Electrical engineering (EE) plays a key role in our society and global economy. It is directly connected to nine out of twelve potentially disruptive technologies listed by McKinsey in 2013: the mobile internet, the internet of things, advanced robotics, autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles, next generation genomics, energy storage, 3D printing, advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery, renewable energy. EE has become increasingly intertwined with other disciplines such as physics, material science, computer science and mechanical engineering, blending in application areas such as energy, healthcare, mobility and transport, safety and security, vitality and sports.
EE DISCIPLINE
Based on the core disciplines in the inner circle, EE is about ‘information and signal processing’ (in the information domain) and power (in the physical domain), and the interaction of these two (yellow circle). The blue circle indicates the basic disciplines of EE. Outside the circles a selection of the many domains of application of EE is provided. Read more about the domains which our departments contribute to.
T-shaped Engineers
The need for electrical engineers in our society is high and will continue to grow in the decades to come. Technologies stemming from electrical engineering will be key to coping with many of the major societal challenges we are facing: providing energy in a sustainable way, securing healthy ageing, and improving living standards for the world’s population. Since these technological innovations are only becoming more complex, it is vital to have people with expert knowledge in the whole area covered by Electrical Engineering. For this reason, our departments educate so-called T-shaped engineers who not only have in-depth knowledge of the discipline, but also have a general knowledge of neighbouring disciplines, who can work in multi-disciplinary teams, and who are also able to communicate and interact with people in a broad range of other disciplines. It is quite a challenge to do this in as little as five years. Read also about our state of the art lab facilities.
where bits meet nature
Right at the intersection of the research institutes MESA+, CTIT and MIRA, we envision the field of electrical engineering as the place where ‘bits meet nature’. In this context ‘nature’ is the real world we live in with physical activity and information. The virtual world of ‘bits’ is related to pure information. From this vision EE takes a central role in almost every modern digital system. You can read more about our impact. Curious to meet our researchers? Read more in the People section. We are proud to work with many research partners in a number of domains.
