Computer Engineering and Physics, BSCmpE (Boston) < Northeastern University Academic Catalog

This intercollege combined major serves students who would like to explore their interest in physics while earning the benefit of an accredited Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering degree. The combined major integrates study within the College of Engineering's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with study within the College of Science's Department of Physics.

Because of the large body of shared knowledge between computer engineering and physics, an integrated combined major between these two disciplines is a logical course of study and can be accomplished within either a four-year plan of study or a five-year plan of study (including three co-op placements in the latter), without requiring course overloads in any semester. A student graduating from this program will have studied both physics fundamentals and computer systems.

Students interested in this program should contact the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering or the Department of Physics as early as possible, preferably prior to registering for first-year courses.

Visit the department website for program objectives.

Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified and complete any additional courses needed beyond specific college and major requirements to satisfy graduation credit requirements.

Universitywide Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the Universitywide Requirements.

NUpath Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.

NUpath requirements Interpreting Culture (IC), Understanding Societies and Institutions (SI), Engaging Differences and Diversity (DD), and Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience (EX) are not explicitly satisfied by required engineering coursework. Successful completion of a cooperative education experience fulfills the EX requirement. Students are responsible for satisfying unfulfilled NUpath requirements with general elective coursework.

Engineering Requirements

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Required Courses
EECE 2140	Computing Fundamentals for Engineers	4
EECE 2150	Circuits and Signals: Biomedical Applications	5
EECE 2160	Embedded Design: Enabling Robotics	4
Computer Engineering Fundamentals
EECE 2322 and EECE 2323	Fundamentals of Digital Design and Computer Organization and Lab for EECE 2322	5
EECE 2540	Fundamentals of Networks	4
EECE 2560	Fundamentals of Engineering Algorithms	4
Electrical Engineering Fundamentals
If more than one electrical engineering fundamentals course is taken, it can count as a technical elective.
Complete one of the following:		4
EECE 2412 and EECE 2413	Fundamentals of Electronics and Lab for EECE 2412
EECE 2520	Fundamentals of Linear Systems
EECE 2530 and EECE 2531	Fundamentals of Electromagnetics and Lab for EECE 2530
Computer Engineering Capstone Courses
If taking EECE 4791 in First-Half Summer, EECE 4792 must be taken in Spring. If taking EECE 4791 in Second-Half Summer, EECE 4792 must be taken in Fall.
EECE 4791	Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 1	1
EECE 4792	Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 2	4
Technical Electives
Students can register for EECE 4991/EECE 4992 more than once. For these courses combined, a maximum of 8 semester hours will be allowed to satisfy the requirement of technical electives. An additional 4 semester hours will be allowed as a general elective. At most, one of these courses (4 semester hours) can be taken in a semester.
Though students may register for EECE 2750 more than once, only 4 semester hours will be allowed to satisfy the requirements of technical electives. An additional 4 semester hours will be allowed as a general elective.
EECE 2310 is not an approved course option for ECE majors to select for a Technical Elective, it is only for Khoury students.
Complete two of the following:		8
EECE 2412 to EECE 2530
EECE 2750	Enabling Engineering
EECE 3324 to EECE 4698
EECE 4991	Research
EECE 4992	Directed Study
EECE 5115 to EECE 5699
One CS/CY/IS course from the following approved list may be taken toward the EECE technical elective requirement:
CS 3100	Program Design and Implementation 2
CS 3200	Introduction to Databases
CS 3540 to CS 3800
CS 4100 to CS 4770
CS 4850	Building Game Engines
CS 5100	Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
CS 5200	Database Management Systems
CS 5310	Computer Graphics
CS 5400	Principles of Programming Language
CS 5500	Foundations of Software Engineering
CS 5520	Mobile Application Development
CS 5600	Computer Systems
CS 5610	Web Development
CS 5700	Fundamentals of Computer Networking
CY 2550	Foundations of Cybersecurity
Supplemental Credit
2 semester hours from the following course count toward the engineering requirement:		2
GE 1501	Cornerstone of Engineering 1 ¹
3 semester hours from the following course count toward the engineering requirement:		3
GE 1502	Cornerstone of Engineering 2 ¹
2 semester hours from the following course count toward the engineering requirement:		2
EECE 3468	Analysis of Random Phenomena in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mathematics/Science

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Required Mathematics/Science
CHEM 1151 and CHEM 1153	General Chemistry for Engineers and Recitation for CHEM 1151	4
CS 1800 and CS 1802	Discrete Structures and Seminar for CS 1800	5
MATH 1341	Calculus 1 for Science and Engineering	4
MATH 1342	Calculus 2 for Science and Engineering	4
MATH 2321	Calculus 3 for Science and Engineering	4
MATH 2341	Differential Equations and Linear Algebra for Engineering	4
Complete one of the following:		5
PHYS 1151 and PHYS 1152 and PHYS 1153	Physics for Engineering 1 and Lab for PHYS 1151 and Interactive Learning Seminar for PHYS 1151
PHYS 1161 and PHYS 1162 and PHYS 1163	Physics 1 and Lab for PHYS 1161 and Recitation for PHYS 1161
Complete one of the following:		5
PHYS 1155 and PHYS 1156 and PHYS 1157	Physics for Engineering 2 and Lab for PHYS 1155 and Interactive Learning Seminar for PHYS 1155
PHYS 1165 and PHYS 1166 and PHYS 1167	Physics 2 and Lab for PHYS 1165 and Recitation for PHYS 1165
PHYS 2303	Modern Physics	4
PHYS 3600	Advanced Physics Laboratory	4
PHYS 3602	Electricity and Magnetism 1	4
PHYS 4115	Quantum Mechanics	4
PHYS 4305	Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics	4
Advanced Physics Elective
Complete one of the following:		4
MATH 4606	Mathematical and Computational Methods for Physics
PHYS 3600 to PHYS 5999
Supplemental Credit
1 semester hour from the following course counts toward the mathematics/science requirement:		1
GE 1501	Cornerstone of Engineering 1 ¹
2 semester hours from the following course count toward the mathematics/science requirement:		2
EECE 3468	Analysis of Random Phenomena in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professional Development

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Required Professional Development
ENCP 2000	Introduction to Engineering Co-op Education	1
ENCP 3000	Professional Issues in Engineering	1
GE 1000	First-Year Seminar	1
Additional Required Courses
1 semester hour from the following course counts toward the professional development requirement:		1
GE 1501	Cornerstone of Engineering 1 ¹
1 semester hour from the following course counts toward the professional development requirement:		1
GE 1502	Cornerstone of Engineering 2 ¹

Writing Requirements

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
A grade of C or higher is required:
ENGW 1111	First-Year Writing	4
or ENGW 1102	First-Year Writing for Multilingual Writers
ENGW 3302	Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions	4
or ENGW 3315	Interdisciplinary Advanced Writing in the Disciplines

Required General Electives

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Complete 8 semester hours of academic, nonremedial, nonrepetitve courses.		8

Integrative Requirement

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
This course is already required above and also fulfills the integrative requirement:
EECE 4791	Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 1	1

Major GPA Requirement

A 2.000 minimum GPA is required in EECE courses.

Program Requirement

133 total semester hours required

¹: Students can substitute Engineering Design (GE 1110) and Engineering Problem Solving and Computation (GE 1111) for Cornerstone of Engineering 1 (GE 1501) and Cornerstone of Engineering 2 (GE 1502).

Sample Plans of Study

Four Years, One Co-op in Summer Second Half/ Fall

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
MATH 1341	4	MATH 1342	4	MATH 2341	4	Vacation
CHEM 1151	4	PHYS 1165	4
CHEM 1153	0	PHYS 1166	1
PHYS 1161	4	PHYS 1167	0
PHYS 1162	1	GE 1502	4
PHYS 1163	0	ENGW 1111	4
GE 1501	4
GE 1000	1
	18		17		4		0
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
EECE 2140	4	PHYS 4305	4	Vacation		Co-op	0
EECE 2160	4	EECE 2150	5
MATH 2321	4	CS 1800	4
PHYS 2303	4	CS 1802	1
		CE Fundamental	5
		ENCP 2000	1
	16		20		0		0
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
Co-op	0	PHYS 3602	4	Vacation		PHYS 3600	4
		CE Fundamental	4			EECE 4791	1
		CE Fundamental	4			ENGW 3302 or 3315	4
		General Elective	4
	0		16		0		9
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
PHYS 4115	4	Technical Elective	4
ENCP 3000	1	Advanced Physics Elective	4
EECE 3468	4	EE Fundamental	4
EECE 4792	4	General Elective	4
Technical Elective	4
	17		16
Total Hours: 133

Four Years, One Co-op in Spring/Summer First Half

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
CHEM 1151 (ND)	4	ENGW 1111 (WF)	4	MATH 2341	4	Vacation
CHEM 1153	0	GE 1502 (ER)	4
GE 1000	1	MATH 1342 (FQ)	4
GE 1501	4	PHYS 1165 or 1155 (ND)	4
MATH 1341 (FQ)	4	PHYS 1166 or 1156 (AD)	1
PHYS 1161 or 1151 (ND)	4	PHYS 1167 or 1157	0
PHYS 1162 or 1152 (AD)	1
PHYS 1163 or 1153	0
	18		17		4		0
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
EECE 2140	4	CS 1800 (FQ)	4	Vacation		Vacation
EECE 2160	4	CS 1802	1
ENCP 2000	1	EECE 2150 (AD)	5
MATH 2321 (FQ)	4	PHYS 4305 (ND)	4
PHYS 2303 (ND)	4	CE Fundamentals	4
	17		18		0		0
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
PHYS 3602 (ND)	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	EECE 4791 (EI, WI, CE)¹	1
CE Fundamentals	5					ENGW 3302 or 3315 (WD)	4
CE Fundamentals	4					PHYS 3600 (ND, AD, WI)	4
General Elective	4
	17		0		0		9
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
EECE 4792 (EI, WI, CE)¹	4	EE Fundamentals	4
ENCP 3000	1	Technical Elective	4
EECE 3468	4	General Elective	4
PHYS 4115 (ND, FQ)	4	PHYS Advanced Elective	4
Technical Elective	4
	17		16
Total Hours: 133

Five Years, Three Co-ops in Spring/Summer First Half

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
MATH 1341	4	MATH 1342	4	Vacation		Vacation
CHEM 1151	4	PHYS 1165	4
CHEM 1153	0	PHYS 1166	1
PHYS 1161	4	PHYS 1167	0
PHYS 1162	1	GE 1502	4
PHYS 1163	0	ENGW 1111	4
GE 1501	4
GE 1000	1
	18		17		0		0
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
EECE 2140	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	Vacation
MATH 2321	4
MATH 2341	4
PHYS 2303	4
ENCP 2000	1
	17		0		0		0
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
CS 1800	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	PHYS 3600	4
CS 1802	1
EECE 2150	5
EECE 2160	4
PHYS 3602	4
	18		0		0		4
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
PHYS 4115	4	Co-op	0	Co-op	0	EECE 4791	1
CE Fundamental	4					ENGW 3302 or 3315 (WD)	4
CE Fundamental	4					Technical Elective	4
CE Fundamental	5
	17		0		0		9
Year 5
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
ENCP 3000	1	Technical Elective	4
EECE 3468	4	Advanced Physics Elective	4
PHYS 4305	4	General Elective	4
EECE 4792	4	EE Fundamental	4
General Elective	4
	17		16
Total Hours: 133

Five Years, Three Co-ops in Summer Second Half/Fall

Year 1
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
CHEM 1151 (ND)	4	ENGW 1111 (WF)	4	Vacation		Vacation
CHEM 1153	0	GE 1502 (ER)	4
GE 1000	1	MATH 1342 (FQ)	4
GE 1501	4	PHYS 1165 or 1155 (ND)	4
MATH 1341 (FQ)	4	PHYS 1166 or 1156 (AD)	1
PHYS 1161 or 1151 (ND)	4	PHYS 1167 or 1157	0
PHYS 1162 or 1152 (AD)	1
PHYS 1163 or 1153	0
	18		17		0		0
Year 2
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
EECE 2140	4	CS 1800 (FQ)	4	Vacation		Co-op	0
MATH 2321 (FQ)	4	CS 1802	1
MATH 2341	4	EECE 2150 (AD)	5
PHYS 2303 (ND)	4	EECE 2160	4
		ENCP 2000	1
		PHYS 3602 (ND)	4
	16		19		0		0
Year 3
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
Co-op	0	PHYS 4115 (ND, FQ)	4	PHYS 3600 (ND, AD, WI)	4	Co-op	0
		CE Fundamentals	5
		CE Fundamentals	4
		CE Fundamentals	4
	0		17		4		0
Year 4
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours	Summer 1	Hours	Summer 2	Hours
Co-op	0	ENCP 3000	1	EECE 4791 (EI, WI, CE)¹	1	Co-op	0
		EECE 3468	4	ENGW 3302 or 3315 (WD)	4
		PHYS 4305 (ND)	4	Technical Elective	4
		EE Fundamentals	4
		General Elective	4
	0		17		9		0
Year 5
Fall	Hours	Spring	Hours
Co-op	0	EECE 4792 (EI, WI, CE)¹	4
		Technical Elective	4
		General Elective	4
		PHYS Advanced Elective	4
	0		16
Total Hours: 133

¹

The capstone design courses are taken as follows:

Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 1 (EECE 4791) in summer first half and Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 2 (EECE 4792) in spring OR
Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 1 (EECE 4791) in summer second half and Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 2 (EECE 4792) in fall

Physics courses are offered on the following schedule:

Modern Physics (PHYS 2303) offered every fall, spring, and summer second half
Electronics (PHYS 2371)/Lab for PHYS 2371 (PHYS 2372) offered every fall
Advanced Physics Laboratory (PHYS 3600) offered every summer first half and summer second half
Classical Dynamics (PHYS 3601) offered spring and fall (even years)
Electricity and Magnetism 1 (PHYS 3602) offered every fall and spring
Electricity and Magnetism 2 (PHYS 3603) offered fall (even years) and summer first half (odd years)
Quantum Mechanics (PHYS 4115) offered every fall and spring
Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (PHYS 4305) offered spring and summer second half (even years)
Biological Physics 1 (PHYS 4621) offered spring (odd years) and fall (even years)
Medical Physics (PHYS 4623) offered summer first half and fall (even years)
Medical Physics Seminar 1 (PHYS 4651) offered spring and fall (odd years)
Medical Physics Seminar 2 (PHYS 4652) offered every spring
Principles of Experimental Physics (PHYS 5318) offered every spring

Academic Catalog 2025-2026

Computer Engineering and Physics, BSCmpE (Boston)