MS Concentrations
MS in ECE students can choose one of the following concentrations for focused study in a specific area of electrical and computer engineering. MS students are not required to complete a concentration in order to graduate. Generally, MS students can select from the full range of ECE graduate course offerings to meet their course requirements and advance toward their individual career objectives.
- AI/ML Systems
- Intelligent Physical Systems
- Computational Engineering Methods/Systems
- Computer Security
- Network/Distributed Systems
- Wireless/Embedded Systems
- Integrated Systems
- Devices and Nanofab
Students completing one or more of these concentrations should refer to their degree as a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a concentration in <Name of Concentration>. Students satisfying the requirements for more than one concentration may acknowledge all concentrations for which they fulfill the requirements. All concentrations require a minimum of four ECE courses distributed across certain categories, as described below.
To declare, students should fill out the MS Concentration Declaration form in their final semester by the semester course withdrawal deadline. Please note that students must wait until their final semester to submit the form. Once signed by the academic advisor, this form serves as proof of completion of the concentration, as no additional certificate is issued, and concentrations are not listed on the transcript. If a student is completing more than one concentration, they should declare each concentration on a separate form.
AI/ML Systems (AIML)
The AI/ML concentration will provide students the opportunity for in-depth specialization in artificial intelligence and machine learning and their applications to various natural and technological systems. Students will take introductory courses that cover the basics of machine learning, statistics, and optimization and their application in numerous fields, including advanced speech, image, and neural processing. In addition, students will also have the opportunity to apply techniques in machine learning and AI to specific problem domains such as personalized health care, smart grid, computational photography, and social networks.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
KEY
* Cross-list
** Dormant
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS)
Back to listIntelligent Physical systems (IPS) are physical and engineered systems whose operations may be monitored, controlled, coordinated, or integrated by the cyber components of computing and communication. This MS concentration will equip students with relevant computing principles, domain-specific foundations and analytical techniques, and exposure to applications.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
Design and Construction (at least one course) |
Analytical Principles and Domain Foundations |
Application and Breadth (at least one course) |
18-644* | 18-618 | 18-637** |
18-642 | 18-882L++ | 18-638** |
18-648 | 18-762 | 18-730** |
18-651 | 18-883 K3-K4++ | 18-743** |
18-745 | 18-756 | 18-781** |
18-843** | 18-748 | 18-650 |
18-849 | 18-771 | |
18-776 | ||
18-794 | ||
18-792 | ||
18-797** | ||
18-793** |
Key
No asterisk indicates that the course is typically offered ONLY in Pittsburgh.
*Indicates that the course is typically offered ONLY in Silicon Valley.
**Indicates that the course is typically offered at both Pittsburgh AND Silicon Valley.
†Indicates that the course is typically offered ONLY in Kigali
††Indicates that the course is typically offered in both Pittsburgh and Kigali
Occasionally courses are updated or retired and these tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Computational Engineering Methods/Systems (CEM/S)
This concentration brings together all aspects of computational engineering under a consistent umbrella: computer architecture, software systems, computational algorithms, and software engineering. It allows students to become cross-cutting integration experts who integrate knowledge from architecture, software systems, software engineering, tool chains, and numerical algorithms and their properties. This concentration enables students to be successful engineers who understand software's big picture in the context of engineering applications, providing them with the technical underpinning to lead diverse engineering teams that tackle complex and multifaceted problems.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
KEY
*Course is typically offered in Silicon Valley
** Dormant
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Computer Security (SEC)
Students will become familiar with computer security fundamentals and gain deeper proficiency in a core topic area such as software security, systems and networking security, privacy, or cryptography. Students will gain exposure to foundational security and privacy principles as well as hands-on tools and best practices for building secure, privacy-preserving systems.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
Introductory Computer Security (one course) |
Computer Security Core (two courses) |
Computer Security Electives (one course) |
18-631 Introduction to Information Security** | 18-731 Network Security** | 18-636 Browser Security ** |
18-730 Introduction to Computer Security** | 18-732 Secure Software Systems** | 18-637 Wireless Security** |
18-733 Applied Cryptography** | 18-638 Mobile Security** | |
18-734 Foundations of Privacy** | 18-765 Digital Systems Testing and Testable Design | |
18-632 Introduction to Hardware Security** | 18-739 Foundations of Security and Privacy** (All offerings of this special topics course: A, C, E, F, L, M, N, SF, SV) | |
Any core course can count as an elective |
KEY
No asterisk indicates that the course is typically offered ONLY in Pittsburgh.
*Course is typically offered ONLY in Silicon Valley.
**Course is typically offered at both Pittsburgh AND Silicon Valley.
***Dormant
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Network/Distributed Systems (NDS)
The networked and distributed systems concentration deals with the foundations and system-design issues of large-scale networks, including the internet, cellular and mobile networks, data center networking, and associated design challenges.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
List 1: Networking (at least one course) |
List 2: Distributed Systems |
List 3: Wireless (at least one course) |
18-741 Computer Networks | 18-749 Building Reliable Distributed Systems | 18-748 Wireless Sensor Networks |
18-651 Networked Cyber-Physical Systems | 18-756 Packet Switching and Computer Networks | 18-759 Wireless Networks |
18-731 Network Security | 18-755 Networks in the Real World | 18-750 Wireless Networking Applications |
18-637 Wireless Security |
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Wireless/Embedded Systems (WES)
This concentration explores core wireless technologies and systems-level issues at the heart of the Internet of Things, traditional broadband and cellular networks, cyber-physical systems, and cloud-connected embedded computing.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
Devices (one course) |
Networks (one course) |
Systems (one course) |
Design Experience (one course) |
18-743 Neuromorphic Computer Architecture & Processor Design | 18-637 Wireless Security | 18-741 Computer Networks | 18-745 Rapid Prototyping of Computer Systems** |
18-747 How to Write Low Power Code for the IoT | 18-741 Computer Networks | 18-744SV Connected Embedded Systems Architecture*,** | 18-846SV Wireless Systems Design Experience*,** |
18-748 Wireless Sensor Networks | |||
18-750 Wireless Networking and Applications |
KEY
No asterisk indicates that the course is typically offered ONLY in Pittsburgh.
*Course is typically offered ONLY in Silicon Valley.
**Dormant
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Integrated Systems (IS)
Students achieve in-depth specialization in the design of modern integrated devices and systems. A unique feature of this concentration is a two-course sequence, 18-725 and 18-726, in which students design, fabricate, and test chips of their own design.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
Key
*Dormant
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
Devices and Nanofab (DN)
Students learn the fundamentals of device physics and engineering techniques to implement electronic, photonic, electromagnetic, and microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices using advanced nanofabrication techniques for data storage, computation, communications, sensing, ranging, and biomedical applications. Students are exposed to multidisciplinary approaches to system development, which leverage fundamental notions from a wide variety of fields.
Course Menu
Four courses from the following menu:
KEY
*Dormant
Occasionally courses are updated or become dormant. These tables can take some time to reflect those changes. Please check with your advisors about course availability if the course has not been offered recently.
*Note that 18-699 is a Special Topics course. Several versions of this course have been discontinued. If you have taken a version that does not appear on this list, please check with your academic advisor to see if the course satisfies one of the DN concentration requirements.