Undergraduate Curriculum
Course planning resources
Feel free to use these to help plan your course schedule
Core ECE Courses
Embark on an exciting journey through electrical engineering with our foundational courses, most of which are available every semester. These courses are designed to ignite your curiosity, give you hands-on experiences, and give you a broad basis of electrical and computer engineering.
Full degree and minor requirements can be found in the UNDERGRADUATE RECORD.
We live in a world where electronic devices are ubiquitous. They operate your phone, computer, car, and coffee maker, but do you know how they work? It isn’t magic and yet most people have little idea how they function much less how to go about designing them. This course will provide you with a foundation for exploring electrical and computer engineering, where you will learn how to analyze and build electronic circuits that are the backbone of our society today. You will learn not only the underlying circuit theory but also hands-on laboratory techniques and the engineering communication skills that are crucial for the complex design problems facing the modern engineer.
This course introduces electrical engineering theory and its application to circuits containing active and passive circuit elements. Content includes fundamental concepts such as voltage, current, power, energy and Ohm's Law as well as circuit analysis techniques including node-voltage and mesh-current based on circuit laws and theorems such as Kirchhoff Laws, source superposition, and equivalent circuits.
Prerequisite: Must have completed APMA 1110 (Calc 2) and ENGR 1010 (Engineering foundations 1)
Quotes from past course evaluations:
- "I highly enjoyed my experience in Applied Circuits and feel more excited than before about my prospective academic journey in electrical engineering."
- "I came into this course with barely any prior knowledge and experience with circuits and I remember feeling very nervous when I did not have any clue how to do the first lab. I feel like this class gave a very good introduction into circuit analysis and physically building circuits on the breadboard."
Introduction to analysis and design of digital systems from switches to gates to components to CPU. Analysis and design of combinational and sequential components including multiplexers and demultiplexers, decoders and encoders, comparators, adders and ALU, registers and register files, counters and timers, RTL design, culminating in the design of a simple programmable processor. 10-12 studio design activities.
Cross-listed as CS 2330.
Learn about and experiment with machine learning algorithms using Python. Applications include image classification, removing noise from images, and linear regression. Students will collect and interpret data, learn machine learning theory, build systems-level thinking skills required to strategize how to break the problem down into various functions, and to implement, test and document those functions.
Prerequisite: CS 111X
Studies the modeling, analysis, design, computer simulation, and measurement of electrical circuits which contain non-linear devices such as junction diodes and field effect transistors. Includes the gain and frequency response of linear amplifiers, power supplies, and other practical electronic circuits. This course is taught in a studio style with a mixed lecture and lab.
Pre or Corequisite: APMA 2130 and ECE 2700 and Prerequisite: ECE 2300
Develops tools for analyzing signals and systems in continuous and discrete-time, for controls, communications, signal processing and machine learning. Primary concepts are the representation of signals and linear systems in the time domain (convolution, differential equations, state-space representation) and in the frequency domain (Fourier/Laplace analysis) including practical programming examples.
Pre or Coreq: APMA 2130
Prerequisite: ECE 2300
An embedded computer is designed to efficiently interact directly with its physical environment. This lab-based course explores architecture and interface issues relating to the design, evaluation and implementation of embedded systems. Topics include hardware and software organization, power management, digital and analog I/O devices, memory systems, timing and interrupts.
Prerequisites: ECE 2300 and ECE 2330 and CS 2130
Our Capstone is were our students shine! Check out how capstone works and some previous capstone projects on our ECE Capstone page.
Design, analysis and testing of an electrical system to meet specific needs, considering applicable standards, health, safety, welfare, and societal impacts as well as tradeoff and constraint considerations. Semester-long team project develops physical prototype (not simulation). Counts major design experience for students in ECE.
Prerequisites ECE 3430 and ECE 2700 and 4th year standing
Focus Paths
A focus path is a list of courses in a sub-area within ECE. Unlike a second major or minor, a focus path does not appear on the transcript. However, a focus path makes for a great interview or cover letter topic. You can use the focus paths to help you determine which courses to take given your interests.
Focus paths are optional and meant primarily as an aid in selecting courses. Do not feel limited to the list here - feel free to mix and match electives from different focus paths or to create your own path. Explore the exciting focus paths below and find the one that sparks your passion!
CHIPS (Circuit Hardware Integration for Processing and Systems)
Integrated microcircuits power almost every aspect of modern life, from cell phones, to cloud computing to internet of things sensors, to self-driving cars. Students in this focus path will develop and design semiconductor circuits for the next wave of tech breakthroughs.
Electronic to Photonic Devices
We aspire to understand, design, and build devices with universal impact. We build the pixel, the bit, the memory, and the solar cells. We aim to build the hardware of the future, and we start by understanding and unpacking the current state of the art. When we engage with a product, we want to know how it works. We apply physics to engineering, and we experiment, design, and build.
Robotics and Embedded Systems
When software meets hardware, the world becomes smart, secure, resilient, autonomous, and more sustainable. In this focus path, you will navigate the sky with drones, program robots, design smart devices, and develop technologies to help solve the world’s toughest challenges including medicine, climate change, transportation, and accessibility.
Machine Learning
Machine learning helps devices make better decisions based on data. Our students are in high demand for building smart real-world systems by combining the knowledge in ECE topics such as robotics, communications, medical imaging, and electronic devices with the power of AI/ML.
Many of our undergraduate students enjoy their courses so much they decide to become teaching assistants (TA). Hear what some of our undergraduate TAs like about our curriculum.
What our students say ECE 2330: Digital Logic Design
"What I enjoy most about DLD is that it brings out your creativity and problem-solving skills. You can model a lot of things with just 1's and 0's." - Jeffrey Owusu, DLD TA Spring 2024-Fall 2024
ECE 2410: Intro to Machine Learning
" As a BSCS student, this was my first AI/ML course I took at UVA. I enjoyed how the course focused on both the applications and mechanisms behind machine learning concepts, which culminated into a fun end-of-semester project (I made a ML model that can play Tetris!). Additionally, the class is also sprinkled with snippets of more advanced topics such as neural networks and large language models, along with recommended research papers that I explored to further fuel my fascination. Come to office hours!" - Austin Trinh, Intro to ML TA Fall 20024
ECE 2600: Electronics
"I enjoyed the electronics class because it allowed me to get a deeper, more fundamental understanding of electronic circuits beyond the intro course. The hands-on activities and lectures strengthened my design and experimental skills by introducing me to more complex systems. My favorite part was designing an audio analyzer as our final project. " - David G. Merino, Electronics TA Spring 2024
ECE 2600: Electronics
" My favorite part about Electronics is how hands-on it is! Working with a breadboard during every class session and on every assignment really solidified my knowledge of the theory we learned in class. Then, getting to leverage all my new skills to build the audio analyzer final project made Electronics a very rewarding and cohesive class." - Simone Borin Electronics TA Spring 2024-Fall 2024
ECE 3430: Introduction to Embedded Computer Systems
"I enjoyed exploring embedded systems because they offer a fascinating intersection between software and hardware, revealing how they collaborate to perform diverse functions. I was also intrigued by its wide range of applications in contemporary technology, from the Internet of Things to consumer electronics, showcasing the versatility and potential of embedded systems." - Daniel Sarria, Embedded TA Fall 2024
ECE 2330: Digital Logic Design
"To be honest, the concepts I learned from DLD have followed me throughout every single one of my CpE classes. Because of this, I can confidently say DLD helped me to build a great foundation for all things electrical, which I am forever grateful for." - Joyce Park, DLD TA Spring 2024-Fall 2024
Useful links
Questions? Comments?
Please reach out!
Keith Williams
Williams' completed my Ph.D. in materials physics at Penn State University in 2001, and undertook postdoctoral research in the Molecular Biophysics Group at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, thereafter establishing a nanophysics laboratory in the physics department at the University of Virginia.
FAQ for current students
Ultimately, picking a focus path is about finding the right fit. If there was a single “best” focus path, we wouldn’t have multiple! Your goal is to find the best focus path for you. Here are a few strategies you can use to pick a focus path:
- Each focus path corresponds to different types of careers it will best prepare you for. Talk to faculty in the area about these and see which one sounds like the best fit for you.
- Read the syllabus for or visit one of courses for one of the upper-level classes listed for a focus path. See if the content in that course excites you.
- Think about which of your previous courses you have enjoyed the most. Try to focus more on the course material than on the instructor style or the instructor’s personality since you’ll have different instructors going forward. Did you like modeling physical systems and then building them and having them come to life in circuits and electronics? Then maybe consider CHIPS or E2P. Did you enjoy the mix of coding and hardware in embedded systems? Then maybe consider robotics. Did you like the modeling of systems in code and math in signals and systems? Then maybe consider machine learning.
- If you have room in your schedule for two electives, try taking a course from two different focus paths.
- Talk with upperclassmen! Ask them what they have learned and how it has served them in internships and what type of jobs they are considering.
- Talk to your advisor. This website is made to give an overview of the focus paths, but your decision is unique to you and your advisor can help you think about how your interests align with the different focus paths.
No matter which focus path you choose, know that you have already selected an amazing major that will prepare you for a wide variety of jobs.
Finally, you’ll see that many of our faculty span more than one focus path. You can always chart your own course and combine electives from multiple focus paths.
No, you do not need ECE 2200 if you have Physics 2 credit either from transfer credit or from taking PHYS 2410 and 2419 at UVa. If you have not taken Physics 2 yet, we highly recommend taking ECE 2200 - our students enjoy the class and you will have an ECE instructor.
Please see the answer on the CS advising webpage here:: https://uvacsadvising.org/courses.html#which-cs1-course-should-i-take
Yes. So does linear algebra, which most of our faculty highly recommend.
You can search the Archived Records page for more past requirements or to find the records page for other majors. Here are some recent years: