Nowadays the world is lit by lightning," the playwright Tennessee Williams wrote. But electrical and computer engineers prove him wrong every day. From city lights to satellites, from semiconductors to telephone switching systems to audio equipment, the work depends on electricity and the engineers who design and develop ways to harness its power. Electrical Engineering majors at Cal State Northridge receive a solid, broad-based education. Among the many topic areas in the basic curriculum are mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer programming, engineering materials, electrical circuits, engineering mechanics, thermodynamics, engineering economy, and numerical analysis. At the senior level, students are required to take an approved concentration in one of the Electrical and Computer Engineering options: biomedical engineering, communications, digital systems design, control systems, electronics, microwave and antenna engineering, or power systems. The Computer Engineering (CompE) program bridges the curriculum gap between Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Computer Engineers deal with the hardware and software aspects of computer system design and development. The CompE curriculum contains components of both the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering programs. Computer Engineering majors receive a broad knowledge in the basic curriculum. Among the many topics are: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, electrical circuits, engineering economy, algorithms, programming, and computer organization. Computer Engineering students will take coursework in a number of areas (i.e. computer architecture, digital design) from both the software and hardware points of view, allowing them to get a broader, more complete exposure to the subject. Additionally, these curricula will be unified in the one year senior design project course bringing together the existing Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science programs. The ECE department has 16 labs associated with its ECE classes. In the labs, students work alongside professors who may be designing medical instrumentation for health care, designing microcontroller based applications, developing pager and satellite communications systems, or working on innovations in electrical power systems. All students in the EE or CompE programs take part in the department's senior design program, modeled on industry work groups that students will encounter on the job. Like professional engineers, students design and develop a project, from conception through manufacture. In the process, they gain valuable experience in working as a team, dealing with personalities as well as technical areas. Senior design projects have included national intercollegiate competitions. Students compete in designing a micromouse and training it to run through a 10' square maze. Students also work on interdisciplinary teams to design, build, program, and test an unmanned autonomous helicopter. Other projects include developing a sophisticated stereo system, control system for satellite tracking antenna, television tuner, fabrication of hybrid circuit, etc. The College of Engineering and Computer Science offers an Honors Cooperative Internship Program that allows juniors and seniors to complete their studies while holding down jobs as engineers. A student chapter of the national professional society, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, meets on campus. Other active organizations include: Tau Beta Pi (the engineering honors society) Eta Kappa Nu (the electrical engineering honors society) the Society for Women Engineers (SWE) the National Society for Black Engineers (NSBE) the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)

Graduates in Electrical Engineering design and build communications systems, information processing, entertainment devices, medical diagnosis equipment, robotics control, navigation, and traffic control systems. Graduates can find work in virtually every industry. Among the major employers are electronic manufacturing firms, communications companies, the entertainment industry, public utilities, oil companies, laboratories, transportation companies, and chemical plants. Some graduates pursue professions as patent attorneys, technical writers, consultants, teachers, or technical sales representatives. This program not only prepares students to enter the work force, but also to enter graduate school to pursue an area of specialization. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2008 to 2018 the number of jobs for electrical engineers is predicted to increase by 2%. The 2010-2011 Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the BLS, U.S. Department of Labor, states that computer hardware engineering held about 74,700 jobs in 2008; this is projected to grow by four percent (77,500) by 2018. According to Employment Development Department (2010), the number of computer hardware engineers in California grew faster than the average growth rate for all occupations and it is expected to further increase by 12.6 percent (2,220 jobs) by 2018.