The Electrical and Computer Engineering Honors program is a curriculum program. Students admitted to, and who complete the program and all its requirements, receive a Bachelors of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering with the ECE Honors transcript distinction. Students entering the University as first time in college applicant may apply to the ECE Honors program by completing a separate online application available through the Office of Admissions. The ECE Honor’s committee considers and reviews all supplemental material required in the online application for the ECE Honors program. All admission decisions must be made by the UT Austin Office of Admissions, with the ECE Honors Selection Committee providing recommendations . Students may also apply and be admitted into the ECE Honors Program after matriculating to The University of Texas at Austin. External transfer students are required to complete the separate online application process. The internal application process for internal transfer students requires a copy of the student’s record at UT Austin; a transcript of high school courses and grades; a resume detailing relevant accomplishments, experience, and activities; and written statements. The ECE Honors Selection Committee will consider these applications, and on that basis, will decide admission to the ECE Honors Program. In order to remain in the program, ECE Honors Students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.3 in their ECE courses (honors and non-honors), and must be in good standing according to current policies of the ECE department.

The integrated degree program results in simultaneously awarding a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Integrated Option (BSECE) degree, and a Master's of Science in Engineering (MSE) degree in any one of the ten graduate tracks offered by the graduate program in electrical and computer engineering (ECE).

Communications, signal processing, networks, and systems broadly encompasses the principles underlying the design and implementation of systems for information transmission. The field considers how information is represented, compressed, and transmitted on wired and wireless links and how communication networks can be, and are, designed and operated. A student who chooses this technical concentration should recognize that communications and networking is a broad application domain where many engineering tools come into play: from circuit design for wireless phones to embedded network processors to system and application software for networked systems.

The electronics and integrated circuits concentration involves the design and analysis of the circuits that provide the functionality of a system. The types of circuits that students encounter include analog and digital integrated circuits, radio frequency circuits, mixed signal (combination of analog and digital) circuits, power electronics, and biomedical electronics. The design and implementation of integrated circuits and systems using analog and digital building blocks are included in this core area. A student should choose this concentration if he or she is interested in designing chips for applications, such as computing, telecommunications, and signal processing.

This technical component area provides the foundation for a career in electric power systems, generation, grid operation, motors and drives, and renewable energy sources. This area involves the study and design of reliable and economic electric power systems, including both traditional and renewable resources. Energy conversion involves conversion to and from electrical energy, including the study and design of electrical machines.

Students in this technical component area study different aspects of applied electromagnetics, including antennas, radio wave propagation, microwave and radio frequency circuits and transmission structures, optical components and lasers, and engineering acoustics. A student should choose the electromagnetic engineering area if he or she is interested in engineering that involves the physical layer in modern communication and radar systems. Graduates are well positioned for jobs in antenna design and testing, propagation channel characterization, microwave and radio frequency circuit design, electromagnetic emission testing from electronic devices and systems, radar system design and development, optical telecommunication, optical information and signal processing systems, and component design and development.

Students in this technical component area learn about the materials and devices used in modern electronic and optoelectronic systems. Through required and electives courses, students learn about the fundamentals of charge transport and interactions with light in semiconductors. They learn about devices beginning with diodes and transistors, the building blocks of integrated circuits, and extending to photodiodes, semiconductor lasers, photodetectors and photovoltaic devices. They learn about microelectronics fabrication techniques. And they are introduced to quantum mechanics, particularly as it applies to electronic and optoelectronic materials and devices. Students may also explore device applications through digital and analog circuit design. With exposure to the topics in this area, students are well positioned to work in a wide variety of fields that rely on semiconductor devices, such as computers, telecommunications, the automotive industry, and consumer electronics.

Computer Architecture and Embedded Systems Computer architecture involves understanding the operation and design of computers on many different levels. These levels include the instruction set, microarchitecture, and logic design. Embedded systems represent the combination of software and hardware that are designed to perform specific functions. These systems may be stand-alone items or an integral part of a larger system. Within this technical component area, students are exposed to logic design, programming, computer architecture, systems design, and digital signal processing. The student studying computer architecture will be well positioned to join the microprocessor design industry as a logic designer or a circuit designer. After a good deal of experience on the job, the student would be well positioned to become the chief architect of a new design. Jobs in embedded systems involve defining, designing, and fabricating application-specific processors and computers in areas such as automotive electronics, consumer devices, and telecommunications.

Courses in this area cover the engineering life cycle of software systems, including requirement analysis and specification, design, construction/programming, testing, deployment, maintenance, and evolution. Area courses are intended to teach students theory, practical methods, and tools for designing, building, delivering, maintaining, and evolving software to meet stakeholder requirements. Every software engineer must understand how software systems operate and how they can be used to solve engineering problems and deliver solutions. The courses in this area are designed to educate students about a diverse and relevant set of technologies and about the ways that technology can be used to design and build software systems.

This concentration trains students in information and signal processing, data mining as well as decision and control algorithms. Applications include data analytics, machine learning, sound and image processing as well as knowledge extraction and actuation.