Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineers design the most sophisticated systems ever built. From computers with billions of transistors to microgrids fed by renewable energy sources, from algorithms that predict disease to solar cells and electric vehicles, electrical engineering touches all parts of modern society. We leverage computational, theoretical, and experimental tools to develop groundbreaking sensors and energy transducers, new physical substrates for computation, and the systems that address the shared challenges facing humanity.

Our research is interdisciplinary by nature, and has far-reaching effects on almost every field of human activity, including energy and climate, human health, communications and computation, finance and music. We make the future.

Research areas

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Our research covers a wide range of topics of this fast-evolving field, advancing how machines learn, predict, and control, while also making them secure, robust and trustworthy. Research covers both the theory and applications of ML. This broad area studies ML theory (algorithms, optimization, …), statistical learning (inference, graphical models, causal analysis, …), deep learning, reinforcement learning, symbolic reasoning ML systems, as well as diverse hardware implementations of ML.

Biological and Medical Devices and Systems

We develop the technology and systems that will transform the future of biology and healthcare. Specific areas include biomedical sensors and electronics, nano- and micro-technologies, imaging, and computational modeling of disease.

Communications Systems

We develop the next generation of wired and wireless communications systems, from new physical principles (e.g., light, terahertz waves) to coding and information theory, and everything in between.

Computer Architecture

We design the next generation of computer systems. Working at the intersection of hardware and software, our research studies how to best implement computation in the physical world. We design processors that are faster, more efficient, easier to program, and secure. Our research covers systems of all scales, from tiny Internet-of-Things devices with ultra-low-power consumption to high-performance servers and datacenters that power planet-scale online services. We design both general-purpose processors and accelerators that are specialized to particular application domains, like machine learning and storage. We also design Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to facilitate the development of such systems.

Computational Fabrication and Manufacturing

We bring some of the most powerful tools in computation to bear on design problems, including modeling, simulation, processing and fabrication.

Educational Technology

Educational technology combines both hardware and software to enact global change, making education accessible in unprecedented ways to new audiences. We develop the technology that makes better understanding possible.

Electronic, Magnetic, Optical and Quantum Materials and Devices

Our research spans a wide range of materials that form the next generation of devices, and includes groundbreaking research on graphene & 2D materials, quantum computing, MEMS & NEMS, and new substrates for computation.

Energy

Our research focuses on solving challenges related to the transduction, transmission, and control of energy and energy systems. We develop new materials for energy storage, devices and power electronics for harvesting, generation and processing of energy, and control of large-scale energy systems.

Integrated Circuits and Systems

Our field deals with the design and creation of sophisticated circuits and systems for applications ranging from computation to sensing.

Nanoscale Materials, Devices, and Systems

Our research focuses on the creation of materials and devices at the nano scale to create novel systems across a wide variety of application areas.

Optics + Photonics

Our work focuses on materials, devices, and systems for optical and photonic applications, with applications in communications and sensing, femtosecond optics, laser technologies, photonic bandgap fibers and devices, laser medicine and medical imaging, and millimeter-wave and terahertz devices.

Quantum Computing, Communication, and Sensing

Our work focuses on developing the next substrate of computing, communication and sensing. We work all the way from new materials to superconducting devices to quantum computers to theory.

Robotics

Our research focuses on robotic hardware and algorithms, from sensing to control to perception to manipulation.

Signal Processing

Signal processing focuses on algorithms and hardware for analyzing, modifying and synthesizing signals and data, across a wide variety of application domains. As a technology it plays a key role in virtually every aspect of modern life including for example entertainment, communications, travel, health, defense and finance.

Systems and Networking

From distributed systems and databases to wireless, the research conducted by the systems and networking group aims to improve the performance, robustness, and ease of management of networks and computing systems.

Systems Theory, Control, and Autonomy

Our theoretical research includes quantification of fundamental capabilities and limitations of feedback systems, inference and control over networks, and development of practical methods and algorithms for decision making under uncertainty.