Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

Most of the fellowships and scholarships are awarded by a Graduate School committee on the basis of a University-wide competition. The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department recommends first-, second-, and third-year graduate students to this competition on the basis of past academic performance and future promise. All new-student applications accepted by January 15 are reviewed and those showing the greatest potential are submitted to the competition automatically. Students already on campus must apply to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department to be considered for second- or third-year awards.

Teaching assistantships are awarded by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on the basis of expected teaching ability. Usually they are not made available to foreign students until communication and technical proficiency have been established through classroom work on this campus.

Research assistantships are awarded by individual faculty members who have sponsored research funds at their disposal. Such awards are made on the basis of mutual interests between student and professor.

Only those who have been accepted as regular degree students and who maintain an acceptable performance level are eligible for financial assistance.

Research and Teaching Assistant Appointments

In order to be appointed as either a Research or Teaching Assistant, a graduate student must be enrolled on a full-time basis. Full-time status for a master's student is defined as being enrolled in either (a) five hours of graduate level course work or eight hours of mixed graduate and undergraduate level course work; (b) registration for any number of Master's thesis hours; or (c) registration for master's Candidate for Degree (ECEN 6940).

Full-time status for doctoral students who have not passed the comprehensive examination is defined as enrollment in either (a) five hours of graduate level work or eight hours of mixed graduate and undergraduate level work or (b) registration for any number of doctoral thesis hours. Full-time status for doctoral students who have passed the comprehensive examination is defined as registration for at least five hours of doctoral thesis.

Teaching Assistantships

These are usually awarded to first-year students based on their academic record, recommendations, and motivation for graduate study. Teaching assistantships for continuing students are awarded after demonstration of their abilities to the Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty. The purpose of teaching assistantships is to give serious graduate students the opportunity to teach, and they should not be considered just as a form of financial aid. For this reason, appointments will be made for one semester at a time with reappointment dependent upon a performance evaluation by the teaching assistant's supervisor.

Each teaching assistant will be supervised by a full-time faculty member who has the basic responsibility for the course. The students taking the course have every reason to expect their instructor to be well prepared and helpful.

A limited number of tuition waivers are available for teaching assistants. The amount of the waiver is graduated and based upon the percentage of teaching time. For further information contact the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Graduate Office, Room ECEE 1B63. An application is available on-line at TA Application.

Teaching assistants will observe the academic calendar in the same manner as other faculty members.

Research Assistantships

These are awarded to students by individual faculty members on the basis of research needs and mutual interests. Current research activities in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department are published in the Graduate Brochure and described in the Research Group section of this web site. Interested students should contact appropriate faculty members directly.

Research assistants on appointment will observe the same calendar as the University staff with respect to vacation periods. Deviation from this schedule must be authorized by the research supervisor.