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College of Engineering

Electrical Engineering

students in benchtop meter lab

An Electrical Engineer
In The Making

Electrical engineers are in high demand – they are the spark and energy behind devices both small and colossal. They dream big and generate ideas to create a better world for all.

Your Discovery In The Making

Electrical engineers are at the core of our rapidly changing smart world. They are the daring visionaries and bright minds who imagine and invent technologies that connect the world, from power and communications to healthcare, finance and avionics. Electrical engineers:

  • Develop wind and solar technologies to combat climate change and integrate them with energy systems and networks
  • Design controls and communications systems for smarter robotics in diverse scenarios, such as commercial, military and health applications, disaster relief, precision agriculture and smart manufacturing
  • Design technologies to assist rehabilitation of victims of brain injuries
  • Create smart biosensors to automate and enable humane monitoring of crops and farm animals
  • Design image and signal processing technologies and diagnostics instrumentation for early detection, prevention and monitoring of disease
  • Develop nanotechnologies to study and harness microorganisms
  • Design fast integrated circuits to speed up networks and processors to enable real-time experiences
  • Develop secure techniques to communicate with high-orbiting satellites to facilitate across-the-globe interactions among systems and human beings
students in laboratory testing tesla coil

Your Path In The Making

The electrical engineering major at Iowa State offers the latest technology, cutting-edge research and world-renowned faculty, making it one of the best programs in the country.

Freshman engineering lab: Get hands-on experience during your first year in our freshman engineering lab. This is a great opportunity to understand and tinker with technologies that surround us, including wireless networks, smartphones and renewable energy systems.

Specialty areas of study:

  • Communications and signal processing
  • Electromagnetics, microwaves and nondestructive evaluation
  • Electric power and renewable energy systems
  • Nano- and micro-electronics and photonics
  • Systems and controls
  • Very large scale integration (VLSI) design

Electrical engineering is highly interdisciplinary work, giving you plenty of career options in nearly any industry imaginable. Consider these career area options:

  • Energy: Design solar, wind and traditional electric power systems and make them more environmentally friendly, secure, reliable, efficient and affordable.
  • Information and control: Create human-like robotic systems and enable them to sense, communicate and learn. Solve problems in electronic controls for aircraft flight control systems, autonomous vehicles and more.
  • Bioengineering: Develop therapies with ultrasound, magnetic waves and other technologies to help doctors treat cancer and other diseases. Make biomedical imaging technology more valuable so MRI signals and images are easier to process and read.
  • Electronics: Enhance the speed, materials and flexibility of electronics that connect us every day. Work with lasers, make computer chips smaller and faster and improve solar energy and smartphone technology.

Your Career In The Making

Many of our graduates have built successful careers not only as engineers, but also as managers, entrepreneurs, sales representatives and consultants.

  • The average starting salary of electrical engineering graduates is more than $76,300/year.
  • Co-op and internship salaries for our students average $23.75/hour.
  • Approximately 1,400 companies recruit our engineers every year.
  • 97 percent of our electrical engineering students have in-profession placement within six months of graduation.