Technical Electives
Revised September 15, 2021
The following are the departmentally approved technical electives for ECE programs. Note that any differences between the below elective options and the Academic Catalog are pending review and require an ECE advisor to submit a request to update a student's degree audit. Contact ece-advisor@illinois.edu for any questions or to initiate the update request.
See additional notes and restrictions below.
Aerospace Eng. (AE): 202, 302, 311, 312, 321, 352, 353, 402, 403, 410, 412, 416, 419, 420, 428, 433, 434, 435, 451, 460
Agri. Bio Eng. (ABE): any 300- and 400-level1 course EXCEPT 440
Astronomy (ASTR): 210, 310, 330, 350, 404, 405, 406, 414, 450
Atmospheric Science (ATMS): 201, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 404, 405, 406, 410, 411, 420, 421, 447, 449
Biochemistry (BIOC): 406, 440, 446, 455
Bioengineering (BIOE): 201, 202, 302, 414, 415, 461, 467, 473, 476, 480, 485
Biophysics (BIOP): all 400-level courses1
Chem & Bio Eng (CHBE): 221, 321, 421, 422, 424, 430, 431, 440, 451, 452, 453, 456, 457, 471, 472, 473, 474
Chemistry (CHEM): 1022, 1032, 104, 105, any 200/300/400-level1 class EXCEPT 396/7, 497, 499
Civil & Env. Eng. (CEE): 310, 330, 408, 410, 416, 430, 447, 491
Crop Sciences (CPSC): 265
Computer Science (CS): (101, by approval), 1733, 2253, 242, 357, 407, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 416, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 431, 433, 435, 436, 438, 439, 440, 441, 445, 446, 447, 450, 460, 461, 463, 465, 466, 467, 473, 474, 475, 476; 477, 481, 484; CS 398 & 498 Special Topics, as approved.
ECE†: 297, 304, 307, 310, 311, 314, 3294, 330, 333, 3404, 342, 343, 350, 365, 3743, 380, 3913, 395, 396, 397, 402, 403, 407, 408, 411, 412, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 420, 422, 424, 425, 428, 431, 432, 434, 435, 437, 438, 439, 441, 443, 444, 4454, 446, 447, 448, 449, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 461, 460, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 472, 473, 476, 478, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 495, 4964, 4994; ECE 398 & 498 Special Topics, as approved.
For Electrical Engineering
Elective Labs: See table below for specific courses
For Computer Engineering
1 of 6 EE Foundation Courses: 310, 329, 330, 340, 461, 486
Advanced Computing Elective Courses: See table below for specific courses
Engineering (ENG): 491, InterdisciplinaryDesign; CubeSat, Solar Decathlon, Formula SAE, Baja SAE, or by approval. Other Engineering courses by approval of the Advising Office.
Geology (GEOL): 107, 208, 333, 380, 411, 417, 432, 436, 440, 450, 452, 460
Industrial Eng. (IE): 310, 330, 360, 361, 400, 410, 411, 412, 413, 420, 430, 431
Integrative Biology (IB): 150, 202, 203, 204, 302, 335, 348, 368, 401, 405, 420, 421, 426, 427, 431, 432, 440, 443, 444, 451, 452, 453, 461, 462, 463, 464, 467, 468, 471, 472, 473, 481, 482, 483, 485, 486
Linguistics (LING): 300, 406, 407, 427
Material Science & Engineering (MSE): 280, any 300/400-level1 class EXCEPT 304, 460, 461
Math: 2133, 2575, 347, 348, 357, 402, 403, 412, 413, 414, 4155, 4165, 417, 418, 423, 424, 425, 427,428, 432, 442, 444, 446, 447, 448, 450, 453, 473, 475, 481, 482, 484, 487, 489, 494
Molecular & Cellular Biology (MCB): 150, 250, 251, 252, 253, 300, 301, 314, 316, 354, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 406, 408, 410, 413, 419, 421, 424, 426, 430, 431, 433, 435, 446, 480
Mechanical Eng. (ME): 200, 310, 320, 330, 340, 370, 371, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 410, 411, 412, 420, 430, 431, 440, 445, 451, 452, 460, 461, 471, 472, 485, and 487
Music (MUS): 407, 409
Neuroscience (NEUR): 453
Nuclear Plasma & Radiological (NPRE): 201, 247, 402, 412, 421, 423, 429, 431, 432, 435, 441, 442, 444, 446, 447, 448, 451, 455, 457, 458, 470, 475
Physics (PHYS): 225, 325, 326, 401, 402, 403, 406, 419, 420, 427, 460, 466, 470, 485, 486, 487
Psychology (PSYC): 204
Speech & Hearing Science (SHS): 200, 240, 300, 301, 320, 450, and 470
Statistics (STAT): 420, 424, 425, 428, 429, and 440
Systems Eng (SE): 411, 420, 423, 424
Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (TAM): 211, 212, 251, 324, 335, 412, 435, 445, 451
1 except seminars and special topics courses, which may be reviewed in the Advising Office
2 Elective for CompEs on the Fall 2021 or later catalog year
3 Elective for EEs, required for CompEs (any catalog year)
4 Elective for CompEs, required for EEs (any catalog year)
5 Elective for EE or CompEs on the old curriculum (prior to Fall 2021 catalog year)
Proficiency exams, AP, A-level, and Int'l. Baccalaureate credit cannot be used as technical elective hours.
Technical electives must be taken for a letter grade. S/U graded courses will not count.
Bring descriptions of new courses to the Advising Office, 2120 ECE Building, for evaluation.
Restrictions:
- Courses that are “same as” ECE courses are counted as ECE courses. GE 421 Intro to Robotics is “same as” ECE 470, so it counts as an ECE tech elective. In CS 241 it says “Credit is not given for both CS 241 and ECE 391.” They are not the same course; you won’t get any credit for CS 241.
- ECE/PHIL 316, Engineering Ethics, is a Campus Humanities course which meets the Comp II requirement. It does not count as an ECE Elective.
- Some sections of ECE 198, 199, 298, 398, and 498, Special Topics, may not have technical content. These sections will not count as ECE electives.
- Specifically required ECE courses (e.g., ECE 220) do not count as electives.
- Courses for non-majors (e.g., ECE 205) do not count except by permission.
- Independent study courses = ECE elective hours: ECE 297, Individual Study, ECE 397, Individual Study in ECE, ECE 396, Honors Project, ECE 496+4994, Senior Thesis. ECE 297 may be repeated once for a total of 2 hours of ECE tech electives, but does not count as part of the 6 hours of independent study allowed for tech electives.
In different departments, CS, PHYS, etc. independent study can be approved for non-ECE tech elective hours. Bring to 2120 ECE Building for approval.
However, no student may take more than 4 hours special problems with the same instructor, nor count more than a total of 6 hours towards graduation as a technical elective or a required advanced ECE course or lab.
- Non-ECE tech elective hours: ENG 491 Interdisciplinary Design Project, and other project classes, for technical credit, go to 2120 ECEB.
ECE Elective Laboratories: Old EE majors must take 2 hardware labs besides the required labs (385, 445), more are allowed. EE students entering August, 2014 and later must take 3 labs, at least one of which must be a hardware lab.
| HARDWARE LABS | SOFTWARE LABS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hr | ECE 343 | Electronic Circuits Lab | 1 hr | ECE 311 | Digital Signal Processing Lab |
| 4 hrs | ECE 391 | Computer Systems Engineering | 1 hr | ECE 314 | Probability in Engineering Lab |
| 2 - 3 hrs | ECE 395 | Advanced Digital Projects Lab | 3 hrs | ECE 365 | Data Science and Engineering |
| 3 hrs | ECE 402 | Electronic Music Synthesis | 4 hrs | ECE 484 | Principles of Safe Autonomy |
| 2 hrs | ECE 415 | Biomedical Instrumentation Lab | 4 hrs | ECE 411 | Comp Organization & Design Design |
| 2 hrs | ECE 420 | Embedded DSP Lab | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 431 | Electric Machinery | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 435/CS 436 | Computer Networking Lab | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 437 | Sensors and Instrumentation | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 438 | Communication Networks | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 439 | Wireless Networks | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 443 | LEDs and Solar Cells | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 444 | IC Device Theory | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 446 | Prin Experiment Research in EE | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 447 | Active Microwave Circuit Design | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 451 | Adv Microwave Measurements | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 453 | Wireless Communication Systems | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 456 | Global Nav Satellite Systems | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 460 | Optical Imaging | |||
| 2 hrs | ECE 463 | Digital Communications Lab | |||
| 1 hr | ECE 466 | Optical Communications Lab | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 468 | Optical Remote Sensing | |||
| 2 hrs | ECE 469 | Power Electronics Lab | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 470 | Introduction to Robotics | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 481 | Nanotechnology | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 486 | Control Systems | |||
| 3 hrs | ECE 489 | Robot Dynamics and Control | |||
| 4 hrs | ECE 495 | Photonic Device Lab | |||
New CompE curriculum: Computer engineering majors beginning Fall 2014 must take at least 3 Advanced Computing Electives. ECE 411 counts as both advanced computing elective and a design elective.
Advanced Computing Electives
NOTE: SOME ECE CLASSES ARE CROSS LISTED WITH CS
| CS | ECE | ||||
| 3 hrs | CS 357 or | Numerical Methods I | 3 hrs | ECE 407/ CS 407 | Cryptography |
| 3 hrs | CS 411 | Database Systems | 4 hrs | ECE 408/ CS 483 | Applied Parallel Programming |
| 3 hrs | CS 412 | Introduction to Data Mining | 4 hrs | ECE 411 | Computer Organization & Design |
| 3 hrs | CS 414 | Multimedia Systems | 3 hrs | ECE 412 | Microcomputer Laboratory |
| 3 hrs | CS 418 | Interactive Computer Graphics | 3 hrs | ECE 419/ CS 460 | Computer Security Lab |
| 3 hrs | CS 419 | Production Computer Graphics | 4 hrs | ECE 422/ CS 461 | Computer Security I |
| 3 hrs | CS 420 | Parallel Programming: Scientists and Engineers | 3 hrs | ECE 424/ CS 463 | Computer Security II |
| 3 hrs | CS 421 | Progrmg Languages & Compilers | 3 hrs | ECE 425 | Intro to VLSI System Design |
| 3 hrs | CS 423 | Operating Systems Design | 3 hrs | ECE 428/ CS 425 | Distributed Systems |
| 3 hrs | CS 424 | Real Time Systems | 3 hrs | ECE 434 | Mobile Computing and Application |
| 3 hrs | CS 425 | Distributed Systems | 3 hrs | ECE 435/ CS 436 | Computer Networking Lab |
| 3 hrs | CS 426 | Compiler Construction | 3 hrs | ECE 438/ CS 438 | Computer Networking Laboratory |
| 3 hrs | CS 431 | Embedded Systems | 3 hrs | ECE 439/ CS 439 | Wireless networks |
| 3 hrs | CS 436 | Computer Networking Laboratory | 3 hrs | ECE 448/CS 440 | Artifical Intelligence |
| 3 hrs | CS 438 | Communication Networks | 3 hrs | ECE 449/CS 446 | Machine Learning |
| 3 hrs | CS 440 | Artificial Intelligence | 3 hrs | ECE 462 | Logic Synthesis |
| 3 hrs | CS 441 | Applied Machine Learning | 4 hrs | ECE 470 | Introduction to Robotics |
| 3 hrs | CS 446 | Machine Learning | 3 hrs | ECE 478/ CS 477 | Formal Software Devel. Methods |
| 3 hrs | CS 450 | Numerical Analysis | 4 hrs | ECE 484 | Principles of Safe Autonomy |
| 3 hrs | CS 461 | Computer Security I | 3 hrs | ECE 491/ CS 450 | Numerical Analysis |
| 3 hrs | CS 475 | Formal Models of Computation | 3 hrs | ECE 492/CS 420 | Parallel Programming: Scientists and Engineers |
| 3 hrs | CS 476 |
Programming Verification |
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| 4 hrs | CS 473 |
Algorithms |
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| 3 hrs | CS 477 | Formal Software Devel Methods | |||
| 3 hrs | CS 483 | Applied Parallel Programming | |||
Undergrad Advisors
Erhan Kudeki
Christopher Schmitz
Joan Mungovan Brown
Molly Helgesen
Graduate Advisors
Michael L Oelze
Jennifer Merry
Stacy Walker
Advising Contacts
ECE Office of Student Affairs
2120 ECE Building
PH: (217) 333-0716
FAX: (217) 333-8582