Introduction

Department of Electrical Engineering (changed to Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2000) was established in 1969, as one of the three departments (the other being the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Department) of the Faculty of Engineering (FoE), in the Singapore University (predecessor of the National University of Singapore) with an inaugural batch of about 30 students and 10-15 academic staff members embarking on campus life at the old Singapore Polytechnic campus at Prince Edward Road, next to the Singapore Conference Hall. The founding Head of Department was Professor (Dr) Jimmy WY Chen. The Department (together with FoE) moved to the current Kent Ridge Campus in 1977.

The Department has grown since its inception and has now an academic staff strength of over 100, undergraduate students of about 1500 (~1030 students in B.Eng (Electrical) programme, ~490 students in B.Eng (CEG/Computer) programme, and some 670 graduate students (~380 PhD, ~50 MEng, ~230 MSc).

Heads of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor Jimmy WY Chew (1969-1977)

Professor Choo Seok Cheow (1977-1990) PhD (Waterloo)

Professor Hang Chang Chieh (1990-1992) D.Sc (Warwick), PhD (Warwick)

Professor Liew Ah Choy (1993-1997) PhD (Queensland)

Heads of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor Chan Siu Hung, Daniel (1997-2000) PhD (Salford)

Professor Yeo Swee Ping (2001-2007) PhD (London)

Professor Wong Wai Choong, Lawrence (2008-31 October 2009) PhD (Loughborough)

Professor Chua Kee Chaing (1 November 2009-30 June 2014) PhD (Auckland)

1969

Department of Electrical Engineering (changed to Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2000) was established in 1969, as one of the three departments (the other being the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Department) of the Faculty of Engineering, in the Singapore University (predecessor of the National University of Singapore). The first location of the Department was the old Singapore Polytechnic campus at Prince Edward Road, next to the Singapore Conference Hall.

Old Singapore Polytechnic campus at Prince Edward Road

1977

The Department (together with Faculty of Engineering) moved to the current Kent Ridge Campus.

Kent Ridge campus in 1977

1991

Institute of Microelectronics (IME) was established with professors from the Department seconded to help the National Science & Technology Board (NSTB) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) to establish a national research institute that would attract microelectronics enterprises.

1992

Magnetics Technology Centre (MTC) was established in April 1992, with funding from NSTB. MTC was upgraded to a national level Data Storage Institute (DSI) in January 1997.

1992

Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) was established on 1 August 1992, also with funding from NSTB. It evolved and merged with another unit to become the Institute for Info comm Research (I2R).

1995

BTech in Electronic Engineering (a four-year, part-time course for polytechnic diploma holders, who were employed, to acquire a Bachelor degree while continuing in their job) kicked off in July 1995.

1998

Professor Hang Chang Chieh became Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA for contributions to the research and development of advanced control design techniques and to education in control engineering. He was the 1st IEEE Fellow in Singapore.

2000

Department was renamed Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

The undergraduate Computer Engineering Programme was launched.

2001

Two NSTB-endowed Temasek Professors were appointed: Professor Dim-Lee Kwong and Professor Charanjit Singh Bhatia

Professor Dim-Lee Kwong with Dean, Prof Ng Wun Jern at press conference on 7 April 2001

Professor Charanjit Singh Bhatia

2004

SONDRA defence technology lab established on the campus of the Ecole Superriore d’Electricite (Supelec), France. SONDRA is a cross-country collaboration of 4 parties: Supelec and Onera from France, and DSTA and NUS from Singapore.

SONDRA MOU signing ceremony at Supelec.

2004

Launch of Joint Ph.D degree with Ecole Superieure d’Electricite (Supelec). The first award of the Joint PhD degree was in December 2007 and to date, a total of 6 students have successful completed the degree.

2004

The first batch of direct intake undergraduate electrical engineering students were matriculated in August 2004. Prior to that, students were first admitted as common engineering students into the Faculty of Engineering and streamed into the Electrical Engineering Programme only in the second year of studies.

2008

Professor Charanjit Singh Bhatia received the IBM Faculty Award 2008 for his project on Fabrication, Characterization and Performance of Thin film Si Photovoltaic (PV) cells.

2011

Professor Dim-Lee Kwong received the prestigious IEEE Frederik Philips Award on 6 Dec 2011 for leadership in silicon technology and excellence in the management of microelectronics R&D.