Master’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Offered By: Purdue University via edX

Course Description

Overview

The Master’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering equips you with the depth and breadth of knowledge and relevant skills needed to succeed in today’s engineering world while offering you the prestige, affordability, flexibility you want in a Master’s degree. Gain a credential that commands attention with the Purdue University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

This fully-online Master’s program will enable you to gain deep knowledge in your chosen area of interest in as little as three semesters. You will build "breadth at the edges" of your chosen technical area by taking a number of 1 credit courses (each 5 weeks in duration) from a rich suite of options. This unique educational experience will make you a leading expert in your focus area and, at the same time, sharpen your ability to communicate with diverse groups.

Our world-class faculty members will help you develop innovative thinking approaches to address practical complex problems. Throughout your program, you will be supported by a dedicated faculty advisor(s) and a team of professionals to help you plan and support your envisioned career path.

This fully online program enables students to take a deep dive into electrical and computer engineering and choose from 7 broad tracks.

Automatic Control
Communications, Networking, Signal & Image Processing
Computer Engineering
Fields and Optics
Microelectronics & Nanotechnology
Power and Energy Systems
VLSI and Circuit Design

Fellowships are now available to students who apply to the online master’s degree track in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University! Every student who applies to the online program will be considered—there’s no additional application needed. The fellowships will cover, fully or partially, the tuition for this degree program. They will be awarded based on selection criteria that includes academic record, references, experiences, and other indicators of likelihood of success in completing the degree and achieving career goals.

Syllabus

The Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering requires 30 credit hours of coursework. We offer three-credit-hour and one-credit-hour courses.

Curriculum Breakdown:

Core Courses – 6 hours
Graduate Math Courses – 6 hours
Primary Focus Courses – 9 hours
Elective Courses – 9 hours

Students will have the flexibility to focus on a specific area of interest by selecting one of the following areas:

Automatic Control
Communications, Networking, Signal & Image Processing
Computer Engineering
Fields and Optics
Microelectronics & Nanotechnology
Power and Energy Systems
VLSI and Circuit Design

Courses

0 reviews
5 weeks, 8-9 hours a week, 8-9 hours a week
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This course is an introduction to photonic materials and devices structured on the wavelength scale. Generally, these systems will be characterized as having critical dimensions at the nanometer scale. These can include nanophotonic, plasmonic, and metamaterials components and systems.

This course will aim to introduce students to computational techniques employed in current design and research efforts in nanophotonics. You will learn the strengths and weaknesses of each approach; what types of problems call for which one; and how your simulation will perform.

Techniques include eigenvalue problems, fast Fourier transforms, band structure calculations, rigorous-coupled wave analysis, and finite-difference time-domain. Applications include photovoltaics, thermal management, radiative control, and nonlinear optics. It is expected to be useful for graduate students interested in incorporating these techniques into their projects or thesis research.

Students taking this course will be required to complete four (4) proctored exams using the edX online Proctortrack software. Completed exams will be scanned and sent using Gradescope for grading by Professor Bermel.

Recommended Textbook for the course:
Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light by J.D. Jaonnopoulos, S.G.Johnson, J.N. Winn, and R.B. Meade, Princeton University Press, 2008
ISNB Number: 9780691224568

Nanophotonic Modeling is one course in a growing suite of unique, 1-credit-hour short courses being developed in an edX/Purdue University collaboration. Students may elect to pursue a verified certificate for this specific course alone or as one of the six courses needed for the edX/Purdue MicroMasters program in Nanoscience and Technology. For further information and other courses offered and planned, please see the Nanoscience and Technology page.

Courses like this can also apply toward a Master's Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering for students accepted into the full master’s program at Purdue University.
1 review
6 weeks, 8-9 hours a week, 8-9 hours a week
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This course provides the essential foundations required to understand the operation of semiconductor devices such as transistors, diodes, solar cells, light-emitting devices, and more. The material will primarily appeal to electrical engineering students whose interests are in applications of semiconductor devices in circuits and systems. The treatment is physical and intuitive, and not heavily mathematical.

Technology users will gain an understanding of the semiconductor physics that is the basis for devices. Semiconductor technology developers may find it a useful starting point for diving deeper into condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, and materials science. The course presents an electrical engineering perspective on semiconductors, but those in other fields may find it a useful introduction to the approach that has guided the development of semiconductor technology for the past 50+ years.

Students taking this course will be required to complete two (2) proctored exams using the edX online Proctortrack software.
Completed exams will be scanned and sent using Gradescope for grading.

Semiconductor Fundamentals is one course in a growing suite of unique, 1-credit-hour short courses being developed in an edX/Purdue University collaboration. Students may elect to pursue a verified certificate for this specific course alone or as one of the six courses needed for the edX/Purdue MicroMasters program in Nanoscience and Technology. For further information and other courses offered and planned, please see the Nanoscience and Technology page. Courses like this can also apply toward a Purdue University MSECE degree for students accepted into the full master’s program.
0 reviews
5 weeks, 5-6 hours a week, 5-6 hours a week
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Very different from what is taught in standard courses, "Fundamentals of Current Flow" provides a unified conceptual framework for ballistic and diffusive transport of both electrons and phonons - essential information for understanding nanoelectronic devices.

The traditional description of electronic motion through a solid is based on diffusive transport, which means that the electron takes a random walk from the source to the drain of a transistor, for example. However, modern nanoelectronic devices often have channel lengths comparable to a mean free path so that electrons travel ballistically, or "like a bullet."

Verified students taking this course will be required to complete three (3) proctored exams using the edX online Proctortrack software. To be sure your computer is compatible, see Proctortrack Technical Requirements.

Nanoscience and Technology MicroMasters ®

Fundamentals of Current Flow is one course in a growing suite of unique, 1-credit-hour short courses developed in an edX/Purdue University collaboration. Students may elect to pursue a verified certificate for this specific course alone or as one of the six courses needed for the edX/Purdue MicroMasters® program in Nanoscience and Technology.

For further information and other courses offered, see the Nanoscience and Technology MicroMasters® page. Courses like this can also apply toward a Purdue University MSECE degree for students accepted into the full master’s program.
0 reviews
5 weeks, 8-9 hours a week, 8-9 hours a week
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This course introduces the Schrödinger equation, using the tight-binding method to discuss the concept of bandstructure and E(k) relations, followed by an introduction to the NEGF method with simple illustrative examples. Concept of spinors is introduced along with the application of the NEGF method to spintronic devices.

No prior background in quantum mechanics or statistical mechanics is assumed.

Verified students taking this course will be required to complete three (3) proctored exams using the edX online Proctortrack software. To be sure your computer is compatible, see Proctortrack Technical Requirements.

Nanoscience and Technology MicroMasters ®

Introduction to Quantum Transport is one course in a growing suite of unique, one-credit-hour short courses developed in an edX/Purdue University collaboration. Students may elect to pursue a verified certificate for this specific course alone or as one of the six courses needed for the edX/Purdue MicroMasters® program in Nanoscience and Technology.

For further information and other courses offered, see the Nanoscience and Technology MicroMasters® page. Courses like this can also apply toward a Purdue University MSECE degree for students accepted into the full master’s program.
0 reviews
6 weeks, 8-9 hours a week, 8-9 hours a week
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The transistor has been called the greatest invention of the 20th century - it enabled the electronics systems that have shaped the world we live in. Today's nanotransistors are a high volume, high impact success of the nanotechnology revolution. This is a course on how this scientifically interesting and technologically important device operates. The course is designed for anyone seeking a sound, physical, intuitive understanding of how modern transistors operate. Important technology considerations and applications of transistors are also discussed. The focus is on MOSFETs for digital logic, but analog applications and other types of transistors are briefly considered.

This course is broadly accessible to students with only a very basic knowledge of semiconductor physics and electronic circuits. Topics include device metrics for digital and analog circuits, traditional MOSFET theory, the virtual source model, 1D and 2D electrostatics, Landauer/transmission approach to nanotransistors, the limits of MOSFETs, as well as a quick look at HEMTs, bipolar transistors, and compact circuit models. The course should be useful for advanced undergraduates, beginning graduate students, as well as practicing engineers and scientists.

This course is part of a Purdue initiative that aims to complement the expertise that students develop with the breadth at the edges needed to work effectively in today's multidisciplinary environment. These serious short courses require few prerequisites and provide a general framework that can be filled in with self-study when needed.

Students taking this course will be required to complete two (2) proctored exams using the edX online Proctortrack software.
Completed exams will be scanned and sent using Gradescope for grading.

Fundamentals of Transistors is one course in a growing suite of unique, 1-credit-hour short courses being developed in an edX/Purdue University collaboration. Students may elect to pursue a verified certificate for this specific course alone or as one of the six courses needed for the edX/Purdue MicroMasters program in Nanoscience and Technology. For further information and other courses offered and planned, please see the Nanoscience and Technology page. Courses like this can also apply toward a Purdue University MSECE degree for students accepted into the full master’s program.
1 review
5 weeks, 7-9 hours a week, 7-9 hours a week
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This course will aim to introduce students to the fundamentals of fiber optic communications, which constitute the backbone of the internet. The course will start with a refresher on the operation of key components needed for an effective fiber optic communication system, and then show how these components interact at a system level. Finally, the course will conclude with outlook for future research in extending the capabilities of these networks to higher bandwidths and quantum-secured communications.

Students taking this course will be required to complete four (4) proctored exams using the edX online Proctortrack software.

Completed exams will be scanned and sent using Gradescope for grading by Professor Bermel.
Fiber Optic Communications is one course in a growing suite of unique, 1-credit-hour short courses being developed in an edX/Purdue University collaboration. Students may elect to pursue a verified certificate for this specific course alone or as one of the six courses needed for the edX/Purdue MicroMasters program in Nanoscience and Technology. For further information and other courses offered and planned, please see the Nanoscience and Technology page.

Courses like this can also apply toward a Master's Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering for students accepted into the full master’s program at Purdue University.