University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Courses

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The alumni of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering include many reputed current professors and scientists, who have won numerous accolades. The undergraduate program of this department ranks 20th in America for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, along with being ranked 11th out of the 191 engineering schools in America. Moreover, it has an endowment fund of $141 million. The research expenditure per faculty member ranks 4th in the country.

The B.S. program is offered in the combined major of Mechanical, Aerospace and Environmental engineering. The graduate program offers both M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences and Materials Science and Engineering. There are 2 different Master Plans. The first one requires a Thesis Defense, while the other focuses on a comprehensive examination. An MAE Doctoral Program, typically for 5 years, is offered in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

• Areas of Expertise: Robotics; Design; Thermal Sciences; Dynamical Systems and Controls; Energy - Combustion, Fusion, Renewables; Materials Science and Engineering; Aerospace Engineering; Solid Mechanics; Fluid Mechanics; Environmental Science/Technology
• List of Labs (Mechanical): Center for Energy Research

Materials Science and Engineering

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering offers undergraduate and graduate courses in Materials Science and Engineering. The graduate M.S program provides a degree in Materials Science offering both Thesis Plan I and Comprehensive Examination Plan II. Moreover, a special award called the Gareth Thomas Materials Excellence Award is given jointly by UC Berkeley and UC San Diego to M.S. students who are making excellent contributions to research. Each year, 2 awards are given - one for each university.

• Areas of Expertise: Biomaterials; Magnetic materials including information storage materials; Structural materials and composites; Semiconductors and photonic crystals; Electronic materials & Energy materials; Nanomaterials

Bioengineering

The department was established in August 1994. The department's doctoral Bioengineering was ranked #1 according to the National Research Council study (2010). The 2015 U.S News & World Report ranked the department's graduate program #2 and the undergraduate program #7 in the United States. The Department of Bioengineering offers four undergraduate majors - Bioengineering; Bioengineering: Biotechnology; Bioengineering: Bioinformatics; Bioengineering: BioSystems.

The graduate programs offered by the department are Integrated Bachelor's/Master's Degree Program (B.S./M.S); Integrated BS/MS Transition to the MS Program; and Doctor of Philosophy/Ph.D. The department also offers M.Eng. in Bioengineering. For the M.S. degree, there are 2 plans. One program is thesis-based, while the other program is comprehensive examination based.

Areas of Expertise:

• Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
• Therapeutic Bioengineering Design
• Functional genomics
• Biomedical Nanotechnology
• Bioengineering in Clinical Medicine Analysis and Design
• Flexible and Stretchable Materials
• Nanomachines and Microrobotics
• Multiscale Bioengineering and Biomechanics
• Computational Nanotechnology
• Genomic Technologies
• Molecular, Cell & Tissue Engineering
• Cardiovascular Imaging and Precision Medicine
• Molecular and Nanomaterials
• Systems Medicine; Systems Bioengineering
• Nanotechnologies for Energy and the Environment; Bioinformatics
• Nanomanufacturing; Computational Biology
• Cellular Pathways
• Regenerative Medicine
• Biomaterials and Stem Cell Engineering
• Bionanotechnology and Biophotonics
• Systems Biology and Bioengineering

Nanoengineering

The Department of Nanoengineering has an active faculty of over 36 members. It offers B.S and M.S. contiguous programs in Chemical Engineering and Nanoengineering which can be completed within 5 years. The requirements for this program are an upper-division GPA of 3.5 or better and an overall GPA of 3.0. There are 2 plans for this: Thesis Plan I and Comprehensive Examination Plan II. Entry requirements include 3 letters of reference from professors.

The program does NOT ensure automatic eligibility for Ph.D. The M.S degrees Chemical Engineering and Nanoengineering can be taken with either the Thesis Plan or the Comprehensive Examination Program. This program requires students to complete 36 units. At the same time, there is a time limit of seven quarters for full-time M.S. students. The Ph.D. program is offered in Nanoengineering. Prospective students may be able to complete the degree within 7 years. Multiple examinations have to be passed over the course of the Ph.D. degree.

• Areas of Expertise: Catalysis; Chemical/Biochemical Reactor Design; Chemical Engineering; Environmental Engineering; Surface Chemistry

Computer Science and Engineering

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering has over 50 distinguished faculty members along with excellent research facilities.

There are many majors that are offered by this department including

• Algorithms,
• Complexity and Cryptography,
• Artificial Intelligence,
• Bioinformatics,
• Computer Architecture and Compilers,
• Database and Information Management,
• Embedded Systems and Software,
• Human-Computer Interaction/ The Design Lab,
• Programming Systems,
• Robotics, Security and Cryptography,
• Software Engineering,
• Systems and Networking,
• Ubiquitous Computing and Social Dynamics,
• Visual Computing and Computer-Aided Design, etc.

The undergraduate programs offered by the department are BA computer science, BS Computer Science, BS computer engineering, or BS Computer Science with specialization in bioinformatics major. The graduate-level offers both M.S. and Ph.D. programs. The graduate programs offered by the department are Five-Year Bachelor’s-Master’s Program; Master of Science Program (Thesis or Comprehensive Exam); Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture-Based Enterprise Systems Engineering; data science and engineering and Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science and Computer Engineering.

• Areas of Expertise: Ubiquitous Computing and Robotics; Computer Architecture, Embedded Systems, and VLSI/CAD; Security and Cryptography; Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; Systems and Networking; Computer Vision and Graphics; Programming Systems; Databases and Information Management; Bioinformatics; Algorithms and Complexity
• List of Labs: Center for Networked Systems; Center for Visual Computing

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers B.S in electrical engineering, engineering physics, and computer engineering programs. Moreover, there is also a BA in electrical engineering and society program available.

Graduate courses include

• M.S. and Ph.D. programs in Applied Electromagnetics
• Applied Ocean Science
• Applied Physics – Electronic Devices and Materials
• Communication Theory and Systems/ Magnetic Recording
• Computer Engineering (Impacted Major)
• Intelligent Systems
• Robotics, and Control,
• Machine Learning and Data Science,
• Nanoscale devices and Systems,
• Photonics and Signal 
• Image Processing.

The Ph.D. degree requires students to perform the required research and taking examinations like Preliminary Examination and University Qualifying Examination.

The department has a faculty of over 62 members. Moreover, there are others who teach in the department as adjunct faculty and affiliated faculty. The department offers multiple research opportunities to its students. The department also publishes a qualified alumni newsletter.

• Areas of Expertise: Communication and Information Theory and Systems including Wireless and Optical Communication; Signal, Image and Video Processing and Communications; Machine Learning, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Internet-of-things; Applied Electromagnetics & Applications; Photonics and opt-electronics; Intelligent Systems and Robotics; Electronic Circuits and Systems; Medical Devices and Systems, Neurosciences; Computer engineering, Cloud Computing, VLSI, Cyber Security; Micro and nano-scale electronic/photonic materials and devices
• List of Labs: Center for Wireless Communications; Center for Memory and Recording Research; Center for Machine-Integrated Computing and Security