Welcome to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida International University. I am pleased to welcome you to FIU, a top-tier Carnegie Classified Institution of Higher Education for doctoral research - R1: Doctoral University with Highest Research Activity. With more than 53,000 students and over $300 million in annual research expenditures, FIU is a globally engaged institution advancing discovery, innovation, and opportunity.
Our department is housed within FIU’s College of Engineering & Computing (CEC), which serves more than 9,300 students and awards approximately 2,100 degrees annually across undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs. The CEC’s national standing reflects both the scale and quality of its academic and research mission. The College’s strength is driven by its faculty and research enterprise, with 126 tenure and tenure-track faculty, 19 NSF CAREER Award recipients, and three NSF Engineering Research Centers. Key research areas include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, energy and power systems, and resilient infrastructure.
Within this environment, ECE serves more than 1,300 students, supports 18 research laboratories, and receives over $17.2 million in annual research awards. Our programs are ranked No. 41 by U.S. News & World Report in Electrical and Electronic Engineering among public universities, reflecting our growing national standing. Our faculty lead high-impact research and education in applied AI, communications, microelectronics, cybersecurity, renewable energy, and resilient infrastructure, supported by 37 issued patents, 17 active faculty sponsors, and a strong Ph.D. mentoring model that drives innovation and student success.
Our vision for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is to create a collaborative ecosystem where researchers, industry, and our local community work together to build the next generation of technologies. This ecosystem supports the development of new courses, degrees, and certificates that prepare our students to lead the future workforce. We are launching impactful programs in applied and agentic AI, energy systems and data centers, semiconductors and CHIPS-aligned technologies, quantum computing, cybersecurity, robotics, nanotechnology, RF/microwave/wireless communications, embedded systems, the internet of things, and entrepreneurship. Our faculty are also advancing research and education in additional areas that I will highlight in future communications.
Service and partnership are central to our mission. I invite our community leaders and industry partners to visit our state-of-the-art laboratories and engage with our faculty and students as they translate research into real-world technologies. I also encourage the industry to share areas of interest and opportunities where we can collaborate. Please feel free to reach out to me to explore partnerships that create meaningful, mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders.
Welcome, and thank you for being part of our FIU and ECE engineering community.
Arif Sarwat, Ph.D.
Department Chair, Distinguished University Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
Website: https://ece.fiu.edu/