History

The four-year Lamar State College of Technology was formed by the Texas Legislature on September 1, 1951 to emphasize engineering, technology, and science to serve the large industrial petrochemical concentration that had formed in the Sabine area of the Texas Gulf Coast. The local petrochemical industry had largely developed because of the Texas oil boom precipitated in 1901 by the Lucas Gusher discovery in the south Beaumont Spindletop salt dome formation. The Port of Beaumont facilitated growth beyond the initial oil boom by providing local industries access to inexpensive shipping for oil, gas, petrochemicals and industrial products.

Lamar University Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (LUECE) began graduating students with the BSEE in 1953, two years after Lamar State College of Technology became a four-year university. The school was renamed to Lamar University in 1971. A Master of Engineering Science (with thesis) degree was first offered in 1962 and a Master of Engineering (non-thesis) was approved in 1968. In 1973 the College of Engineering awarded the first Doctor of Engineering degree. The Engineers Council for Professional Development granted accreditation for the BSEE at Lamar on November 8, 1958 and the department has retained accreditation since then.

In October 2023, a proposal was submitted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to establish a new Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering program in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and consequently change the name of the Department to “Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.” These requests were approved on December 20, 2023, to be effective January 1, 2024.

Mission and Strategic Plan

Vision:

Lamar University, College of Engineering, Phillip M. Drayer Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering strives to be a national leader in access to quality accredited undergraduate and graduate Electrical and Computer Engineering educational opportunities, community engagement and economic impact.

Mission: 

We are a diverse and accessible department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for life-long learners, with a passion for broad-based industry and community engagement and scholarly research. As a virtual contributor to the socioeconomic wellbeing and resilience of the Gulf Coast region, our expertise is well recognized both locally and beyond.

The Electrical Engineering Program educational objectives are to produce exceptional graduates who within a few years after graduation:

• advance professionally with increasing leadership and responsibility beyond entry level in an industry relevant to electrical engineering,
• contribute to organizational objectives with significant societal benefits in an ethically responsible manner, and
• engage in life-long learning trough professional activities, training and networking, the pursuit of higher educational degrees, and individual professional development.

The objectives of the Electrical Engineering program are for graduates to have:

• an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics,
• an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors,
• an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences,
• an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts,
• an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives,
• an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions, and
• an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

The Computer Engineering Program educational objectives are to produce exceptional graduates who within a few years after graduation:

• advance professionally with increasing leadership and responsibility beyond entry level in an industry relevant to electrical engineering,
• contribute to organizational objectives with significant societal benefits in an ethically responsible manner, and
• engage in life-long learning trough professional activities, training and networking, the pursuit of higher educational degrees, and individual professional development.

The ABET student outcomes of the Computer Engineering program are for graduates to have:

• an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics,
• an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors,
• an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences,
• an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts,
• an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives,
• an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions, and
• an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

For achieving these goals, we focus on six foundations:

• having up-to-date curriculum that satisfies the market needs in terms of courses and course contents by seeking feedback from the industry and research laboratories,
• developing new emphases, programs, and/or professional certificates to satisfy the needs of the market and increase enrollment in the department,
• using advanced pedagogical methods that adopt project-based learning and use in-class hands-on and active learning activities with virtual lab devices.
• ensuring high quality teaching by recruiting and retaining faculty who are research active in their fields and have relevant industrial experience, and engaging them in technical and didactical workshops to enhance their teaching and technical skills,
• making sure labs and classroom have the most possible advanced equipment that supports teaching excellence purpose, and
• enhancing graduate programs and research infrastructure and activities by increasing the number of funded research projects.