Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at UC Santa Cruz aims to achieve engineering discoveries that benefit humankind through a combination of curiosity, open-mindedness, and inclusiveness. We aim to provide undergraduate and graduate students with inspiration and quality education, believing that rigor, creativity, and excitement should be part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering curriculum.

Our Electrical Engineering undergraduate program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org. Learn more about ABET Accreditation.

Research

Learn about the research being conducted within our department.

People

Meet people in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Degrees

Learn about the Graduate and Undergraduate programs in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

#2

public university in the nation for students focused on making an impact in the world (Princeton Review, 2022)

#10

best electrical engineering master's degree school in California (College Factual, 2025)

#2

top public colleges for engineering salaries (Wall Street Journal, 2023)

Researchers run high-performing large language model on the energy needed to power a lightbulb

UC Santa Cruz researchers show that it is possible to eliminate the most computationally expensive element of running large language models, called matrix multiplication, while maintaining performance.

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ECE research news

UC Santa Cruz to help launch first-of-its-kind air mobility test ecosystem on the Central Coast

The test ecosystem for Advanced Air Mobility aircraft along the Central Coast will support innovation and create quality jobs.

Chancellor’s 2024 innovation awards honor excellence in research and impact

The recipients include innovators who have created breakthroughs in knowledge and technology that are improving our world and community partners.

Innovative techniques aim for climate-safe restoration of Ms. Blue

A new project is underway to give Ms. Blue another life, this time enabling her to teach the community about the power of climate-safe innovation

More ECE news »

Upcoming events

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Explore potential Electrical and Computer Engineering career paths

• AI Engineer
• Computer Hardware Engineer
• Electrical and Electronics Engineer
• Embedded Systems Engineer
• Robotics Engineer
• Signal Processing Engineer
• Software Engineer
• Systems Engineer
• Telecommunications Engineer

Professor Holger Schmidt gives a tour of his labs and discusses his research in optofluidics. By working together, Schmidt and his UC Santa Cruz colleagues have discovered important biomedical applications for this technology.

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Marco Rolandi is researching the use of technological devices to mimic biological processes.

Professor Ricardo Sanfelice and his Hybrid Systems Lab works to develop Cyber Physical Systems that incorporate networks, computers, and physics. applied to aerial vehicles and systems that operate in complex environments.

Learn about Robotics and Control Engineering at UC Santa Cruz

Dejan Milutinović and his graduate students study the control of robotic and autonomous vehicle systems, especially in the presence of uncertainty. The research is multidisciplinary, involving control theory, statistical physics, mathematics and mechanics. In the lab, they can test at a small scale, so there is no need to invest in airplanes and automobiles to test their theories.