Using electricity and computers to improve people's lives is the main challenge faced by electrical engineers. They design, develop, test, and supervise the manufacture of sophisticated electrical and electronic systems, such as power generators, motors, lighting systems, computer hardware and software, advanced satellite systems, cell phone, smart appliances, etc.

In this major, elective courses may be chosen from the broad categories of controls/communications/signal processing, computer engineering, electronics, electro-physics/electro-optics/microwaves, power systems/power electronics, and biomedical imaging/sensing and systems. Electrical engineering is one of the most popular engineering fields and trends indicate that the growth in this area will continue at least into the next century.