what the heck is eecS?

By Jamilyn Moreau

Olivia Chilvers sits on a vibrant red barstool inside the Tech Shop at the Keck Center, reloading her email, awaiting a response that could determine her future.

News regarding her acceptance to the new master’s program coming to Chapman’s Fowler School of Engineering next fall.

“I’ll be in the first cohort for the master’s, hopefully, because we find out soon. It’s really exciting,” Chilvers said.

The Electrical Engineering Computer Science (EECS) program is Fowler’s first-ever master’s degree program, opening in Fall 2023. Previously only offered as undergraduate degrees, this new hybrid program combines electrical engineering and computer science into one graduate program.

The new graduate program will send out informal acceptance letters mid-March. Spoiler alert: Chilvers managed to find out ahead of time that she made it.

Time scrunch is an understatement. The faculty senate approved the engineering program in December. The deadline for application submissions was Feb. 1.

There was no time to market the new engineering program properly, yet somehow word-of-mouth spread like wildfire beyond the Keck Center.

Erik Linstead, associate dean of the engineering school, was surprised that the enrollment target could be higher than expected, with 20 percent of the applications coming from non-Chapman students. “Fingers crossed that maybe we beat our enrollment target,” Linstead said.

It remains a mystery how the program gained so much traction in so little time.

“When the EECS graduate degree opened up, the word got around really fast,” said Chilvers.

Noah Fuery applied to the program partially due to the influence of his friends.

“When I changed my major to computer science, the atmosphere was completely different. I really love the close connection students have with the professors,” said the junior computer science major.

The common theme of friendship proves to be significant in the STEM field at Chapman.

“I started coming to this area, and I met some of my closest friends,” said Fuery.

In addition, relationships between faculty and students undoubtedly contributed to the number of applications.

Junior computer science major Ponthea Zahraii credits Linstead for helping her through a mid-college crisis, switching from a psychology major to computer science.

“I came into this so scared, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Zahraii.

Zahraii discussed her options over coffee with Linstead, emphasizing her interest in the graduate program, which landed her a spot in his lab as a student researcher.

“If I’m the first class that means the work that I do is going to be some of the work that shapes the program,” said Zahraii.

Andrew Lyon, dean of the engineering school, said the program is unique in its design. It’s set up to help students become overall better engineers, not just learn how to do the job.

“Very often, graduate degrees are just to acquire more skills so you can go off and get a better paying job,” said Lyon.

How will the graduate school do this? By setting a solid foundation first.

This graduate program requires students to complete an Ethics Core and Leadership Core.

In Fuery’s opinion, this is a crucial component of the curriculum.

“If it is all technical, then it doesn’t structure the program,” said Fuery.

So, how could one stand out when applying to the new science?

According to Linstead, the student’s genuine enthusiasm.

“What we really care about when we’re reading the statement of purpose is sort of like, why are you excited about this?”