Supporting the EE Department

Areas of Giving

• EE Student Project Fund: This fund provides support for student projects (Senior Projects and Master Theses). The purpose of this fund is to directly aid costs incurred for constructing senior projects or master's theses projects. This fund currently provides $200 per student project support, with a goal of up to $400 per student. We currently rely on a mix of corporate sponsorships and Alumni donations to provide this aid for student projects. 
• EE Discretionary Account: The purpose of this fund is to enable our "Learn by Doing" activities within the EE Department. This fund is the lifeblood of the EE department, as it offers flexible funds beyond what is provided for by the state. Recent purchases include upgrades of the computers in our laboratories.  
• EE Lab Renovation Account: Provides funding lab upgrades. The purpose of this fund is to support upgrades to lab equipment in order for the "Learn by Doing" instruction to remain current with industry standards. Two current initiatives are highlighted below. We recently had an Alumni provide funding for comfortable lab chairs for all of our laboratories (Our students' tired backs really thank you).  

Calls for Industry Partnerships

 

ADVANCED POWER SYSTEM INITIATIVE AND LABORATORIES

Cal Poly Electrical Electrical Engineering has a long continuous history for education of students in the electric power systems area.  Key current facilities include the Energy Conversion Laboratory 20-102, the Power Electronics Laboratory 20-104, the Renewable Energy Systems Lab 20-150, and the Power Systems Projects Laboratory 20-101. The EE department is in the process of augmenting these laboratory facilities for teaching and research purposes. Key initiatives include:

a.  Easily Configurable Microgrid Energy System with generation, energy storage, and extensive metering as part of building 20.

b.  Advanced Electric Machines Equipment.

c.  Real Time Digital Simulator to complement our Electric Power Systems CAD tools. 

d.  Cyber Security Teaching and Research Network focusing on Smart Energy Systems.

e.  Projects Laboratory focused on Sustainability, Energy Conservation, Electric Vehicles, and "Internet of Things"- enabled Efficient Homes.

Electrical Engineering needs your help in the build out these new initiatives and laboratories! Please contact Professor Taufik, Director or the Electric Power Institute, or Department Chair.

Signals and Systems Technical Area Laboratory Upgrades

Robotics Laboratory Equipment.  We have a new Robotics technical elective and supporting faculty that is getting high student demand.  Work with Cal Poly EE to help advance this laboratory initiative and the faculty that support it.

Communication System Laboratory Upgrade in the Semester System Fall 2025.  We added a new EE4314L laboratory in Cal Poly's new semester system. We need to create this new required undergraduate laboratory curriculum this year.   We have created a starting point for this new lab, but with help from partners, we hope to make it even more compelling in future offerings (offered every semester going forward)

In the semester system, we have added a new laboratory to our Computational Intelligence technical elective (Previous the course was lecture only with class lecture projects).   Help Cal Poly EE equip this Machine Learning Laboratory experience.

Radio Frequency Electronics and Photonics Technical Area Laboratory Upgrades

Thanks to Keysight Technologies for helping us fund a new set of 6.5 GHz Vector Network Analyzers for our 20-116 Laboratory in 2025-2026.   We still have lots of needs to upgrade our test and measurement capabilities especially for the 6 GHz+ frequency range.   We have two older VNAs that go to 20 GHz.  We would like to be able to have capacity on sources, receivers and components that go to 50 GHz and beyond. 

The Photonics lab has been in operation for 35 years and is still functioning well.  The Photonics industry has expanded and diversified and is now at a high profile in the Age of AI connecting all of those data center racks together with 400 Gb/s, 800 Gb/s and shortly 1600 Gb/s link.  Photonic sensor systems is also an area of high interest in the department. This laboratory would like to invest in some advanced Photonics capability so please contact us if you can help.

With recent industry collaboration and new faculty hires, there is significant activity in Antenna system design.  We have a small anechoic teaching chamber in building 20 and a larger anechoic chamber in building 4.  Getting a complete set of horn antennas from UHF to mm-wave frequencies would be a nice addition to our capability.  Contact us if you want to collaborate with us on antenna design and measurement capability.

Electronics Technical Area

We have several new Professors in advanced Electronics and VLSI and Analog Integrated Circuits.   We go through the designs using state of the art CAD tools.  We are interested in collaborators that will help fund device fabrication activities at Semiconductor Foundries

Giving Online

Our secure portal provides a convenient way to give online.

Contact us for Further Information

Office Location: 20-200
Phone: 805-756-2781
EE Front Office Email: ee-office-staff@calpoly.edu
Fax: 805-756-1458
Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm

Mailing Address
EE Department
Cal Poly State University
1 Grand Avenue
San Luis Obispo, CA  93407-0355