Experiences In The Transition From An Ee Major To An Ece Major

With receipt of program accreditation by ABET, retroactively effective to graduates of the class of 2001-02, the transition from WPI’s 100-year old Electrical Engineering major to a new degree program in Electrical and Computer Engineering is almost complete. For some time there had been recognition on the part of both students and faculty at WPI of the growing importance of computer engineering to the profession traditionally known as electrical engineering 1 . On July 1, 1992, the name of the department was changed to “Electrical and Computer Engineering,” in recognition of the substantial role of computer engineering in the undergraduate and graduate curricula and research activities. For many years within the Electrical Engineering major at WPI, the largest area of student interest has been the computer engineering specialty, and in academic year 1995-96 the department established a formal concentration in computer engineering, partially in response to student requests.