A Proud Past.. A Promising Future

Electrical engineering courses have been taught at the University of Hawaii since the 1910s. The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering was formed in 1959 with a baccalaureate degree program. The first graduating class received a BS degree in 1961. Our MS degree program started in 1963, and our doctoral (PhD) degree program started in 1966. The first PhD degree in electrical engineering was granted in 1969.

In June 1971, a group of electrical and computer engineering faculty under the leadership of Dr. Norman Abramson successfully demonstrated ALOHANET - the first wireless packet data network that led directly to the development of Ethernet and personal wireless communication technologies. Fifty years later, ALOHANET is one of the most celebrated achievements in electrical & computer engineering, and is the primary one that put the University of Hawaii's Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering on the map. 

Since then, the Department built on that early foundation, expanding its teaching and research activities to computers (algorithms, security, networking, hardware, and software), electrophysics (solid-state devices and sensors, analog, circuit design, and microwaves and photonics, and systems and data science (telecommunications, automatic controls, signal and image processing, and machine learning).

Many of our outstanding graduates have been highly active in both academic and industry, including a number of IEEE Fellows and high-profile industry leaders. IEEE is the international professional organization for electrical and computer engineers, and the Fellow level is the highest award given to members who have made an outstanding contribution to the field. 

Four of our graduating seniors received awards recognizing them last the top electrical or computer engineering students in the nation. Several of our undergraduates won the prestigious National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Fellowship Award, worth over $100,000.

Our faculty come from all over the world (China, Denmark, India, South Korea, Serbia, and Turkey) and have PhDs from top institutions such as Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Princeton, Purdue, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

They are committed to providing first-class education and research experiences. Six professors are IEEE Fellows. Four have received the NSF CAREER or Presidential Young Investigator award. 

Several have received prestigious UH teaching, research, and mentoring awards: UH Board of Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching, Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Chancellor's Citation for Meritorious Teaching, Regents Medal for Excellence in Research, Peter V. Garrod Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award.