Undergraduate Academic Advising Instructions
Undergraduate Academic Advising Instructions
An advising hold will be placed on the record of each engineering student that will prevent them from registering until they speak with their faculty advisor and complete an advisor evaluation survey. Students who intend to transfer into a different program must still meet with their advisor. There will be no exceptions.
More information
How Advising will work in Spring 2025 (for Summer and Fall 2025)
Faculty will conduct their advising appointments either in person or remotely during the spring semester. Students will receive instructions from their faculty advisor with details on how they will conduct their advising appointments. See advisor list here and pay attention to the dates listed below. Please keep in mind that you may be reassigned to another advisor if your advisor is unavailable this term.
Students who do not schedule an appointment with their advisor will bear the responsibility of finding a mutually agreeable time with their advisor. Furthermore, students should not delay advising even if they have other registration holds such as immunization, bursar, etc.
- Students assigned to Dr. Danilo Erricolo will conduct their advising appointment starting from February 17, 2025, through March 21, 2025, of the spring semester. Students will receive the instructions directly from Dr. Erricolo.
- All other students will conduct their advising appointment from March 10, 2025, through March 21, 2025 (weeks 9 & 10) of the spring semester. Students will receive instructions directly from their faculty advisor. Students who do not receive an e-mail by February 28, 2025, should email their advisor (see faculty directory). If there is no response from the advisor, please send email with your UIN to ecestudentaffairs@uic.edu.
Advisor Evaluations
Advisor evaluation surveys will be conducted online and are mandatory. The survey link will be emailed to students. The results are anonymous, but completion is recorded.
Preparing for your advising session
Please review your online degree audit report (found in the my.UIC.edu portal under uAchieve) prior to attending your faculty advising appointment and have it with you during your appointment. If you have questions about what is on your degree audit report or feel that it is inaccurate, please contact one of the engineering undergraduate advisors so that they can review the report and make any necessary changes. Send an email with your UIN and be as specific as possible about what you believe is wrong with your degree audit report so that they can better understand the problem and get back to you in a timely manner.
Your audit report shows which classes you have, and which are missing. This is your guide for what to take, as long as you have the pre-requisites. You may also find it helpful to print or download the appropriate curriculum flowchart from the Student Resources page which, together with the audit report, will guide you on what courses to take next.
Plan your schedule ahead of your advising session through the “Plan Ahead” tool:
- Go to: https://my.uic.edu/
- Sign in with your NetID
- On the welcome page, click “XE Registration”
- Click the “Plan Ahead” tool
- Save a New Plan
- From here, you can add/drop courses into your schedule to make sure there are no time conflicts.
- Note: This is just a planner and does not sign you up for courses. You still need to sign up once registration opens.
Course prerequisites
The College of Engineering has noticed that a large number of students are registering for courses without meeting the listed prerequisites. The prerequisites are listed for a reason, and it is expected that you know the material in these prerequisite courses before moving on to the next level. Instructor permission does not waive course prerequisites.
Students registered in courses for which they do not have the prerequisites will be dropped from these courses after the add/drop deadline and will not be able to add another course to their schedule. Courses dropped in this way will show up as a “W” on a student’s academic record. Students can view the prerequisites for courses in the UIC catalog.
Special topics courses
The ECE department is offering several special topics courses in the spring and fall semesters. For ECE undergraduates: special topic courses will count as ECE Technical Electives with a Request for Modification of Major Form. Note: Students are responsible for adhering to the limits allowed for technical electives. See UIC Undergraduate Catalog for details.
Note: Undergraduates must also obtain instructor approval to register for a 500-level course. This is separate from the Major Modification Form (required for technical elective credit).
ECE 491 Introduction to Quantum Materials and Devices
Prerequisites: ECE 346 or consent of the instructor (students from other departments may be well qualified).
Description: This is an introductory course on the science and engineering of quantum materials and devices. The intended audience are upper-level undergraduate students and first or second-year graduate students in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials and Industrial Engineering, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering. We will start with the basics of electrical and optical properties of electronic materials. Afterwards, we will explore concepts such as quantum Hall effect, superconductivity, topological insulators, qubits, quantum sensors, followed with the state-of-the-art quantum material development, their emergent properties, and the quantum devices they enable. Although very helpful, a background in quantum physics, thermodynamics, or advanced mathematics is not required.
ECE 491 Power Converter Modeling, Analysis, and Control
Prerequisites: ECE 342
Description: This course encompasses dynamic modeling of power-electronic switching converters leading subsequently to the analysis and control design from stability and performance standpoints. Several practical examples will be provided to implement such methodologies for real-world applications.
Helpful links
Note: See the undergraduate Student Resources page for a full selection of links.
- ECE course catalog page (EE, CE and EP)
- ECE courses page (curricula, flowcharts and other resources)
- ECE tracks
- Student forms (see Forms)
- Degree audit (uAchieve) (formerly Degree Audit Reporting System-DARS): provides an unofficial audit of progress toward the undergraduate degree that reflects courses in progress.