Computer engineers at Tri-State University enjoy designing video games, robots, and PC hardware controllers, and graduate from college to work on reducing engine fuel consumption and pollution, to work on military wireless communications, and to earn doctoral degrees from prestigious graduate schools. While at TSU, you will have the opportunity to develop code for user-interfaces, reverse-engineered video games, and data communication systems while learning about object-oriented programming and hardware languages. You will also keep grounded with hands-on systems that you design for network interfaces and computer controllers while you are learn the theory behind computer architecture and operating systems. We do this in small classes, with one full-time professor guiding five to fifteen students. Students work sometimes individually, often in pairs and triples, and sometimes in teams of four or five. Computer Engineering isn't a lightweight major -- this is an exciting program, but the junior year is especially challenging.

Most of our students go to work straight out of college at good salaries (the federal government says starting salaries average about $52, 000, and TSU grads fall in this category) but every year, some go to graduate school (many at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend) to get a master's or Ph. D. in Computer Engineering. Career jobs and summer jobs are usually to defense contractors (command and communications work), or software services firms (engine controls and financial software).

Program Strengths:
Our department emphasizes learning through creating and testing student ideas in lab. Fundamental concepts and vocabulary are best retained when they come to life. We don't cut corners, though! We believe our students learn concepts more thoroughly because of labs - projects aren't a way out of learning, but a way to actual use critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Co-operative Education and Internship:
We encourage, but do not require, co-operative education. We strongly encourage internship work in the major over the summer, or a summer research experience at a state school (usually funded by National Science Foundation grants). This way, our students can benefit from the close-knit learning environment here, and also learn from the wider resources of big institutions. These experiences also help with the job search.