Student Research

Undergraduate Research

Undergraduates can find a wide range of opportunities to participate in research at Illinois ECE. As faculty research continues to evolve, so do these opportunities to participate. We invite you to revisit this page for updates on active research efforts and ways to connect with faculty across the department. To explore current research areas, research themes, and identify faculty whose work aligns with your interest, we encourage you to visit our Research page.

However, if you are interested in the research of a faculty member not included throughout this page, feel free to contact that person with your ideas. A student-driven initiative called PURE can also help you find undergraduate research opportunities.

Students can earn technical credit hours by conducting undergraduate research, as well. ECE 297 is a one-hour research course open to freshmen and sophomores. It can be taken twice for a maximum credit of two hours, which will count as ECE technical electives. You are also allowed to collect six additional hours of research-related credit to count for your ECE technical electives. These can originate from individual study courses such as ECE 396, ECE 397, ECE 496, or ECE 499. Their equivalents in other departments can count as technical elective hours.

The ECE 496/499 combination is taken for the senior research project, culminating in a senior thesis. Students taking ECE 496/499 are also required to make oral presentation of their research findings in the College of Engineering Undergraduate Research Symposium. Credit for ECE 445 (required Senior Design course in EE program) will be awarded to students with senior thesis projects that involve hardware design or testing.