Minor in ECE

  • ECE students designed and built a cube satellite, MemSAT, which was launched into orbit by NASA from the ISS

Minor in ECE

Minor in Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Minor in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) provides students from other majors with the opportunity to explore principles and design practices that address the multidisciplinary needs of modern technology. The ECE minor provides undergraduate students from mathematics, the physical / chemical / biological / computer sciences, and the other engineering disciplines with the required background to broaden their scientific and engineering knowledge in ECE, as well as to pursue graduate work in ECE at Rowan or elsewhere.

Minor in ECE is a restricted program, available only to qualified students (typically with a GPA higher than 3.0) through an admission process.  The Minor in ECE is offered by the faculty of the ECE program and is designed to serve students from other engineering disciplines as well as those students with majors outside of engineering. It is assumed that students who pursue the ECE minor already have or will obtain a mathematics background that is comparable to that required for a major in engineering.

How to Apply

Students interested in the ECE minor should send an email to ECE-MinorsCUGS@rowan.edu to apply or to obtain additional information about the ECE Minor. The current faculty advisor for the ECE Minor is Dr. Qianqian Zhang. 

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Some of the required courses in the ECE Minor may be taught in summer, so prospective applicants should plan their program of study, required courses, and the timeline carefully before applying. Note that, as is the case with all Minors, you must complete your minor requirements on or before you complete your major requirements at the same time to graduate with both. Unlike the CUGS, a minor cannot be completed after you graduate with your major degree.

Minor in ECE Requirements 

The ECE minor includes 11 semester credit hours of required (four) courses that provide a fundamental grounding in ECE knowledge and design. In addition to these fundamental courses, three elective courses provide students with the opportunity to explore a particular area of interest in depth.

Required Courses(1)

The following three courses are required for the ECE Minor. Students majoring in Mechanical Engineering should see the note below at the bottom of this page.

  1. ECE 09.101 ECE: Solving Tomorrow’s Problems* (2 credits)
  2. ECE 09.241 Introduction to Digital Systems* (2 credits)
  3. ECE 09.203 Principles of Electric Circuit Analysis (4 credits)
  4. ECE 09.311 Electronics I (3 credits)

* These two courses will become 3-credit courses starting Fall 2026.

Elective Courses(1) 

Choose any three of the following 10 courses (or categories of courses). These courses are grouped in tracks. If you are interested in focusing on a specific area of ECE, you are encouraged to take more than one class in the related track. However, the three elective courses need not be from the same track, and any three of the following 10 courses can be taken to broaden your ECE background and hence to satisfy the elective requirements of the ECE Minor. 

Circuits & Electronics Track
ECE 09.303 Electromagnetics
ECE 09.414 Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Design

Digital Systems / Computer Engineering Track 
ECE 09.243 Computer Architecture
ECE 09.342 Embedded Systems

Signals, Systems, and Communications Track 
ECE 09.341 Signals and Systems
ECE 09.321 Systems and Control 
ECE 09.351 Digital Signal Processing
ECE 09.433 Electrical Communications

Electives and Clinics (subject to restrictions)

ECE 09.4XX(2) An approved ECE elective. Every semester, ECE offers a diverse array of electives that cover all three above-mentioned tracks, as well as cross-cutting courses in emerging areas. You may use one ECE elective towards the ECE Minor. ECE electives are typically designated as ECE 09.4XX. Always check with the ECE Department to make sure that the specific elective you want to take will indeed count towards the ECE Minor.


ENGR 01.403(3) An approved Senior Engineering Clinic (must be ECE supervised, taken twice and be approved ahead of time – see below)

(1) Students must ensure that they have the appropriate prerequisites for any of these classes.  Prerequisites for each class can be found on the Banner Course Catalog.  Find the catalog entry for the course that you are interested in taking, and scroll to the bottom of the page.

(2) Please see the ECE Minor coordinator or the ECE Department Head for determining which ECE electives offered in any given semester are approved for the Minor. Only one ECE elective may be used towards the ECE Minor, and this course must be in addition to any electives the student’s major may require.

(3) If Senior Engineering Clinic is used as one of the ECE electives, the clinic must be strictly an ECE project, with an ECE faculty member serving as the project manager. Two-semester sequence of clinic experience in ECE is required to count as one ECE elective.

 

Mechanical Engineering Majors: If you are admitted to the Minor in ECE program and complete ECE 09.203 Principles of Electric Circuit Analysis and ECE 09.311 Electronics I, you are not required to take ECE 09.205 Principles and Applications of ECE for Nonmajors. 

Also, please note that ECE 09.321 Systems and Control I and ME 10.345 Dynamic Systems & Control are *not* the same class.