Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Office of the Executive Director records

Electrical Engineering was originally taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Physics Department. A degree program in Electrical Engineering was started in 1882, and the Department of Electrical Engineering was formed in the Fall of 1902. At that time, when MIT was still located near Copley Square in Boston, the Department’s home was the Lowell Building. The first doctorate in electrical engineering was awarded by the Department in 1910. The Department dedicated its present facilities in the Sherman Fairchild Electrical Engineering and Electronics complex (Buildings 34, 36, and 38) in the Fall of 1973. A year later, it recognized its growing activity in computer science by changing its name to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The first bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering were awarded in 1975. The Department's activities in computer science, communications, and control are presently housed in the Ray and Maria Stata Center on the Cambridge campus. The Stata Center was dedicated in 2004.* With the Deparment's primary goal of the education of its students, its four undergraduate programs attract more than 20% of all undergraduate students.