In 1993, the University of Kansas merged the Department of Computer Science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the School of Engineering. The resulting department, called the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, resides in the School of Engineering and brings together the broad fields of electrical technology, computing, telecommunications, and information science. Among other things, the merger enabled the consolidation of courses, enhanced classroom experiences for the students, and expanded research opportunities. The EECS Department now offers three bachelor of science degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science, as well as masters and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. It describes the philosophy theyapplied in developing the three programs as they now stand. theythen describe the curricula themselves. They point out where the curricula are the same, where they are only similar, and where they are distinctly different. Finally, theydiscuss future changes that theyanticipate in the programs. They feel that the merger has created the opportunity for significantly improved teaching and research.
The merger which brought together electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science in the same department at the University of Kansas has already brought benefit to the programs, among them collaborative research efforts, restructuring of courses, elimination of duplicate courses, and a wider range of educational opportunities for students. The similarities and differences between the three undergraduate curricula are summarized in Figure 1. This Venn diagram illustrates the central position of computer engineering with its strong overlap with both electrical engineering and computer science. However, there is very little overlap between the latter two themselves. In fact, the BSEE and BSCS share only two common required EECS courses: the introduction to EE, CoE, and CS course and the microprocessor course, both taken by computer engineering majors as well. They believe these curricular differences and similarities reflect the differences and similarities between the three professional fields.
