Undergraduate Curricula

The main purpose of this section is to help NCSU Undergraduate students decide among course offerings so as to best pursue a career in Circuit Design. Your main freedom is in choosing among the ECE electives. Below, we have prepared some sample outcomes and specific advice to elective choice. Please refer back to the ECE Undergraduate Curricula page for background information as needed.

Please remember that this is only advice. It mainly reflects my personal views and feedback I have received. Feel free to follow your own intellectual curiosity, and to seek other sources of information.

Undergraduate Curriculum Summary Chart

Communications Circuit Design
Example outcomes gained by taking this track would include joining groups that design and maintain interface chips and cards for Ethernet, Telephone systems, ADSL, Backplane transceivers, and Cable Modems. Local employers looking for skills in this area would include IBM, Analog Devices, Nortel, Maxim, Cadence, and Cisco. Courses central to obtaining this outcome would include the following:

• Intermediate Electives
  
  
  • ECE 403: Electronics Engineering
  • ECE 402: Communications Engineering
  For your third intermediate elective, I would recommend ECE 404 Solid State Devices if you are going on to graduate school to be an integrated circuit designer. Otherwise, I don't have a strong recommendation.
• Senior Electives
  
  
  • ECE 421: Introduction to Signal Processing
  I would also consider ECE 435 (Elements of Control), ECE 492K (Optical Communications), and ECE 464 (ASIC Design). (Note, make sure to take the pre-requisites for each of these.)

RF and Microwave Circuit Design
Example outcomes gained by taking this track would include joining groups that design and maintain the following types of chips, sub-systems and systems: wireless communications and networking, radars, and Electronic Warfare systems. Local employers looking for skills in this area would include Analog Devices, RFMD, Sony, and Ericsson. Courses central to obtaining this outcome would include the following:

• Intermediate Electives
  
  
  • ECE 403: Electronics Engineering
  • ECE 402: Communications Engineering
  For your third intermediate elective, I would recommend ECE 404 Solid State Devices if you are going on to graduate school to be an integrated circuit designer. Otherwise, I don't have a strong recommendation.
• Senior Electives
  
  For those with a Communications bent:
  
  
  • ECE 449/492F: RF Design For Wireless
  • ECE 421: Introduction to Signal Processing
  • You could also consider adding ECE 420 Wireless Communications Systems
  For those with an Electromagnetic bent:
  
  
  • ECE 492G: Numerical Electromagnetics for Wireless
  • ECE 422: Transmission Lines and Antennae for Wireless
  I would also recommend ECE 404 Solid State Devices if you are going on to graduate school to be an integrated circuit designer, or are potentially interested in high power amplifiers.

Power Circuit Design
Example outcomes gained by taking this track would include joining groups that design and maintain low-voltage power regulator chips and subsystems. These are used, in turn, in just about every electronic device made, from GameBoys to Servers. Local employers looking for skills in this area include Intersil, Sentec, and Linear Tech. Courses central to obtaining this outcome would include the following:

• Intermediate Electives
  
  
  • ECE 403: Electronic Engineering
  • ECE 305: Electromechanical Devices
  For your third intermediate elective, I would recommend ECE 404 Solid State Devices if you are going on to graduate school to be an integrated circuit designer. Otherwise, I don't have a strong recommendation.
• Senior Electives
  
  
  • ECE 434: Electronics Energy Converters
  • ECE 435: Elements of Control