Electrical and Computer Engineering Careers Neil E. Cotter University of Utah

Overview EE and CE briefly described Salaries and companies who hire Case studies of EE/CE jobs Lessons learned

Electrical Engineers are inventors and innovators who apply knowledge of signals, circuits, physics, and systems to develop technologies to improve people's lives What is Electrical Engineering?

Computer Engineers design and program computer systems, small and large, to improve people's lives What is Computer Engineering?

How do CS and CE and EE Differ? EE CECS

Example: EE’s 2011 (CE’s similar) Are there EE and CE Jobs? 46 of 53 graduates had job offers / grad school acceptance by graduation day Many had multiple offers Average reported starting salary: $59,000

What are Salaries by Industry?

Who Hires U of U Graduates? ATK Bachtel Marine Harman Signal Proc. Hill AFB Knolls Atomic Power L-3 Communications Micron Moog Aircraft Navsea Northrop Grumman Raytheon Reliable Controls Rio Tinto Rocky Mtn. Power Sorenson Communications Varian Medical Syst.

Case Study: Speech Recognition Write software to decode speech waveform Use frequency analysis to detect vowel sounds Use probabilistic models to guess which phonemes were most likely

Case Study: Pulse Deconvolution Shoot X-rays at object, detect photon emissions (pulses) Pulse size and quantity indicate makeup of sample Undo the overlap to determine original pulses, (math problem)

Case Study: Modeling Heat Flow Induction furnace in steel mill heats by creating eddie currents in bar Model of cooling derived by (slow) numerical simulation Nonlinear differential equation used to model temperature in real-time

Case Study: Security System A Hall effect sensor can detect if a door is open A central computer can monitor a farm of storage lockers Fast turnaround in prototyping creates a business opportunity

Case Study: Auditory Prosthesis Auditory prosthesis stimulates auditory nerve electrically To create proper sound, flow of current must be controlled Threshold tests with patients determine how current spreads out from electrodes

Case Study: Fuzzy Control An algorithm is needed to control the positioning of a large motor Fuzzy logic translates operator knowledge into control signals An adaptive algorithm tracks performance and tweaks the control algorithm

Lessons Learned Your immediate boss is the most important person in the company In school, individual performance rules; in industry, teams rule Figure out how you can help, instead of looking smart Do what you love