Electrical engineering is not just about electricity, but is a comprehensive and applied discipline that is closely connected to various fields such as electric energy, communication, control, semiconductor, electrophysics, computer, and biomedical. Electrical technology is essential in modern society and can be applied to many industries, and graduates of the Department of Electrical Engineering have gone on to play practical and useful roles in a variety of unexpected fields.
Among the many majors at universities, many people think of ‘electrical engineering’ as a vaguely electricity-related field. While this is certainly true, electrical engineering is a broader field than most people realize, and the electrical engineering department at my university is technically an electrical and electronics engineering department. It was called the College of Electrical and Electronic Engineering a few years ago, and it was recently changed to the College of Electrical Engineering, but the content of the major has not changed, so when I talk about the major, I will talk about the College of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. This major is very closely related to our daily lives, and the development of technology using electricity has become an essential element of modern civilization. In particular, the rapid development of electronic devices and communication technology is impossible without the basics of electrical and electronic engineering, which makes electrical engineering even more important.
The literal meaning of ‘electrical engineering’ is engineering using electricity. The first thing we want to point out is the term ‘engineering’. There aren’t many majors in universities that have the name “engineering” attached to them, and it’s usually found in engineering schools. It’s a bit different from science in that science is all about exploring the laws of nature itself, whereas engineering is about using science to produce something artificially. It’s similar to the applied sciences. The character “engineering” is the “工” character in the word “factory,” and in a very simple way, it’s the study of learning the art of producing something in a factory. In the case of electrical engineering, that something is anything that utilizes electricity. In other words, electrical engineering covers a wide range of technologies that generate and utilize electricity to make modern life easier. It’s not just about making appliances, but also about the production and utilization of electricity itself, efficient energy transfer, and the exploration of new energy resources.
After a brief description of electrical engineering itself, let’s get into the details. Within electrical engineering, there are generally five main areas of study. As an electrical engineering student, you’ll choose one of these areas to focus on. One of the biggest differences from a typical liberal arts college is the absolute necessity of prerequisites. If you don’t have the skills from the previous course and utilize them in the next course, you will have a harder time or not be able to take the class at all. Therefore, it is essential to understand the sequence and step-by-step process of learning, which gradually builds practical skills. Students can choose one of five paths to acquire specialized knowledge and develop practical problem-solving skills through in-depth research and experiments specific to each field. These are sometimes referred to as “tracks” within the Department of Electrical Engineering.
The first of the five paths is called Electrical Energy. Literally, it’s the branch of study that focuses on electrical energy, which includes the generation of electricity, the transportation of electricity, and the development of new alternative energy sources. The field is also closely related to environmental issues, with a lot of research aimed at clean energy and sustainable development. Especially with the growing concern about climate change and energy depletion, this field is becoming increasingly important.
The second is telecommunications. Telecommunications is the study of all signals and radio waves, including the radio waves of our cell phones, sound waves, and the networks of computer communications. This field also covers the transmission and reception of radio waves and encryption techniques to ensure the secure transmission of data, and aims to advance next-generation communication technologies such as 5G and 6G. It can be seen as a field that provides an essential foundation for the modern digital communication society.
The third is control. The term control may sound a bit complicated, but in simple terms, it is a technology that can regulate and control the movement or behavior of a specific object, such as a robot or artificial intelligence. This field focuses on creating robots to perform specific tasks or developing systems that can drive autonomously, such as driverless cars. It also plays a pivotal role in the manufacturing sector due to its use in industrial automation.
The fourth is semiconductors. Semiconductors, which Korea is known for its world-class technology, are used to create sophisticated machines by packing multiple functions onto a small chip. Smartphones, computers, and even home appliances are mostly based on semiconductor technology, making it an important field of study in terms of national competitiveness. As a center of advanced technology, advances in this field are driving innovation in the electronics and IT industries.
The fifth field is electrophysics. This is a field that is less of an engineering discipline and more of a pure science that is studied in a physics department. It mainly deals with modern physics, such as quantum mechanics and organic elements, and is more of a pure theoretical study than an applied science. Because of this, students who study this field tend to be more in-depth and academic.
In addition to these five, there“s one more field that”s a bit different. This is the field of computers. This field is also found in the electrical engineering faculty because programming skills are necessary to use different machines or products that are made up of electrical technology. For example, in the field of control, in order to control a robot, you don”t just send it electricity, you need a program to control it and give it commands. These programming skills go beyond simple software knowledge and require an understanding of both electrical and mechanical properties, which is why it makes sense for electrical engineering to be covered in the field.
Finally, there is the field of biomedical engineering. Simply put, it’s the study of all medical devices that are used to treat people. For example, X-rays can be included in the category of electrical engineering because they are a type of radio waves, and MRI machines also require electrical engineering skills. Because this field is directly connected to human life, it requires high ethics and accuracy and provides an essential academic foundation for the development of medical devices. If electrical engineering students study biomedical devices, they may move to the Yeongan campus, which has a medical school, rather than the Gwanak campus of Seoul National University for their master’s program to pursue more specialized research.
At the beginning of this article, we mentioned that ‘Electrical Engineering’ is a very comprehensive discipline. As such, electrical engineering has a broad nature that can be applied to many different disciplines. In fact, in the modern world, electricity is ubiquitous and essential, and technologies that utilize electricity are closely related to many different industries. Many electrical engineering graduates have gone on to work in unexpected fields, demonstrating that electrical engineering is more than just an academic discipline, but a practical and versatile skill. Despite the challenges in research and practice, electrical engineering is a fascinating field of study.
