Future undergraduate students

New undergraduate curriculum empowers the engineer of the future

Electrical and computer engineers help shape the future through innovations that harness nature’s forces.  They improve systems with their creative solutions that serve everyday needs of society spanning from communications to energy and technology.  Our new curriculum provides students with rigorous foundations in math and physics while exposing them to exciting applications early on in their program. 

The new curriculum is based on three pillars:

• empower “makers” by exposing students to hands-on activities early,
• develop critical thinking skills, and
• allow students more flexibility to select courses based on interest.

Programs offered

Electrical and computer engineering is multi-disciplinary and based on foundations in science, mathematics, and computing - both hardware and software. Our department offers an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in two core undergraduate programs:

• Computer Engineering
• Electrical Engineering

We also participate in four interdisciplinary undergraduate programs:

• Software Engineering
• Nanotechnology Engineering
• Mechatronics Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering

The computer engineering and electrical engineering programs span the field in slightly different ways to provide students with core knowledge and the ability to focus on one or more target areas.

Target areas

• Communications, modulation and coding, multimedia, and wireless;
• Networks, mobility, and distributed computing;
• Energy distribution, motors/generators, power electronics, and energy marketing;
• Control, automation, robotics, and mechatronics;
• Digital architectures, embedded computers, and formal specification and design;
• Analog or digital devices, circuits, VLSI, and micro-/nano-fabrication methods;
• Microwave (radio frequency) or photonic devices and systems;
• Signal processing, computational intelligence, and soft computing;
• Software systems, components, security, and embedded software; and
• Software engineering, requirements specification, software architectures, and verification.
• Common elements of mathematics, science, and computing permeate these areas and tie them together with a concentration on engineering science (analysis) and engineering design (synthesis).

Computer engineering puts more emphasis on digital hardware, software systems, and networks, while electrical engineering focuses more on microwave/photonic systems, devices/fabrication, and power.

Waterloo Engineering employs a “direct-entry” approach, in which students apply for specific programs. Recognizing that many students know they want to study in this area, but are not familiar enough with the concepts to determine where their interests lay, we make it possible for students to move between the electrical and computer engineering programs early on in their studies.