Larry Holloway, Professor and Chair
Greetings from the University of Kentucky and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The Department is committed to advancing the electrical and computer engineering professions and meeting the educational needs of our students through teaching, research, and service. These are exciting times for electrical and computer engineers. Many of the dramatic changes experienced by society over the last century have resulted from the work of electrical and computer engineers. The profession has brought about advances in areas such as communications, computers, energy, health care, national defense, manufacturing, and entertainment. Our Alumni have played, and continue to play, an important role in these advances and are well represented in leadership positions throughout the world.
The Department offers B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and a B.S. in Computer Engineering. We have about 300 undergraduate students and about 110 graduate students; over 25 faculty members who are engaged in training the minds of some of the best and the brightest in Kentucky and beyond, and performing nationally recognized, cutting edge research in nanoelectronic and microelectronic devices, optoelectronics, computational electromagnetics, laser micro-machining, solar cells, supercomputing and video walls, computer architecture, analysis and design of very large scale integration (VLSI) chips, signal and image processing, control and manufacturing, electromagnetics, power systems and biomedical systems. The Department plays a leading role in two research centers, the Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CeNSE). Many of the department’s professors are internationally recognized experts in these areas. Our faculty have received several prestigious awards and honors including, the IEEE Fellow, National Science Foundation’s Career and Research Initiation Award, chairmanship of technical sessions at prestigious international conferences and editing of scientific and engineering journals.
Our Faculty have attracted significant funding ($ 8 million, in force at present) from government and industry to perform research projects in the areas mentioned above and have further pushed the frontier of electrical engineering technology. These projects form the heart of the graduate program and provide outstanding opportunities for students to make contributions and be recognized within the engineering community. There are also opportunities for talented undergraduate students to become involved in these research efforts through special project courses and summer internships. The undergraduate program provides students with the basic mathematical, computer, and scientific skills necessary to keep up with new developments. Senior-level courses focus on current technology and special areas within electrical engineering, such as communications, microelectronics, electromagnetics, computer engineering, and control and power systems. The curriculum is interlaced with many laboratory courses, which expose our students to experimental and design challenges. Overall, the curriculum is designed to provide depth and breadth to enable our graduates to pursue several electrical engineering career options or graduate studies.
Eight senior faculty were honored with endowed chairs or professorships from James R. Boyd, James F. Hardymon, Reese S. Terry, Jr., Blazie, the estate of Earl Parker and Gertrude B. Robinson, Data Beam, Kentucky Utilities, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The ECE Department was among the few selected to receive Research Challenge Trust Funds from the Commonwealth. Because of these positive thrusts and our highly motivated faculty and students, the Department is poised for continued growth and is committed to achieving excellence in all endeavors.
More detailed information on our programs and faculty can be found elsewhere on our web site. Please feel free to contact the ECE office, our faculty members or myself if you have any further questions. Best wishes for success in your academic and professional career.