What is EECE?

Electrical engineers and computer engineers today are involved in the development and enhancement of nearly every aspect of our lives. As technology becomes ever more pervasive in our everyday lives, electrical or computer engineers are increasingly in demand by a wide range of industries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the growth rate in jobs among computer engineers from 2000 to 2010 to be 24.9% or 15,000 jobs; electrical engineering jobs will grow by 11.3% or 18,000 jobs. So what are the differences?

Virtually unknown just a few decades ago, computer engineering is now among the most rapidly growing fields. The electronics of computers involve engineers in design and manufacture of memory systems, of central processing units, and of peripheral devices (see Computer). Foremost among the avenues now being pursued are the design of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) and new computer architectures.

The field of computer science is closely related to computer engineering; however, the task of making computers more “intelligent” (artificial intelligence,), through creation of sophisticated programs or development of higher level machine languages or other means, is generally regarded as being in the realm of computer science.

One current trend in computer engineering is microminiaturization. Using VLSI, engineers continue to work to squeeze greater and greater numbers of circuit elements onto smaller and smaller chips. Another trend is toward increasing the speed of computer operations through use of parallel processors, superconducting materials, and the like.