Since problems in this area are often motivated by a desire to understand or emulate intelligent human behavior, there are strong links to other fields such as neuroscience, psychology, mechanical engineering, and linguistics. This concentration applies engineering principles and tools to the understanding of living systems and to the design of technical devices whose specifications require some knowledge of the properties of living systems. No longer offered, but may be used if taken in previous years. This concentration is characterized by its emphasis on the artifacts underlying computing systems such as machine architectures, networks, data management systems and compilers. The problems studied are typically relatively well defined, and solutions are evaluated according to many criteria, including performance, cost, and completeness.
Many subjects emphasize design and optimization issues and the definition of interfaces.
This concentration concerns the application of electronics to the tasks of signal processing and energy transduction, including synthesis and fabrication as well as analysis and modeling of components, networks, and systems. This concentration concerns the applications of Maxwell's equations and the Lorentz force law to quasistatic and electrodynamic systems and media. This concentration is characterized by the use of mathematics to better understand computation. The subarea of complexity theory studies the limits and capabilities of various models of computation, as well as the relationships among models. The subarea of semantics studies the expressiveness of computer languages.