Policy for EE and CE Focus Areas

• The focus area (FA) courses must be part of an overall coherent plan of study formulated by the student. The FA courses may not be an unorganized potpourri of courses.
• The FA plan of study must be approved by the student’s academic advisor and department chair. An approved list of FA courses and plan of study must be on file prior to the student registering for FA courses as an ECE student.
• The FA courses consist of
  • Depth elective: This is an advanced course that builds upon the required courses.
  • Breadth elective: For EE, select from CE required courses or ECE:3540. For CE, select from EE required courses or ECE:3540.
  • 5000-level ECE courses: Two additional 5000-level ECE courses.
  • ECE Elective: One additional 3 s.h. ECE course.
  • Technical courses: An additional 6 s.h. of courses must be technical. Technical courses are defined as those that include a significant amount and level of mathematics, science, engineering, and/or computer science content. These courses do not need to be engineering courses.
  • Additional electives: An additional 6 s.h. of elective courses.
• A student may substitute up to 6 s.h. of the technical courses with business courses provided that the student obtains a Technical Entrepreneurship Certificate, business minor, or a B.S. in engineering and MBA dual degree.
• No course that is a prerequisite (or has equivalent content to a prerequisite) to a required ECE program course may be used as an FA course. No course with similar topical content to an ECE course but taught at a lower level may be used as an FA course.