Electrical Engineering Concentration
At A Glance
Program Type
Concentration of the engineering major (BS)
Accreditation
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
Recognition
U.S. News and World Report “Best Undergraduate” engineering program
On this page:
We’re already moving into a world where AI, electric cars, robotics and virtual reality are advancing at a rapid pace. These technologies will only continue to transform our daily lives and society as a whole.
That’s where you come in.
As an electrical engineer, you may specialize in communication systems, digital signal processing, wireless devices, integrated circuits, electric power, automatic controls, and optoelectronics. The possibilities are endless! And a George Fox engineering major with a concentration in electrical engineering can help you get started.
Connect Conceptual Design to Practical Application
As a student in our electrical engineering concentration, you will engage in a rigorous hands-on learning environment that connects conceptual design with practical application. Beginning your freshman year, you’ll work with state-of-the-art equipment and newly renovated facilities that enable you to develop your ideas into tangible prototypes.
A Wide Range of Career Possibilities
A rising profession, electrical engineering offers a diverse range of career possibilities ranging from development of electrical microchips for hospital patients, to design of hybrid vehicle electronic systems, to design of consumer electronics, or the development of large relays and generators for power stations.
Often overlapping with computer engineering, a degree in electrical engineering can open doors to a technical career in most any industry.
Servant Engineering: Creative Solutions for the Underserved
We take Christ's call to use our God-given gifts and abilities to serve others. To put that into practice, the Servant Engineering program is a core curricular requirement. In it, you will team up with industry professionals to research, design and deliver engineering solutions to address humanitarian needs.
All our third-year students work on interdisciplinary teams, creating solutions to significant technical challenges through a human-centered design approach.
Among our recent projects:
- Clean cook-stove technologies for meeting the basic needs of refugees, impoverished people and communities in the developing world
- Augmentative communication and physical therapy devices for patients and staff at the Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children in Portland
- Design of a bridge at a ranch for fatherless youth in Yamhill, Oregon
- An auto-resistive enhancement to an exercise bicycle for use in focused physical therapy
- Rugged wheelchair designs for individuals suffering with cerebral palsy in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya
- Creation of a prosthetic device to assist one of our own – an engineering student born with symbrachydactyly, a condition characterized by limb abnormalities
- Design of “The Bouncinator 3000,” a custom-made device that gives a young girl with physical disabilities newfound freedom
Mentorship Opportunities
Students in the engineering program have the opportunity to engage in industry mentorship through the Ignite program. As an Ignite member, you are matched with Christians in the industry. You’ll meet monthly to discover opportunities, develop connections, address career gaps, and ask questions.
Program Distinctives Why Study Electrical Engineering at George Fox?
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You will design and fabricate electrical systems in courses spanning microelectronics, microwaves and radio frequency, communications, electrical power systems, electromagnetics, and digital and embedded systems.
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You will design and fabricate multiple microprocessor-based printed circuit boards.
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You will have access to a state-of-the-art maker space with a printed circuit board laboratory and other laboratories for experimental design.
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You will do a year-long multi-disciplinary (e.g. computer scientists, electrical, computer, mechanical and biomedical engineers) senior design experience that partners teams with industry partners in Portland’s Silicon Forest.
Courses / Curriculum What Will I Study?
- Computer programming
- Electronic circuits
- Microelectronic circuits
- Digital systems
- Microprocessors
- Embedded systems
- Electrical power systems
- Signals
- Electromagnetics
- Power electronics and renewable energy
- Microwaves and RF design
- Communication systems
Cornerstone Core
The Cornerstone Core is a set of 12 courses across 10 academic disciplines that undergraduate students take at George Fox to cultivate their character within the Christian context.
As an alternative to Cornerstone Core, students can participate in our great books honors program.
Electrical Engineering Requirements
×Electrical Engineering (54-55 credit hours)
Complete the following
Choose one of the following:
Choose one additional math or science elective from the following:
Bachelors (BS) in Engineering Requirements
×Required for all concentrations
Complete the following:
Complete the following.
Concentrations (53-55) - choose one
Complete the following courses
Choose one of the following two sequences.
Medical Device Sequence
Pre-PT Sequence
Complete the following
Complete the following:
Complete the following
Choose one additional math or science elective from the following:
Complete the following
Choose one of the following:
Choose one additional math or science elective from the following:
Complete the following:
Choose two of the following:
Choose one of the following:
Our spaces/Where Will I Learn?
Maker Space: Where Innovative Ideas Come to Life
The facility includes:
- A 24-station computing lab
- Eight meeting rooms with 48-inch monitors
- A wood shop with a large computer numerical control (CNC) router
- A metal shop with a CNC milling machine
- And so much more
These spaces surround an open configurable collaboration space known as "the Hub," a 6,000-square-foot area used by students representing a wide range of majors. The computer labs have the processors and computer systems needed to accommodate the demands of our major.
Career Outlook What’s After George Fox
Job growth for engineers is expected to rise, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, due to an infrastructure that continues to age (civil engineering), the ever-increasing demand for highly skilled computer scientists, and the ability of electrical and mechanical engineers to develop and apply new technologies.
“Job prospects may be best for those who stay abreast of the most recent advances in technology,” notes the BLS.
- Electrical Failure Analysis Engineer, Intel
- Embedded Software Design Engineer, Tektronix
- Semiconductor Design Engineer, Teradyne
- Reliability Engineer, Lattice Semiconductor
- Various engineering positions, Daimler Trucks North America
- Mechanical Engineer, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
- Applications Engineer, MCAD Technologies
- Development Engineer, Contech Engineered Solutions
- Project Engineer, Anderson Construction
- Civil Design Engineer, KPFF Consulting Engineers
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- California Institute of Technology
- University of Washington
- Oregon State University
- University of Georgia
- Purdue University
- USC
- Texas A&M
- A-dec, Newberg, Ore.
- Teradyne, Portland, Ore.
- CUI, Portland, Ore.
- Intel, Beaverton, Ore.
- Lattice Semiconductor, Portland, Ore.
- HP, Boise, Idaho
- 3D Systems, Wilsonville, Ore.
- Tektronix, Beaverton, Ore.
- Climax, Newberg, Ore.
- Cascade Steel, McMinnville, Ore.
- Biotronik, Beaverton, Ore.
Engineering with a Heart
“Arrhythmias just don’t present themselves when doctors want them to,” explains 2006 George Fox graduate John Moore. “You can take vitals, order an ECG – but the whole process can take two or three hours and turn up nothing.”
Moore is not a doctor or a nurse. He doesn’t work in a hospital. He’s an electrical engineer at TZ Medical in Portland. In 2009, he helped begin the design process for an in-home cardiac monitor called the Aera CT.
Zack Lyda
Class of 2022
What I’ll remember most about George Fox is the community. The engineering faculty I had classes with were top-notch, and all knew me by name. They pushed me to find the peak of my performance as a student and helped me learn how to learn more efficiently.
In the fall semester of 2021, I got baptized in my statistics class. We made concrete canoes and floated them in a large tub to find correlations between design parameters and performance. Our professor, Pete Rusaw, offered to baptize anyone who would want to be baptized, and God put it heavily on my heart to do so, and so despite being fully dressed for work later that afternoon, I got baptized.