EE Research at Stanford: The Big Picture

Core Areas
person holding a very small computer chip

Physical Tech & Science

We look to define the device technology and circuit fabric of future electronic and photonic systems, which integrate the abstraction levels of materials, nanostructures, semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, power electronics and electronic system engineering. We also investigate physics, materials, devices, and systems using light and electromagnetism, for applications including sensing, imaging, communications, energy, biology, medicine, security, and information processing.

Subareas: Biomedical Devices, Sensors and Systems; Energy Harvesting and Conversion; Integrated Circuits and Power Electronics; Nanoelectronic Devices and NanoSystems; Photonics, Nanoscience and Quantum Technology; NEMS/MEMS

pathways in Stanford Engineering Quad

Information Systems & Science

In addition to work on the core disciplines of information theory and coding, communications and networking, control and optimization, signal processing, (radar) remote sensing machine learning and inference, our research in this area spans several application areas, including biomedical imaging, optical communications, wireless communications and networks, multimedia communications, Internet, energy systems, transportation systems, computational imaging and display systems, and financial systems.

Subareas: Biomedical Imaging; Control & Optimization; Data Science; Information Theory & Applications; Machine Learning, Communications Systems; Societal Networks; Signal Processing & Multimedia

profs Philip Levis and Balaji Prabhakar

Hardware/Software Systems

Our research in this area looks into new ways to design, architect, and manage energy-efficient systems for emerging applications ranging from the internet-of-things to big data analytics.

Subareas: Data Science; Embedded Systems; Energy-efficient Hardware Systems; Integrated Circuits and Power Electronics; Mobile Networking; Secure Distributed Systems; Software Defined Networking

Interdisciplinary Research
multiple images from biomedical research labs

Biomedical

Research in the biomedical area utilizes engineering approaches to address the unmet needs in diagnosis, staging, treatment and mitigation of illnesses including cancer, diabetes, heart diseases as well as brain disorders.

Subareas: Biomedical Devices, Sensors and Systems; Photonics, Nanoscience and Quantum Technology; NEMS/MEMS; Biomedical Imaging; Information Theory & Applications

Prof Jelena Vuckovic in her lab

Energy

Research in energy is motivated at the macro level by the rapid rise in worldwide demand for electricity and the threat of global climate change and on the micro level by the explosion in the number of mobile devices and sensors whose performance and lifetimes are limited by energy.

Subareas: Control, Optimization & Machine Learning; Energy-Efficient Hardware Systems; Integrated Circuits & Power Electronics; Energy Harvesting & Conversion; Data Science

 

Research Centers & Affiliates

Stanford EE also has a unique culture of entrepreneurship. Our faculty and students have started many companies to commercialize their research innovations. EE offers numerous opportunities for students and faculty to interact with industry through research centers and affiliate programs.