Electrical and Computer Engineering (M.S.)

Electrical and Computer Engineering (M.S.)

ECE Laboratory

UNH’s master’s program in electrical and computer engineering will give you the skills and knowledge to build the career you desire and reach your maximum earning potential. Explore relevant courses in areas like business and law and take advantage of cutting-edge tools and instruction in a program that has propelled graduates to careers with the likes of Apple, Google and Dell.

Credit Hours: 30   |    Courses: 10   |    Program Length: 1-2 years

 

Why get a Master of Science in electrical and computer engineering?

An advanced degree in engineering can be the key to unlocking your career potential or becoming an entrepreneur. In fact, you may earn beyond $15,000 more annually compared to those with an undergraduate degree alone. UNH’s M.S. in electrical and computer engineering will prepare you to take a leadership role in creating future technologies. You’ll take a two-pronged approach, taking courses introducing you to advanced tools related to your field of interest, then building on these courses with research. You’ll have the opportunity to study core electrical and computer engineering subjects, as well as areas including business, law and mathematics.

Why choose UNH’s electrical and computer engineering program?

At UNH, you’ll choose a path that best reflects your career goals, and you’ll have the opportunity to engage in the research efforts of faculty with a diverse range of interests, including computer networking, wireless communication systems, embedded computing, human-computer interaction, digital signal and image processing, biomedical instrumentation, controls and VLSI. You’ll also gain technical experience in one of the world’s leading testing facilities for network and data communication products, utilized by the likes of Apple, Google and Dell. You’ll have the chance to put your skills on display at international competitions, such as the Embedded Security Challenge.

Potential career areas

  • Advanced manufacturing
  • Aerospace and defense
  • Automotive and Manufacturing industries
  • Biomedical engineering
  • Embedded computer systems
  • Integrated circuits and systems design industries
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Medical IoT
  • Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
  • Telecommunications Industries

Contact

Electrical and Computer Engineering
33 Academic Way
Kingsbury Hall Room W201
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH  03824

Phone (603) 862-1357
Email: ece.dept@unh.edu

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Contact Information

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Application Requirements & Deadlines

Frequently Asked Questions

Bachelor or master degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering or related fields. We take a holistic view of all your application materials, so we do not have an absolute GRE or GPA minimum. However, in most cases applicants should have a GRE Quantitative score at 50th percentile or higher, and a GRE Analytic Writing score of at least 3.0, and a GPA above 3.0 on a 4-point scale. For international students, the university requires that an applicant's TOEFL (Internet Based) score be at least 80, or have an IELTS score of at least 6.5.

Many of our graduate students receive financial aid, often in the form of teaching assistantships, and research assistantships, as well as full and partial scholarships. Most of these opportunities requires you to identify a research advisor in our faculty, who will need to endorse your case through the application process. In order to learn more, review our faculty directory and get it touch with a member that shares your research interest.

Applications must be completed by the following deadlines in order to be reviewed for admission:

Fall: March 1 (for funding); April 1 (for all, except UNH accelerated M.S. students for whom the deadline is August 1)

Spring: December 1

International students need to allow enough time to apply for a visa after being admitted to the program. For those who apply for the Fall semester, most financial aid offers are made in early March. The ability to obtain financial aid after that time is very limited. There is also very little aid available for spring applicants.
It takes the Graduate Committee roughly three weeks to review an application. After a decision has been made, we will inform the Graduate School and they will let you know our decision.

Though some courses are offered online, many of the courses in our program are only offered as in-person. Students can complete the program as part-time or full-time.

The graduate committee pay special attention to personal statements, GRE/TOEFL exam scores and recommendation letters during the evaluation of the application materials. Applicants to the Ph.D. program should always contact potential faculty research advisors before submitting their application, and explicitly state their interest to work with a specific faculty member in their application material.

Curriculum & Requirements

Our graduate programs are flexible allowing the student a wide choice of courses as well as research topics. We will prepare students for professional skills such as working collaboratively, scholarly writing, and technical presentation and publications.

Our programs will provide the students the training needed to pursue a career both in industry and academia. The programs will increase the breadth and depth of the students’ electrical and computer engineering knowledge and help them develop the specialized skills in areas including but not limited to biomedical engineering, human-computer interaction, wireless communication, integrated circuit design, cybersecurity, control system and robotics, sensor design, wearable electronics, image processing, Internet-of-Things, computer architecture, and medical instrumentation.

Students have internship opportunities such as UNH Interoperability Laboratory (IOL), Center of Coastal Mapping (CCOM), Institute for the study of Earth, Ocean, and Space (EOS), etc.  

Degree Requirements

Master of science in electrical and computer engineering (M.S. ECE) degree students must take a minimum of 31 graduate credits including:

  • 20 credit hours of graduate coursework, with at least 9 of those credit hours earned in 900-level courses
  • 4 credits of ECE 900 Research and Development From Concept to Communication
  • 6 credits of thesis work (ECE 899 Master's Thesis)
  • 1 credit of ECE 910 Graduate Seminar

Up to 12 credits earned in 800 level non-ECE courses may be taken for graduate credit by ECE M.S. degree students provided the courses are petitioned and approved by the ECE Graduate Committee. 

A student may petition that a maximum of 12 UNH graduate credits or a maximum of 8 non-UNH graduate credits taken prior to admission into the ECE master of science degree program be applied to fulfill the degree requirements.

Once the student has been admitted into the program, under certain circumstances it may be desirable to take courses outside the ECE department to attain the goals outlined in the student's program of study.  In these cases, up to two non-ECE 900-level courses are allowed without petition, but you need to have your thesis advisor’s approval. Students need to take at least two 900-level courses (neither of which may be independent studies) within the department.  Students must petition to the ECE Graduate Committee before course registration. To take more than 2 non-ECE courses (either 800 or 900 level) students must submit a petition to the ECE Graduate Committee.

This graduate program is approved to be taken on an accelerated basis in articulation with certain undergraduate degree programs.

General Accelerated Master's policy, note that some programs have additional requirements (e.g. higher grade expectations) compared to the policy.

Please see the Graduate School website and contact the department directly for more information.

  • Students will master the theoretical concepts or/and practical implementation in advanced aspects of biomedical engineering, human-computer interaction, wireless communication, integrated circuit design, cybersecurity, control system and robotics, sensor design, wearable electronics, image processing, Internet-of-Things, computer architecture, and medical instrumentation.
  • Students will be proficient in collecting and analyzing data using contemporary laboratory equipment.
  • As a result of our two-semester ECE900 courses, students will develop and demonstrate proficiency in the use of library searches along with interpreting and presenting technical information found in those searches.
  • Students will have the professional skills such as working collaboratively, scholarly writing, and technical publications.
  • Students will be well trained to pursue a career both in industry and academia.

Deadlines

Applications must be completed by the following deadlines in order to be reviewed for admission:

  • Fall: Feb. 15 (for funding); April 1 (recommended US; final international); July 1 (final)
  • Spring: Dec. 1, Nov. 1 for international students
  • Summer: N/A
  • Special: N/A

Application fee: $65

Campus: Durham

New England Regional: No

Accelerated Masters: Yes (for more details see the accelerated masters information page)

New Hampshire Residents

Students claiming in-state residency must also submit a Proof of Residence Form. This form is not required to complete your application, but you will need to submit it after you are offered admission or you will not be able to register for classes.

Transcripts

If you attended UNH or Granite State College (GSC) after September 1, 1991, and have indicated so on your online application, we will retrieve your transcript internally; this includes UNH-Durham, UNH-Manchester, UNH Non-Degree work and GSC. 

If you did not attend UNH, or attended prior to September 1, 1991, then you must upload a copy (PDF) of your transcript in the application form. International transcripts must be translated into English.

If admitted, you must then request an official transcript be sent directly to our office from the Registrar's Office of each college/university attended. We accept transcripts both electronically and in hard copy:

  • Electronic Transcripts: Please have your institution send the transcript directly to grad.school@unh.edu. Please note that we can only accept copies sent directly from the institution.
  • Paper Transcripts: Please send hard copies of transcripts to: UNH Graduate School, Thompson Hall- 105 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824. You may request transcripts be sent to us directly from the institution or you may send them yourself as long as they remain sealed in the original university envelope.

Transcripts from all previous post-secondary institutions must be submitted and applicants must disclose any previous academic or disciplinary sanctions that resulted in their temporary or permanent separation from a previous post-secondary institution. If it is found that previous academic or disciplinary separations were not disclosed, applicants may face denial and admitted students may face dismissal from their academic program.

Letters of recommendation: 3 required

Recommendation letters submitted by relatives or friends, as well as letters older than one year, will not be accepted.

Test Scores: GRE Required

GRE General test scores are normally required, but UNH ECE alumni with a minimum GPA of 3.0 may request a waiver using our waiver process. Request official test scores to be sent directly to the Graduate School by the testing service. Test scores more than five years old are not acceptable. Student copies and photo copies of scores are not considered official. Our CEEB code is 3918.

Accelerated Master's applicants are not required to submit GRE test scores and will be waived after the application has been submitted by the Graduate School.

For general information about test scores required for admission into our programs please visit our Test Scores webpage.

Personal Statement/Essay Questions

Prepare a brief but careful statement regarding:

  1. Reasons you wish to do graduate work in this field, including your immediate and long-range objectives.
  2. Your specific research or professional interest and experiences in this field.

Important Notes

All applicants are encouraged to contact programs directly to discuss program-specific application questions.

International Applicants

Prospective international students are required to submit TOEFL, IELTS, or equivalent examination scores. English Language Exams may be waived if English is your first language. If you wish to request a waiver, then please visit our Test Scores webpage for more information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Bachelor or master degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering or related fields. We take a holistic view of all your application materials, so we do not have an absolute GRE or GPA minimum. However, in most cases applicants should have a GRE Quantitative score at 50th percentile or higher, and a GRE Analytic Writing score of at least 3.0, and a GPA above 3.0 on a 4-point scale. For international students, the university requires that an applicant's TOEFL (Internet Based) score be at least 80, or have an IELTS score of at least 6.5.

Many of our graduate students receive financial aid, often in the form of teaching assistantships, and research assistantships, as well as full and partial scholarships. Most of these opportunities requires you to identify a research advisor in our faculty, who will need to endorse your case through the application process. In order to learn more, review our faculty directory and get it touch with a member that shares your research interest.

Applications must be completed by the following deadlines in order to be reviewed for admission:

Fall: March 1 (for funding); April 1 (for all, except UNH accelerated M.S. students for whom the deadline is August 1)

Spring: December 1

International students need to allow enough time to apply for a visa after being admitted to the program. For those who apply for the Fall semester, most financial aid offers are made in early March. The ability to obtain financial aid after that time is very limited. There is also very little aid available for spring applicants.
It takes the Graduate Committee roughly three weeks to review an application. After a decision has been made, we will inform the Graduate School and they will let you know our decision.

Though some courses are offered online, many of the courses in our program are only offered as in-person. Students can complete the program as part-time or full-time.

The graduate committee pay special attention to personal statements, GRE/TOEFL exam scores and recommendation letters during the evaluation of the application materials. Applicants to the Ph.D. program should always contact potential faculty research advisors before submitting their application, and explicitly state their interest to work with a specific faculty member in their application material.