Electrical & Computer Engineering

High Quality, Wide Spectrum of Study

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at The University of Texas at Austin is focused on preparing future professional engineers for challenges ranging from building and maintaining secure data infrastructure and intelligent utility networks to smart grids and biochips.

The ECE Department includes 66 full-time faculty and 18 part-time faculty who bring state-of-the-art research, development and design experience into the classroom. The department benefits from the university's location in Austin, Texas, which is often referred to as Silicon Hills for the growing number of high-tech companies in the area. These companies offer excellent learning opportunities, collaborations and practical experiences for ECE students.

UT ECE offers diverse research opportunities covering 11 areas

• Biomedical Engineering
• Communications, Networks and Systems (CommNetS)
• Computer Architecture and Embedded Processors
• Computer Engineering
• Electromagnetics and Acoustics
• Energy Systems
• Integrated Circuits and Systems
• Manufacturing Systems Engineering
• Plasma/Quantum Electronics and Optics
• Software Engineering
• Solid-State Electronics

UT ECE professors are recognized leaders in their fields

• Seven National Academy of Engineering (NAE) members
• Three Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) Fellows
• 30 Fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• 23 National Science Foundation Young Investigator/CAREER Award winners

ECE Professor Emeritus Dr. Elmer Hixson Dies at 86

Professor Emeritus Dr. Elmer Laverne Hixson died on Feb. 10. He was 86.

Elmer arrived in Austin under the U.S. Navy V12 Program at The University of Texas at Austin where he met his wife, Betty. After active service, The Hixsons returned to Austin where he pursued his bachelor's degree in 1945, master's degree in 1946 and doctor's degree in 1960 in electrical engineering from the university. He then joined the faculty in the Electrical Engineering Department, where he taught for 37 years and received several teaching awards. He became professor emeritus in 1997, but continued to teach graduate students and perform research in acoustical engineering until his health failed in 2010.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts be made to the Elmer Hixson Graduate Fellowship in Acoustics Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Gifts may be made online or mailed to:

Cockrell School of Engineering
1 University Station C2100
Austin, Texas 78712

Please write "This gift is in memory of Elmer Hixson" in the notation. Condolences may be sent to www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.

Faculty News: Professor Receives Presidential Award

Assistant Professor Seth Bank received the 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on young researchers. Bank will use the $1 million award to study metallic nanoparticles embedded in a semiconductor.

Recent Seminars

Calderon Preconditioned Time Domain Integral Equation Solvers for Electromagnetics (Seminar Series: Electromagnetics and Electroacoustics)

Negative Index Metamaterials and Their Applications to Sub-diffraction Imaging and Infrared Light Harvesting (Seminar Series: Electromagnetics and Electroacoustics)