Guide to Graduate Study in Area III: Introduction
Welcome to Area III
This guide is primarily written for entering graduate students who have come from undergraduate universities other than MIT, and who intend eventually to obtain a PhD at MIT. It is intended as a planning guide for the first two years, which is the normal period for obtaining the masters degree and completing the departmental Technical Qualifying Exam (TQE).
For administrative convenience, the faculty and graduate students in the department are divided up into six primary research "areas" according to their preferences. And although the area definitions are somewhat arbitrary—and the boundaries between them often quite artificial—many of these areas have a long history and well-established culture. Area III is certainly no exception, and as a result, its boundaries are deliberately fuzzy and there is considerable overlap and many connections with other areas.
Research in Area III emphasizes electronic circuits and systems, microprocessor based control, and digital and analog signal processing. Design and practical implementation are emphasized. More than forty faculty members have a primary or secondary interest in this area, and are generally located in the Research Laboratory of Electronics, RLE, Microsystems Technology Laboratories, MTL, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, CSAIL, the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, LIDS, the Center for Materials Science and Engineering and the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems, LEES.
David J. Perreault, Area III chair
Fall, 2011