ECE at Maryland

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Led by 90 full-time and affiliate faculty members and 26 research faculty and postdocs, the research programs within the department cover a wide spectrum of activities in the following areas:
  • Communications, Networking, and Information Theory (CNIT)
  • Signal Processing and Machine Learning (SPML)
  • Control, Robotics, Autonomy, and Learning (CRAL)
  • Computer Architecture (CMAR)
  • Embedded and Cyber-Physical Systems (ECPS)
  • Cybersecurity and Cyberprivacy (CYSP)
  • Quantum Technologies (QUTE)
  • Applied Physics and Electromagnetics (APHE)
  • Optics and Photonics (OPTP)
  • Electronic Materials and Devices (ELMD)
  • Power Electronics, Solid State Circuits, and Bioelectronics (PECB)

Cross-disciplinary Research

Our close affiliation with a number of research institutes such as the Institute for Systems Research, the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, and the Maryland NanoCenter provides our students and researchers the opportunity for team-oriented, cross-disciplinary research and access to the institutes' state-of-the-art laboratories. 


Cutting-Edge Research Opportunities 

ECE is a large department that offers a broad range of programs and research opportunities. Its research innovations are aimed at helping government and industry face today's most difficult global challenges. Employers and peer institutions recognize the prestige of Maryland's engineering programs.

Maryland's proximity to Washington, D.C., offers unique research opportunities with national and government laboratories such as NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Army and Navy Research Labs. No other top Engineering program in the U.S. can provide such close proximity and access to national laboratories, the federal government, and the Department of Defense.

Facts & Figures

  • Founded in 1908
  • More than $30 million in research expenditures annually
  • 60 tenure-track faculty
  • 8 structural divisions 
  • 9 Distinguished University Professors 
  • Ranking: Computer Engineering ranked #11 and Electrical Engineering Ranked #14 in public institutions according to 2024-24 U.S. News and World Reports
  • Enrollment: 800 
  • Percentage of female students: 19% 
  • Students in College Park Scholars or University Honors: 51.6%
  • Ranking: #15 in the nation according to 2024-25 U.S. News and World Reports
  • Enrollment: 598
  • Percentage of female students: 21%
Clark School Facts & Figures ECE facts & figures

Meet the Chair

Sennur Ulukus began her tenure as ECE Department Chair on November 7th, 2022.  Previously she held the position of ECE Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and is currently the the Anthony Ephremides Professor in Information Sciences and Systems.  She has been recognized at UMD with a 2016 UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, the 2012 ECE George Corcoran Outstanding Teaching Award, and a 2011 ISR Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award. She holds a joint appointment with the Institute of Systems Research (ISR)

Ulukus joined the University of Maryland as an Assistant Professor in 2001. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from Bilkent University and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University.  Before joining UMD, she worked at AT&T Labs.

Her research interests are in information sciences and systems, particularly wireless communications, information theory, signal processing and networking.  She has been recognized for her research in many areas.  In 2003, she received the IEEE Marconi Prize Paper Award in Wireless Communications. She has also been honored with a 2005 National Science Foundation CAREER Award; 2019 IEEE Communications Society Best Tutorial Paper Award, 2020 IEEE Communications Society Women in Communications Engineering Outstanding Achievement Award, 2020 IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Green Communications and Computing Distinguished Technical Achievement Recognition Award. In 2016 she was named a Fellow of the Communications Society for “contributions to characterizing performance limits of wireless networks”, and in 2018-2019 was named a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Information Theory Society.


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