The Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at San Diego State University is an online graduate-level program designed to help working professionals earn a Master’s degree in just two years. The curriculum focuses on advanced engineering theories and their real-world applications, with online courses on communication systems, digital signal processing, electromagnetic systems, VLSI systems, computer networks, energy systems, and control and embedded systems. Upon graduation, students will be prepared to take on leadership roles in many fields across the public and private sector, including manufacturing, defense, telecommunications, biomedical and pharmaceuticals, energy, and telecommunications.
Applications Are Now Open!
Spring 2021 - due Nov. 1
Fall 2021: Oct. 1-August 1
SDSU’s online Masters of Electrical Engineering program is designed for working professionals. You can earn a graduate degree that will help you boost your skills and your résumé without putting your career on hold.
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About the program
Developed with the help of SDSU’s renowned College of Engineering, the online Master of Science in Electrical Engineering program can help you earn a graduate-level degree from San Diego State University without the need to attend classes on a college campus. The coursework is highly accessible and can be completed entirely online, making the program ideal for working professionals from all over the world who want to advance their engineering career.
* Everyone is unique, your admissions advisor will work with you to determine the right path that suits your needs.
Completion Time
As short as 2 Years
Course Format
Online
The program focuses on advanced analytical, technical, and engineering design skills that will help you further your career in electrical engineering. You’ll also be able to specialize your curriculum by studying either Energy Systems and Power or Communications and Networks, depending on your career goals.
Your online courses are taught by experts from SDSU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The curriculum has also been developed with the help of partners in San Diego’s rich industrial network, including SDG&E and NAVWAR.
Join the next generation of engineers who will build the electrical systems of tomorrow. Earn your Master of Science in Electrical Engineering online from San Diego State University.
SDSU’s online Electrical Engineering program is designed for working adults from anywhere in the world who are currently employed as electrical engineers. Students approach the program with a variety of professional goals, including:
Career Advancement
Increasing Your Marketability for New Positions
Adding New Skills and Enhancing Existing Skills
Personal Interest
Increasing Your Salary
Electrical engineers are trained to approach projects with creative solutions driven by highly-advanced analytical skills. Graduates have gone on to hold leadership positions across commercial, industrial, military, and scientific sectors. With a Master’s in Electrical Engineering, you’ll be prepared to work on high-level projects in many fields, including:
Manufacturing
Defense & Government Agencies
Infrastructure & Public Sector Positions
Research & Academia
Telecommunications
Biomedical and Pharmaceuticals
Energy
Since the program is entirely online and can be completed in as little as 2 years, you’ll be able to earn your Master’s degree without putting your life on hold. The curriculum is asynchronous, which means that it’s fully accessible for all students everywhere, no matter where they’re located. Best of all, upon graduation, you’ll have earned the same degree as SDSU’s on-campus students: a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University.
What you can learn
SDSU’s online M.S. in Electrical Engineering program can give you the technical proficiency and the industry knowledge you need to succeed as an electrical engineer in today’s technology-powered world.
The program is based off of eight distinct learning outcomes:
Knowledge
Apply an advanced knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering to solve engineering problems and contemporary technical issues with state-of-the-art solutions
Research
Design and conduct advanced experiments, along with the ability to analyze and interpret research results.
Communication
Enhance your ability to communicate clearly, technically, and unambiguously through spoken and written words.
Multidisciplinary
Understand that data-driven engineering solutions are best, and know how to use them for multidisciplinary applications.
Collaboration
Develop an ability to work with individuals with complementary and differing skills and views.
Integrity
Understand your professional and ethical responsibilities in the work space.
Global Thinking
Understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
Staying Relevant
Acknowledge the need for life-long learning in ever-evolving fields, like Electrical and Computer Engineering.
As a student in the program, you’ll develop an advanced knowledge of theories, systems, design, and skills that are essential to your success in the field. You’ll develop these skills in virtual lessons that focus on topics like:
Linear System Theory and Design
Stochastic Signals and Systems
VLSI System Design
Digital Communications
Power Systems
Renewable Energy
Computer Networks
Coding Theory
You’ll also have the opportunity to focus your studies by specializing in one of two subjects:
Energy Systems and Power
Communications and Networks
Your online courses are led by lecturers and tenure-track faculty from SDSU’s College of Engineering. We also work closely with San Diego’s robust military presence through partnerships with NAVWAR, the U.S. Navy’s information technology systems and satellite communications development program. At the end of the program, you’ll have the opportunity to present an in-depth Culminating Experience to a panel of faculty members that will demonstrate your progress in the program.
With expert faculty, a network of industry partners, and a state-of-the-art curriculum, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from SDSU will help you take on high-level leadership positions in your field.
Outcomes
The outlook for graduate students with an M.S. in Electrical Engineering is extremely bright. As our world becomes more reliant on technology, the national labor market for electrical engineering graduates is projected to grow by 20% over the next decade, and the average nationwide salary for electrical engineering graduates is $100,717.
Labor Analysis M.S. in Electrical Engineering — Nationwide
The program has developed close relationships with a rich network of local organizations, including San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego (NAVWAR). These relationships have helped create a curriculum that’s based on real-time industry insights and hands-on experience with the latest tools and technology in the electrical engineering industry.
Reputation
A Master’s degree from SDSU on your résumé will help you stand out in a rapidly-growing pool of electrical engineering professionals. According to U.S. News & World Report, SDSU’s College of Engineering is one of the top-25 engineering programs in the State of California. The Electrical Engineering program is also ranked as one of California’s top programs.
Accessibility
At its core, the online Master of Science in Electrical Engineering program is designed to help you to continue your academic career without putting your professional career on hold. Many potential graduate students are unable to attend classes on a college campus for a variety of reasons — most have full-time jobs, families, and other commitments. SDSU’s online degree programs remove those barriers to higher education. The program is fully accessible for students anywhere in the world. And with courses designed and delivered by instructors from SDSU’s College of Engineering, you’ll be receiving an education that matches the academic rigors of any on-campus offerings.
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In order to earn your Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, you must complete 30 units of 500-, 600-, or 700-level courses. You must take at least 18 units of 600- and 700-level courses, and no more than 12 units of 500-level courses.
The 30 units consist of the following:
Core Courses — 18 Units
Specialization Course — 21 Units
Course
Cost
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Core Courses (9 Units)
EE 600: Seminar — Machine Learning (3 Units)
Machine learning is a discipline that deals with the automatic design of models from data and has been successfully used in the past few decades for data analysis, process automation, function optimization, model building and many others. The main topics to be covered include probability theory, linear regression, logistic regression, neural networks, decision trees, clustering, Bayesian estimation, dimension reduction, Markov and hidden Markov models with implementation of these models in Matlab, Python or R.
EE 601: Linear System Theory and Design (3 Units)
State models and solutions of the state equations, stability, controllability and observability, realizability and minimal realizations, linear state and output feedback control, introduction to linear optimal control.
EE 602: Stochastic Signals and Systems (3 Units)
Random signals, correlation functions, power spectral densities, the Gaussian process, narrow band processes. Applications to communication systems.
EE 798: Special Study (3 Units)
You can enroll in your Capstone Project course after completing at least 21 units of course work. Your graduate advisor will match you with a project mentor by the end of the first year. This will help you select courses aligned to your project topic. The project has to be defended orally to a committee of two faculty members (one of whom may be your project advisor), and you must submit a written report of the project to the department.
Specialization Courses (21 Units)
Energy Systems and Power Specialization
EE 601: Linear System Theory and Design (3 Units)
State models and solutions of the state equations, stability, controllability and observability, realizability and minimal realizations, linear state and output feedback control, introduction to linear optimal control.
EE 581. Power System Dynamics (3 Units)
Three-phase faults, symmetrical components, unsymmetrical faults, protective relay operating principles, economic dispatch of thermal power generation units, power system controls, voltage and power stability.
EE 584: Power Electronics (3 Units)
Design and analysis of power electronic devices. Permanent-magnet and pulse-width modulation ac-to-ac converters, dc-to-ac inverters, power electronics applications, power semiconductor switches, and switch-mode power supplies.
EE 596: Renewable Energy Systems (3 Units)
Effects of changes in structure of the electric utility system caused by distributed generation or co-generation involving deployment of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Photovoltaic systems to include power converters and energy storage, residential grid connected photovoltaic systems, load flow analysis of power grids and microgrids.
EE 684: Advanced Power Electronics (3 Units)
Advanced modeling strategies for bidirectional converters, DC/ DC converters, design and integration of power electronics interfaces into smart grids, multi-level inverters, Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) switching techniques, resonant/quasi-resonant converters, SiC and GaN switches, single/three phase inverters, and soft switching.
EE 658: Advanced Digital Signal Processing (3 Units)
Advanced topics in FIR and IIR filter design. Quantization effects in digital filters. Sigma-delta modulation. Signal modeling. Parametric and non-parametric spectral estimation. Frequency estimation.
EE 685: Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Design and Applications (3 Units)
Design and manufacturing technology for micro- and nano-scale devices. Topics include solid state transducers, microscale physics, biomedical microelectronics, microfluidics, biosensors, and hybrid integration of microfabrication technology. Emphasis on biomedical applications.
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Communications and Networks Specialization
COMPE 560: Computer Networks (3 Units)
Wide area and local area networks, multi-layered protocols, telephone systems, modems, and network applications.
EE 660: High Speed Networks (3 Units)
Provides students with knowledge of recent developments in the area of computer networks. Current research in high speed computer networks.
EE 558: Digital Communications (3 Units)
Design of baseband digital communication systems; noise characterization, sampling, quantization, matched filter receivers, bit-error performance, inter-symbol interference, link budget analysis.
EE 650: Modern Communication Theory (3 Units)
Wireless digital communication; bandpass modulation and demodulation, multiple access techniques, broadband signaling techniques, spread spectrum techniques; applications include CDMA and OFDM.
EE 652: Information Theory (3 Units)
Information measure of data sources; Shannon’s theorem and capacity of communication links; rate-distortion theory and performance of source codes.
EE 653: Coding Theory (3 Units)
Error control for digital information; arithmetic of Galois fields; block, cyclic, convolutional and turbo encoding and decoding; applications in digital communication and computer systems.
EE 662: Wireless Sensor Networks (3 Units)
Sensor platforms, wireless channel characteristics, time synchronization, medium access control, topology control, routing protocols, localization, coverage and placement, detection and tracking, query processing
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Admission Requirements
GRE/GMAT Update
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the requirements that applicants for graduate study at SDSU submit scores for the GRE or GMAT are suspended for the Spring and Fall 2021 admissions cycles.
In addition, a number of students were admitted conditionally for Fall 2020 without submitting standardized exam scores, an earlier accommodation to the pandemic. Conditions established at the time were that those students must submit official exam scores by the end of the calendar year. Those conditions have been waived.
For admission to the Master of Science in Electrical Engineering program, you must have been in good standing at your last institution .
You must also satisfy the following requirements:
Domestic Applicants
A bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering from an ABET accredited engineering program in the USA.
A minimum grade point average of 2.85 (based on 4.0 scale) in the last 60 semester (90 quarter) units of technical course work.
The program is fully asynchronous, which means that international students are able to enroll and complete the coursework on their schedule, regardless of which timezone they’re in.
International Applicants
A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation, or Computer Engineering from a recognized engineering program.
An equivalent grade point average of 3.0 (based on 4.0 scale) or higher in all technical course work.
A minimum TOEFL score of 85 or minimum IELTS score of 6.5. Please note that the minimum TOEFL score required by the program is higher than San Diego State University's minimum required score.
Application Instructions
To apply for the online Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Program, you must complete the following steps:
Submit an application to the University through Cal State Apply
Submit Official Documents and Test Scores to SDSU Graduate Admissions:
Official transcripts sent in sealed envelopes (issued by the school) from all postsecondary schools attended. Do not send transcripts before submitting the Cal State Apply application as this may result in processing delays.
If you have international coursework, you must have your school send one record of all academic coursework and proof of degree, both in the original-language. For each original-language document you must also send a certified literal English translation, which can come directly from the school itself or from a professional, certified translator. The translation must contain all information shown on the original-language documents and in the same format.
Official documents should be mailed to: Graduate Admissions
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-7416
Electronic transcripts are acceptable. Please ensure that you indicate this preference when making your request. If you are required to provide an email address to send the secure online document to SDSU, please use transcriptsforsdsu@sdsu.edu.
Submit Official Test Scores, which include:
English Proficiency — All graduate and post-baccalaureate applicants (regardless of citizenship status) applying to SDSU from an international institution where the medium of instruction was not English, must submit passing TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE as proof of English proficiency.
Create your SDSU WebPortal Account after receiving your Red ID number to track your progress
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