Our graduate programs are designed with a focus on research. The department covers a wide spectrum of activities in the following areas:

• Communications, Networking, and Information Theory
• Signal Processing and Machine Learning 
• Control, Robotics, Autonomy, and Learning
• Computer Architecture
• Embedded and Cyber-Physical Systems
• Cybersecurity and Cyberprivacy
• Quantum Technologies
• Applied Physics and Electromagnetics
• Optics and Photonics
• Electronic Materials and Devices
• Power Electronics, Solid State Circuits, and Bioelectronics

Our research programs are supported by extensive funding (the Department's annual research expenditures are over $36 million) as well as numerous state-of-the-art research laboratories supporting activities in speech and image processing, communication networks, robotics, control systems, system and computer architecture, VLSI design and testing, semiconductor materials and devices, MEMS, photonics, fiber optics, microwave sources, ion beam lithography, and plasma science, among others.

The ECE graduate program emphasizes interdisciplinary research, maintaining associations with other departments within the Clark School of Engineering, as well as:

• Mathematics, Physics, Chemical Physics, and Computer Science Departments
• Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP) 
• Institute for Systems Research (ISR)
• Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS)
• Institute for Physical Science and Technology
• Maryland Energy Research Center
• Maryland Cybersecurity Center
• Maryland Nanocenter
• Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials
• The Laboratory for Physical Sciences
• The Joint Quantum Institute

Opportunities also exist for programs of study in conjunction with many national and international laboratories and technical facilities.