Electrical and Computer
Engineering Department

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Department Head:  Askins

Professors:  Askins, Dornetto, Peeples

Associate Professor:  Dunlop

Assistant Professors:  Murphy, Hubbard, McKinney

General Information

In 1941 the Board of Visitors authorized the establishment of a Department of Electrical Engineering at The Citadel. Because World War II intervened, the first electrical engineering degrees were awarded to the class of 1948. A student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers was established in 1962 and is active at The Citadel. Students of the junior and senior classes who meet the academic requirements may be elected to Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. The electrical engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

It is the purpose of the department to prepare the individual for professional work or for graduate study in the field of electrical engineering and to provide as many of the elements of a broad education as can be included in a program of professional study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. The electrical engineering curriculum places emphasis on a broad liberal education base, a strong background in mathematics and basic sciences, and a logical sequence of electrical engineering courses that provide the breadth and depth necessary for continuous professional growth in today's technological society. In the junior year the electrical engineering student normally selects an area of professional emphasis such as computer engineering control systems, communication systems, electronics, or power systems. An integral part of the program is the design component that develops the student's ability to address practical engineering problems. This is accomplished by the inclusion of engineering design concepts throughout the curriculum and capped by a mandatory two-semester senior design course in which the students undertake significant design projects.

Convinced of the great value of practical experience, the department encourages its majors to obtain gainful employment in electrical engineering or a related field for at least one summer, preferably between the junior and senior years.

Electrical Engineering Program

In addressing its mission, the department strives, through small classes and hands-on experience in laboratories closely monitored by full-time faculty, to provide an environment highly conducive both to learning and to the development of close student-faculty relationships.

Electrical Engineering Program Objectives

To ensure students acquire a solid foundation in the basic sciences, mathematics, engineering topics, and in the application of these sciences to the solution of practical engineering problems.

To provide a cohesive set of sequenced courses designed around a strong core curriculum to produce graduates who have developed the broad educational abilities provided by a modern postsecondary education and who have the breadth and depth required to practice engineering within the electrical engineering discipline in a technological society.

To ensure students develop oral and written communication skills and computer skills required of engineers in a technological society.

To ensure students develop strong leadership and teaming skills.

To provide up-to-date laboratory equipment so graduates are familiar with the capabilities, application and operation of the equipment currently used in engineering analysis, design, and research environments.