The M.S.C.E. is an
interdisciplinary degree program jointly administered by the faculty members
from the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Erik
Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (see Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science sections for listing of faculty).
The M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in Computer Engineering emerged as a bridge between the increasingly
overlapping disciplines of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. The
M.S.C.E. degree program provides intensive preparation for engineers who seek
knowledge and skills necessary for the design of complex systems comprised of
both hardware and software components. It has a heavy emphasis on the design of
high speed and complex hardware and highly reliable and time critical software
systems.
Computer Engineering
at UTD is a broadly based engineering discipline dealing with the sensing,
processing, and transmission of information by making extensive use of
electrical engineering and computer science principles. The CE program at UTD
also encourages students and faculty to develop synergies with disciplines
outside of engineering, such as medicine and the life sciences. CE faculty
members are actively involved in advanced research and teaching in all major
areas of computer engineering. The
The Erik Jonsson
School of Engineering and Computer Science has developed a state-of-the-art
computational facility consisting of a network of Sun servers and Sun
Engineering Workstations. All systems are connected via an extensive
fiber-optic Ethernet and, through the Texas Higher Education Network, have
direct access to most major national and international networks. In addition,
many personal computers are available for student use.
The Engineering and
The Center for
Integrated Circuits and Systems (CICS) promotes education and research in the
following areas: digital, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit design and
test; multimedia, DSP and telecom circuits and systems; rapid-prototyping;
computer architecture and CAD algorithms. There are several laboratories
affiliated with this center. These laboratories are equipped with a network of
workstations, personal computers, FPGA development systems, prototyping
equipment, and a wide spectrum of state-of-the-art commercial and academic
design tools to support graduate research in circuits and systems.
The Center for
Systems, Communications, and Signal Processing, with the purpose of promoting
research and education in general communications, signal processing, control
systems, medical and biological systems, circuits and systems and related
software, is located in the
In the Digital
Signal Processing Laboratory several multi-CPU workstations are available in a
network configuration for simulation experiments. Hardware development
facilities for real time experimental systems are available and include
microphone arrays, active noise controllers, speech compressors and echo
cancellers. The Distributed Computing Laboratory has a network of personal
computers running Linux to support network simulation using discrete-event
simulation packages. The Hardware/Software Co-design Laboratory has many
workstations and PCs with DSP modules to support the experiments for various
implementations in DSP and communications.
In addition to the
facilities on campus, cooperative arrangements have been established with many
local industries to make their facilities available to U.T. Dallas graduate
engineering students.
The University�s
general admission requirements are discussed here.
A student lacking
undergraduate prerequisites for graduate courses in electrical engineering and
computer science must complete these prerequisites or receive approval from the
graduate advisor and the course instructor. A diagnostic exam may be required.
Specific admission requirements follow.
The student entering
the M.S.C.E. program should meet the following guidelines:
Applicants must
submit three letters of recommendation from individuals able to judge the
candidate�s probability of success in pursuing master�s study. Applicants must
also submit an essay outlining the candidate�s background, education and
professional goals.
Students from other
engineering disciplines or from other science and math areas may be considered
for admission to the program on a case-by-case basis; however, some additional
course work may be necessary before starting the master�s program.
The University�s
general degree requirements are discussed here.
The M.S.C.E.
requires a minimum of 33 semester hours.
All students must
have an academic advisor and an approved degree plan. Courses taken without
advisor approval will not count toward the 33 semester-hour requirement.
Successful completion of the approved course of studies leads to the M.S.C.E.
degree.
The M.S.C.E. program
has both a thesis and a non-thesis option. All part-time M.S.C.E. students will
be assigned initially to the non-thesis option. Those wishing to elect the
thesis option may do so by obtaining the approval of a faculty thesis
supervisor.
All full-time, supported
students are required to participate in the thesis option. The thesis option
requires six semester hours of research, a written thesis submitted to the
graduate school, and a formal public defense of the thesis. The supervising
committee administers this defense and is chosen in consultation with the
student�s thesis advisor prior to enrolling for thesis credit. Each student
must take 4 required courses:
CE 6302 Microprocessor Systems
CE 6304 Computer Architecture
CE 6325 VLSI Design
CE 6378 Advanced Operating Systems
Required courses must be passed with a grade of B or better.
Approved electives
must be taken to make a total of 33 hours. These courses must be at 6000 level
or higher from computer engineering, electrical engineering, computer science
and telecommunications engineering curricula with the approval of the advisor.
It is highly recommended that two of these electives be chosen from the
following list:
CE 6303 Testing and Testable Design
CE 6305 Computer Arithmetic
CE 6308 Real-Time Systems
CE 6352 Performance of Computer Systems and Networks
CS 6353 Compiler Construction
CE 6370 Design and Analysis of Reconfigurable Systems
CE 6375 Design Automation of VLSI Systems
CE 6380 Distributed Computing
CE 6397 Synthesis and Optimization of High Performance Systems
CE 6398 DSP Architectures
Each doctoral degree
program is tailored to the student. The student must arrange a course program
with the guidance and approval of a faculty member chosen as his/her graduate
advisor. Adjustments can be made as the student�s interests develop and a
specific dissertation topic is chosen.
The Ph.D. in
Computer Engineering is awarded primarily to acknowledge the student�s success
in an original research project, the description of which is a significant
contribution to the literature of the discipline. Applicants for the doctoral
program are therefore selected by the Computer Engineering Program Graduate
Committee on the basis of research aptitude, as well as academic record.
Applications for the doctoral program are considered on an individual basis.
The University�s
general admission requirements are discussed here.
The admission
requirements will be basically the same as the existing ones for admission to
the Ph.D. programs in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The entrance
requirements are
Applicants must
submit three letters of recommendation from individuals able to judge the
candidate�s probability of success in pursuing doctoral study. Applicants must
also submit an essay outlining the candidate�s background, education and
professional goals.
The University�s
general degree requirements are discussed here.
The M.S.E.E. requires a minimum of 33 semester hours.
Core requirements:
The core
requirements for the Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering are the same as the
ones for the M.S. in Computer Engineering. Candidates for the Ph.D. degree in
Computer Engineering must also meet the following requirements, in addition to
the dissertation:
A dissertation is
required and must be approved by the graduate program. A student must arrange
for a dissertation advisor willing to guide this dissertation. The student must
have a dissertation supervising committee that consists of no less than four
members. The dissertation may be in computer engineering exclusively or it may
involve considerable work in an area of application. The minimum number of
semester credit hours required for the proposed doctoral degree will be the
same as the number of credit hours required by the existing doctoral degrees
offered by the