The College of Engineering and Computing is home to the departments of Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Integrated Information Technology, and Mechanical Engineering, as well as Biomedical Engineering, which is an interdisciplinary academic unit comprised of faculty from various departments and the School of Medicine.
Select a department below learn about its faculty and staff, research strengths and programs. For more about the college's academic programs, visit the Academics section.
Biomedical engineering was established at USC as an interdisciplinary academic unit in 2006, offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Our biomedical engineering research spans a variety of fields, such as tissue engineering, biomaterials and drug delivery, biomechanics, drug development, bioinstrumentation and bioimaging.
Undergraduate and graduate students began studying chemical engineering at USC in 1932 and 1952, respectively. Chemical engineering research at USC is now nationally recognized, with the department ranked in the top 25 in the U.S. in terms of total federal research funding since 1998. Recent National Research Council rankings rank USC ChE #6 in the south and in the top 30 nationally.
Civil engineering education began at South Carolina when we offered the first engineering courses in 1848. Today, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is at the forefront of education and research, expanding in areas such as hurricane and earthquake design, sustainable development, intelligent transportation systems, high-performance materials, bioelectrical remediation, and life-cycle analyses.
In 1957, USC offered its first computing course, Introduction to Numerical Analysis. In 1959, the School of Engineering bought its first computer. At the turn of the century, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering was formed with the merger of the computer science and computer engineering faculty, creating a powerhouse for computing research and education in the areas of computer science, computer engineering, information systems, cyber security, robotics and artificial intelligence.
USC has offered electrical engineering degrees continuously since 1894. Historic strength and an innovative approach meet in our Department of Electrical Engineering to advance the fields of communications and electromagnetics, decision and control, electronic materials and devices, and power and energy systems. The National Research Council ranks our faculty in the top 5 in the nation for research productivity.
Like the technology itself, the IIT department’s academic programs have evolved from an office information systems track in 1988 to nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate programs in information technology today. We advance the integration of computing into all aspects of today’s society and digital platform economy.
Mechanical engineering was introduced at USC in 1943 under the leadership of Professor Frank Herty. Today, this department is the largest in the college and offers undergraduate and graduate programs in mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering. Department research expenditures and productivity in these and related areas are the highest on average in the college.