Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a broad branch of engineering that deals primarily with electricity and electromagnetism. However, the boundaries of electrical engineering are difficult to define, and electrical engineering problems may involve mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, and industrial engineering -- among others.

A broad field indeed

Electrical engineering is perhaps the most broad field of engineering. The primary community for electrical engineers is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). IEEE is the world's largest professional organization of any kind, and boasts 360,000 members in 175 countries. To further illustrate how broad electrical engineering can be, IEEE is composed of 39 societies, which publish 130 journals, transactions and magazines and over 400 conference proceedings each year.

Branches of electrical engineering

The following is a list of some of the areas touched by the field of electrical engineering, organized roughly according to discipline:

Explicit subfields of electrical engineering: Biomedical engineering Computer engineering Electronics: Circuit design Microelectronics Solid state electronics Electric power: Power generation Power transmission and distribution Power system maintenance and protection Electromechanics Electromagnetism: Electromagnetic radiation Antenna design

Systems theory: Control engineering Robotics Automation Queueing theory Telecommunications Signal processing Communications theory Information theory Overlap with theoretical physics: Plasma science Nuclear sciences Quantum electronics Applications: Vehicular technology