a leading expert in the vast amount of litigation connected with the invention and development of the telephone."

This is a very brief description of two early contributors to electrical engineering at Princeton University: Joseph Henry, for whom the unit of inductance is named, and Cyrus Brackett who was an expert in telephony, magnetism, and incandescent light. He was also probably the first professor in the world to have an electrically lighted classroom; in 1880 he constructed a dynamo and battery system to light carbon filament lamps in his classroom. Professor Brackett's activity led to the formation of the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1889.

One hundred and fifteen years later, the department where Edison came for advice has moved from research on incandescent lighting to the major present-day fields of electrical engineering. We still have illustrious contributors to the field of electrical engineering, such as Professor Daniel Tsui who was the 1998 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect observed at a semiconductor heterojunction; Professor Stephen Chou, whose research group developed the "one-electron transistor;" and Professor Sergio Verdu, a pioneer in the area of multiuser detection for wireless communications.

The research in the Department of Electrical Engineering focuses on four broad areas: computer engineering, electronic materials and devices, information sciences and systems, and optical and optoelectronic engineering. These disciplinary lines are informal, and interaction and cooperation between areas are commonplace. The department also interacts closely with the other departments in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, with the math and science departments, and with two interdisciplinary centers: the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), and the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics (PACM).

The department has 30 full-time professors and 7 associated professors from the Departments of Mathematics, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Chemistry. In addition to the very strong research programs that are under the direction of these faculty members, the department has excellent relationships with neighboring companies and industrial laboratories, where students can interact on joint projects. Leading researchers from these neighboring organizations often teach courses in the department and bring to the classroom their expertise and industrial perspective.

Many distinguished and creative alumni of this department occupy leadership positions in industry, academia, business and financial corporations, and government.

The Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program has been developed to meet the need for rigorous and advanced training in the applied aspects of modern technology. It builds upon the Bachelor of Science in Engineering program and focuses on engineering aspects of technology and management. For students with adequate preparation, the program can be completed in one year of full-time study. A thesis is not required, and program requirements are met by successfully completing eight courses, six of which must be technical courses at the graduate level. Part-time status is available for qualified students.

Useful EE links:

• Frequently Asked Questions about EE Graduate Admissions
• EE Research Projects
• EE Graduate handbook

Princeton University Graduate Info:

• Frequently Asked Questions for current graduate students
• Princeton University Graduate School Homepage
• Princeton University Graduate School Catalog
• Graduate School Guide