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Letter from the ECE Chair

I’m thrilled to kick off my role as chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at UC Santa Barbara! It’s great to welcome back our ECE community and extend an especially warm welcome to our new undergrad and grad students joining us this year. This incoming class is one of the most diverse and largest we’ve had in nearly 60 years—a big milestone for us.

We’re also excited to introduce Tobia Marcucci as our newest faculty member. Tobia, a PhD from MIT, is making strides in convex and combinatorial optimization with a focus on robotics, motion planning, and optimal control—fields reshaping the future, and we’re lucky to have him here.

Over the past year, our faculty have earned some truly impressive honors. Shuji Nakamura, our very own 2014 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, received the LpS Digital Innovation Award. Haewon Jeong was awarded the NSF CAREER Award. Jason Marden is now an IEEE Fellow, and Larry Coldren received the prestigious Heinrich Welker Award. John Bowers was

 

honored with the Jun-ichi Nishizawa Prize from IEEE, and Nina Miolane received both the NSF CAREER Award and the Hellman Family Faculty Fellowship. These awards reflect the innovative spirit defining our department and the hard work our faculty puts into pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge.

I'm incredibly proud of the legacy we’re building here—from our faculty’s game-changing research to the impact our graduates are making in tech and academia. But as they say, the best is yet to come. With the talent and energy we have in our students, faculty, and researchers, we’re set to lead in high-impact fields like semiconductors, computing, AI/machine learning, robotics and signal processing.

Let’s dive into this academic year with optimism, excitement, and a commitment to exploring the unknown. Here’s to another great year of breaking boundaries, inspiring the next generation of engineers, and making this one a year to remember — Professor Luke Theogarajan

Faculty Awards & Honors

An overview of some of the awards and honors received by our faculty:

  • 2 Nobel Prize Laureates
  • 2 National Medal of Technology and Innovation
  • 1 IEEE Medal of Honor
  • 5 National Academy of Sciences members
  • 15 National Academy of Engineering members
  • 1 American Academy of Arts & Sciences Members
  • 11 National Academy of Inventors Fellows
  • 43 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows
  • 2 Association for Computing Machinery Fellows

 

 

  • 10 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
  • 10 Optica (formerly OSA) Fellows
  • 4 UCSB Faculty Research Lecturers
  • 10 UCSB Distinguished Teaching
  • 25 NSF CAREER
  • 5 NSF PYI / NYI Young Investigators
  • 3 Clarivate Analytics "Highly Cited Researchers"

More faculty awards and honors are at the bottom of this page.

Department Numbers

Faculty & Staff

  • 45 Faculty (tenured / tenure-track)
  • 5 Adjunct / Visiting Faculty
  • 14 Affiliated Faculty
  • 29 Emeritus Professors
  • 4 Lecturers
  • 2 Teaching Professors (Sr. Lecturer SOE)
  • 48 Staff Members

Research Funding

  • Total: $19.1 million
  • Government: $17.1 million
  • Corporate: $900K
  • Other: $1.1 million

* 3-Year Annual Avg. 2021-2024

Enrollment (Fall 2024)

Degrees (2023-24)

  • 37 Master's | 22 PhD
  • 58 BS EE | 81 BS CE

ECE Mission Statement

ECE has a dual mission for excellence in both education and research. These two components mutually benefit each other — Full Statement

ECE and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Research and teaching in ECE thrives most when diverse people participate. For success, we make Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion a priority — More on ECE & Diversity

Research

We attract some of the top faculty researchers from academia and industry. Our research is categorized into four focus areas – Control Systems, Communications & Signal Processing, Computer Engineering, and Electronics & Photonics. Our faculty partner their research efforts with industry, government, outside academic institutions, other UCSB departments, and within the Department.

Undergraduate Studies

We offer BS degrees in Electrical Engineering (EE) or Computer Engineering (CE). Qualified EE students may apply in their junior year for the combined BS/MS program with an MS degree either in ECE or Materials. Qualified CE students may apply for the combined BS/MS program with an MS degree in either ECE or Computer Science. A range of options are available including communications, control systems, signal processing, computer engineering, microwaves, and semiconductor devices & applications.

Graduate Studies

We offer both Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The Department has three types of degree programs (MS, MS / PhD, or PhD) with emphases in Communications, Controls & Signal Processing, Computer Engineering, and Electronics & Photonics. One of the department's strengths is its history of collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

Invest in ECE

We invite you to invest in the Department by visiting Giving to ECE. Opportunities include:

  • Unrestricted Support to the ECE Department
  • Undergraduate Capstone Project Fund
  • George Matthaei Undergraduate Award Fund
  • Herbert Kroemer Endowed Fellowship Fund
  • Roger C. Wood Endowed Fund
  • Petar V. Kokotovic Distinguished Visiting Professorship

For more information contact Steve Ramirez, Ass't. Dean of Development, College of Engineering

Academic & Admin Officers

  • Department Chair: ECE Prof. Luke Theogarajan
  • Vice Chair & Graduate Program Director: ECE Prof. Clint Schow
  • Vice Chair & EE Undergraduate Program Director: ECE Prof. Shiv Chandrasekaran
  • Vice Chair and CE Undergraduate Program Director: ECE Prof. Yogananda Isukapalli
  • Academic Business Officer: Mike Moore

Faculty w/ Endowed Chairs

• Cree Chair in Solid State Lighting and Display (Materials) - Shuji Nakamura
• Doluca Family Chair in ECE – Mark Rodwell
• Richard A. Auhll Professorship and Dean’s Chair of Engineering – Umesh Mishra
• Donald W. Whittier Professor of ECE – Umesh Mishra
• Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology – John Bowers
• Kavli Chair in Optoelectronics and Sensors – Larry Coldren
• Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. Chair in Solid State Lighting and Display (Materials) – Steve DenBaars

Recent Books by ECE Faculty

Jerry Gibson: Information Theoretic Principles for Agent Learning | SpringerLink (2025)

Steve Long: Communication Electronics/RF Design with Practical Applications | River Publishers (2024)

Jerry Gibson: Analog Communications: Introduction to Communication Systems | SpringerLink (2023)

Jerry Gibson: Digital Communications: Introduction to Communication Systems | SpringerLink (2023)

Jerry Gibson: Fourier Transforms, Filtering, Probability and Random Processes: Introduction to Communication Systems | SpringerLink (2023)

 ECE Newsletters

ECE Newsletter 2023-24

ECE Newsletter 2023-24

ECE Newsletter Fall 2022

ECE Newsletter Fall 2022

2021 ECE Current newsletter cover

ECE Newsletter Fall 2021

ECE Newsletter Fall 2020

ECE Newsletter Fall 2020

Newsletter Archives: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009

Faculty Honors & Awards

Nobel Prize Laureates

National Medal of Tech. & Innovation

IEEE Medal of Honor

Members and Fellows

 National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Sciences

  • Lawrence Rabiner (1990) *
  • David Auston (1991) *
  • Arthur Gossard (2001) *
  • Herbert Kroemer (2003) *
  • Evelyn Hu (2008) *
National Academy of Inventors

National Academy of Inventors

  • Steven DenBaars (2014)
  • Shuji Nakamura (2014)
  • Umesh Mishra (2015)
  • John Bowers (2015)
  • Larry Coldren (2016)
  • Dan Blumenthal (2017)
  • Rod Alferness (2018) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (2019) *
  • Nikil Jayant (2020) *
  • B.S. Manjunath (2022)
  • U. Madhow (2022)
AAAS Fellows

American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows

  • Venkatesh Narayanamurti (1983) *
  • David Auston *
  • Evelyn Hu (1998) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (1982) *
  • Pierre Petroff (2009) *
  • Arthur Gossard (2010) *
  • Kaustav Banerjee (2016)
  • Yuan Xie (2019) *
  • John Bowers (2021)
  • Chris Palmstrøm (2023)
National Academy of Engineering

National Academy of Engineering

  • Lawrence Rabiner (1983) *
  • Arthur Gossard (1987) *
  • David Auston (1989) *
  • Venkatesh Narayanamurti (1992) *
  • Petar Kokotovic (1996) *
  • Nikil Jayant (1996) *
  • Herbert Kroemer (1997) *
  • Evelyn Hu (2002) *
  • Rod C. Alferness (2003) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (2003) *
  • Shuji Nakamura (2003) 
  • Larry Coldren (2004)
  • John Bowers (2005)
  • Umesh Mishra (2009)
  • Steven DenBaars (2012)
IEEE Fellows

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows

  • Phillip Ordung (1959) *
  • Glen Wade (1962) *
  • Herbert Kroemer (1970) *
  • Sanjit Mitra (1974) *
  • Lawrence Rabiner (1976) *
  • Petar Kokotovic (1980) *
  • David Auston *
  • Allen Gersho (1982) *
  • Larry Coldren (1982)
  • Nikil Jayant (1982) *
  • Venkatesh Narayanamurti (1987) *
  • Adel Saleh (1987) *
  • James Merz (1988) *
  • Rod C. Alferness (1989) *
  • Pochi Yeh (1991) *
  • Jerry Gibson (1992)
  • Hua Lee (1992)
  • John Bowers (1993)
  • Evelyn Hu (1994) *
  • Umesh Mishra (1995)
  • Behrooz Parhami (1997)
  • Margaret Marek-Sadowska (1997) *
  • Tim Cheng (2000) *
  • Arthur Gossard (2001) *
  • Andrew Teel (2002)
  • Dan Blumenthal (2003)
  • Mark Rodwell (2003)
  • Ken Rose (2003)
  • Steven DenBaars (2005)
  • U. Madhow (2005)
  • B.S. Manjunath (2005)
  • Nadir Dagli (2006)
  • Joao Hespanha (2008)
  • Bob York (2009)
  • Kaustav Banerjee (2012)
  • Yuan Xie (2015) *
  • Peng Li (2016)
  • Li-C. Wang (2017)
  • Clint Schow (2017)
  • Yasamin Mostofi (2020)
  • James Buckwalter (2022)
  • Dmitri Strukov (2023)
  • Jason Marden (2024)
Other Fellows

Other Fellows

 American Academy of Arts & Sciences

American Academy of Arts & Sciences

  • David Auston (1992) *
ACM Fellows

Association for Computing Machinery Fellows

  • B.S. Manjunath (2018)
  • Yuan Xie (2019) *

IEEE Awards

IEEE

IEEE

Medals

Technical Field Awards

Other IEEE Awards

IEEE Society

IEEE Society

Circuits and Systems Society (CAS)

Communications Society

Computer Society

Control Systems Society (CSS)

Education Society

  • McGraw-Hill / Jacob C. Millman Award
    Sanjit Mitra (2001) *

Electron Devices Society (EDS)

Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S)

Photonics Society

Signal Processing Society (SPS)

  • Technical Achievement Award
    Lawrence Rabiner (1978) *
    Sanjit Mitra (1996) *
  • Society Award
    Lawrence Rabiner (1980) *
    Sanjit Mitra (2001) *
  • Education Award
    Sanjit Mitra (1989) *

More Awards

Societies

Other Societies

Acoustical Society of America (ASA)

American Physical Society (APS)

American Society for Engineering Education

Optica (formerly OSA)

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)

The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS)

Fellowships

Fellowships

Early Career

Early Career

Industry

Industry

UC System & UCSB

U. of California & UCSB

U. of California Systemwide

UC Santa Barbara

Academic Senate

Other Awards

Other Awards

* No longer active in the Department.