Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University! We are deeply committed to training and educating the next generation of electrical and computer engineers through Northeastern’s experiential learning model and comprehensive pedagogy. We offer BS, MS, and PhD degrees in electrical and computer engineering and many combined majors. As of fall 2024, the department is home to 847 undergraduates, 658 master’s students, and 346 PhD students.

The department has 91 tenured/tenure-track faculty, in addition to 14 teaching faculty and 12 research faculty. Many of them have joint appointments with other departments in the College of Engineering, including Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Bioengineering, and with other colleges, such as the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, the College of Science, including Physics and Mathematics, and the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, including Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, which captures the interdisciplinary possibilities of an ECE education.

Today, our highly accomplished faculty includes 62 Young Investigator Awards, 27 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards, 1 member of the National Academy of Engineering, 45 Professional Society Fellowships, including 18 IEEE Fellows, and 3 IEEE Society Counsel/Presidents. Thirty-nine (39) of our faculty are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with a single-year impact in various disciplines.

Our research strengths encompass the full gamut of cutting-edge ECE technologies: quantum, electronic, and photonic materials, devices, and circuits; embedded and power systems; control and signal processing; machine learning and artificial intelligence; communications and networks; and robotics and cyber-human systems, to name a few.

In the Fiscal Year 2024, our faculty were awarded $52 million in external research. Our research is funded by a wide variety of U.S. government agencies, such as NSF, NIH, DARPA, DOD, DOE, and DHS, as well as over 20 industrial partners.

Our department has traditionally been home to multiple engineering research centers, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-funded Awareness & Localization of Explosive-Related Threats (ALERT), the NSF-funded Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), and the NSF-funded Institute for Information Assurance. Today, ECE leads the Soft target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality (SENTRY), a DHS-funded multi-institutional Center of Excellence, and is also part of the NSF AI Institute for Future Edge Networks, the NSF Center for Pandemic Insights, and the NSF IUCRC Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust “CHEST.” In addition, faculty in ECE lead major research institutes at NU, including the Institute for Experiential AI (EAI), the Institute for Experiential Robotics (IER), the Institute for nano-Systems Innovation (nanoSI), and the Institute for Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT).

A foundation of Northeastern’s education is its experiential learning approach, including research and our world-leading cooperative education program which is uniquely open to undergraduate and graduate students. Nearly all undergraduate students participate in our co-op program and are integrated into research labs as well as co-authors on scholarly publications. Our graduate students benefit from cutting-edge research in a multidisciplinary environment and have the opportunity to take advantage of our co-op resources and industrial connections to gain valuable professional experience.

I encourage you to explore our website to learn more about our research, educational offerings, and opportunities for shaping the future as part of our vibrant educational and research community. Please do not hesitate to contact me or visit for more information.