Congratulations Newly Admitted Gauchos! We welcome you to visit our virtual open house page to learn more about the College of Engineering academic programs and student experience.

Quick Jump:

Prospective Student Presentations
Virtual Lab Tours
Student Voices
Student Research Showcase
Academics
Change of Major
Career and Internship Information 

UCSB Open House

The spring 2023 UCSB Open House will take place Saturday, April 15th. Please visit the UCSB Admissions Open House page for the most up to date information and registration details.

Prospective Student Presentations

Learn about the engineering curriculum, research, education abroad opportunities, internships, and more!  The session will be presented by an academic advisor from the College of Engineering and is best suited for students, friends, and family who have already been admitted to the College of Engineering at the freshman or transfer levels. Requirements for UC admission will not be covered in this presentation so prospective students and guests are strongly encouraged to attend a UC Santa Barbara Office of Admissions Campus presentation.

Spring 2023 dates and signups can be accessed here.

Watch a recorded version of the spring 2020 presentation on our YouTube channel.

Virtual Lab Tours

Peruse a selection of photographs of lab spaces here.

Electrical and Computer Engineering lab tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt9Nzy6iDY0&feature=youtu.be

Machine Shop tour:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xByRk-g6OXU

Student Voices

Click to read about the student experience directly from students themselves, or check out videos/flyers from some of our STEM student orgs:

Student Research Showcase

Welcome to our virtual student research showcase!  

To view full project descriptions and view more capstone or design projects:
https://capstone.engineering.ucsb.edu
https://capstone.cs.ucsb.edu/teams.html

Aesha Parekh (BS ’22) became involved in undergraduate research through the Computer Science Department’s Early Research Scholars Program, a year-long research apprenticeship program that provides undergraduate students with their first research experience. She was part of a team that worked with computer science associate professor William Wang, co-director of the National Language Processing (NLP) Group. The team wrote multiple papers about their research that were accepted to top NLP conferences, where they later presented their work. “When we started, the fields of NLP and machine learning were entirely unfamiliar to use,” explained Parekh, who accepted a position as a software engineer at LinkedIn. “We ramped up on the area and learned to read research papers, explore research questions, design and conduct experiments, and compose quality papers.” Prior to graduating with honors and a computer science degree, Parekh was named a finalist for a prestigious award from the Computing Research Association, distinguishing her among the top ten undergraduate researchers in the nation. She also received a 2022 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

Once the Computer Science Department’s Early Research Scholars Program introduced Tony Sun (BS ’21) to undergraduate research, he was hooked. Working with associate professor William Wang during the year-long program, Sun investigated algorithmic fairness in artificial intelligence, with an emphasis in natural language processing (NLP). Sun eventually first-authored two papers that were accepted to the top NLP conference. One of the papers even became part of the curriculum at Stanford and Princeton. Papers that he wrote during internships with Amazon Science and Google were also accepted by prestigious conferences. “Research at its core is all about indulging one’s curiosity. It's a beautiful process that pushes humanity forward and makes life better for the next generation,” said Sun, who received the College of Engineering’s 2021 Tirrell Award for Distinction in Undergraduate Research and Outstanding Senior Award. After graduating, Sun started working at Google, while simultaneously pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford University.

A first-generation college student, Diego Lopez (BS ’22) was always interested in undergraduate research, but he also faced a central fear that stopped him for some time. “I thought the last thing a professor would want is a freshman with no experience to get in the way or mess up the lab or take up time,” he said. “Research was always intimidating to me. I had no idea how to find those opportunities.” Fortunately, opportunity knocked on Lopez’s door, when he heard Dotti Pak, the education director for UCSB’s Materials Research Laboratory (MRL), explain the Research Internships in Sciences and Engineering (RISE) program during a career service event. Lopez joined RISE and said that his confidence grew by having to speak in front of the group nearly every day. That continued while working in the lab of chemical engineering professor Mike Gordon, where he says, “My mentor, [postdoctoral researcher] Oleksandr Polonsky, had this attitude ‘to just go for it.’ Before, I wasn’t that kind of person. I was too afraid of doing something wrong. But Oleksandr’s attitude kind of rubbed off on me to try it out and see what happens. Now, I use that outside of research, too.”

Henry Moise (BS ’21) was an average high school student in the San Francisco Bay Area and wasn’t thinking about going to college. He did attend community college, and then transferred to UCSB, where he found the transition challenging during his first two quarters as a chemical engineering major. Then, he found that he could put his experience working with tools in a hardware store to good use in chemical engineering professor Eric McFarland’s lab. Moise is spending the current year as an employee in McFarland’s startup company, C-Zero, Inc., before beginning a PhD program at Stanford, where he has already been accepted. “I would never have thought I’d be so excited reading science papers by other groups about methane pyrolysis,” he says. “It’s a cool feeling to be excited about things like that, and grad school will allow me to take that further.”

Academics

View our undergraduate programs brochure for a college overview.

The Technology Management Program (TMP) offers an undergraduate certificate and graduate level programs for students interested in management, business, and entrepreneurship in the science and technology industry. The courses and certificate are open to all students at UCSB. Learn more about TMP.

Roadmap to Graduation: The Grid

Students in the College of Engineering follow a grid for their major. The grid lays out all requirements for the major and have been designed by the faculty to ensure time to degree. We know each student’s situation is different and academic advisors are available to help students adjust their grid to support their needs and goals. Please see our sample grids below. Individual course descriptions can be found in the General Catalog.

Grids for students entering as Freshmen
Chemical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering

Grids for students entering as Transfers
Chemical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering

ap, ib, and a-level charts

You can see information about how your AP, IB, and A-Level exams will transfer to UCSB in the General Catalog. Students who attend UCSB will be provided individual advising on how exams and other transfer work will impact their time to degree, major requirements, and GE requirements.

Change of Major

Students admitted as freshmen may pursue a change of major into the College of Engineering or between College of Engineering majors. Students admitted as transfers may not pursue a change of major into or within the College of Engineering. Please visit our Change of Major website for more information and details about the requirements for each major. We created a video with some additional information for students admitted as freshmen who are curious about the change of major process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds_wJTgPi00

Career and Internship Information

Students are prepared to enter graduate school or industry after graduation. From quarterly career fairs to on-campus interviews, students are actively recruited for internship and career positions.

View an Internship and Career handout for an overview of campus resources

View a list of Companies that recruit UCSB Engineering students for internship and career positions.