Why UMN?

One of the most prestigious public research universities in the United States, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is one of only five universities in the nation that has an engineering school, a law school, a medical school, a veterinary medical school, and an agricultural school within one campus. The University is ranked among the top ten public research institutions in the United States. 

Come join us, and you will find yourself in the company of trailblazing faculty who have been honored as members of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and other prestigious institutions, and are recipients of Guggenheim Fellowships, MacArthur Fellowships (unofficially but famously known as the “genius grants”), Nobel Prizes, and other honors.

You will be among scientists, educators, and inventors who have impacted our community, the nation, and the world with their research and inventions: the pacemaker, the supercomputer, cancer therapies, agricultural production advancements, diagnostic and therapeutic devices and treatments, technologies that ensure secure communications, pioneering inventions in power generation, and more.

You will be part of a leading public research institution that has a strong tradition of conducting breakthrough research across a broad range of fields and disciplines that improve our quality of life. In 2020, the University spent more than a $1 billion on research, and our faculty and staff competed successfully for $876 million in research awards with over $500 million coming from federal agencies. (Learn more about the University's research statistics.) 

As a graduate student in ECE, you can choose among seven broad research areas, and you will have access to the department’s state of the art teaching labs. Additionally, if you are pursuing research, you will have access to cutting edge research facilities within the department and cross-disciplinary facilities such as the Minnesota Nano Center, the Medical Devices Center, the Characterization Facility (CharFac), Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, and others. We encourage interdisciplinary research, and the presence of the medical school, the veterinary medical school and others will support you in your quest for novel solutions that improve our lives. Your drive to solve problems, innovate, and invent will be matched by the brilliance and dedication of our faculty and faculty.

ECE hosts more than 300 graduate students from 36 different countries. You will easily find our alumni all over the globe, leading, teaching, and innovating to meet today’s challenges and solve tomorrow’s problems. Graduates from our department go on to pursue successful careers in industry and academia. You will meet them as faculty at other institutions, scientists in national laboratories, and technology leaders in Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Apple, Seagate, IBM, Intel, Medtronic, 3M, and others. We look forward to supporting you to be the future leaders, scientists, and engineers that the world needs. 

Your professional journey begins with us. See you in Keller Hall!