The College of Staten Island (CSI) has launched the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering as a new degree offering by the Department of Engineering Science and Physics as of the spring 2014 semester.

CSI is the only school on Staten Island to offer this degree, the second institution within The City University of New York (CUNY), and one of only a handful in the greater metropolitan area offering the prestigious degree.

Students who earn their Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering are likely to earn excellent job placements in careers that are growing even though the national economy continues to struggle.

Photo of Xhevair Jaskuli courtesy of LinkedIn.

Xhevair Maskuli, an Electrical Engineering graduate from CSI in 2010, credits much of his success to CSI’s ability to get him “prepared to take my place in the industry I was interested in.”

Mr. Maskuli, who is currently an Associate for Booz Allen Hamilton, contracted to the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that “the CSI courses were focused on preparing me for the career and pushed us to get internships and get us ready to move to the job market as soon as we graduated.”

He, along with hundreds of other CSI success stories are the reason CSI’s Engineering program has garnered the reputation for preparing its students for careers beyond the classroom.

This is “one of the classic and perhaps most prestigious of all engineering degrees,” said CSI Professor of Engineering Science and Physics and Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Syed Rivzi. He added that “the high-tech field of Electrical Engineering has historically exhibited steady growth and has been the breeding ground for modern advances in telecommunications, automation and networking among other technologies.”

The opportunities for jobs that require a BS in Electrical Engineering include positions with Con Edison, the Mass Transit Authority, National Grid, PSE&G, Verizon, IBM, General Electric and the entire telecommunications industry.

The BS in Electrical Engineering also opens up a great path for CSI students planning on applying to graduate school.

Approximately 100 of CSI’s current Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science students have joined the new BS in Electrical Engineering program. Many of those students will be able to graduate this June 2014 with a double major of Engineering Science and Electrical Engineering due to the fact that the College’s BS in Engineering Science with a specialization in Electrical Engineering was commensurate with Electrical Engineering degrees at other colleges and universities. The move to provide CSI students with this degree is part of a multi-year plan to help streamline the post-graduation phase for its engineering students.

The BS in Electrical Engineering is the first of what CSI Professor and Chairman of the department of Engineering and Physics Alfred Levine calls “spin off” degrees from the BS in Engineering Science. The next planned degree for the department of Engineering and Physics will be that of BS in Mechanical Engineering.

As a new program, the BS in Electrical Engineering will seek accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Until the new program is accredited by ABET, the graduates of this program will not be eligible to take the Professional Engineering Examination, which is needed for practice as a professional engineer. However, most jobs do not require a PE license; this would not be an issue for most of BS in Electrical Engineering graduates.

Student interested in pursuing a PE license would have an option to major in both the BS in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Science (double major). Since the BS in Engineering Science is an ABET accredited program, those students will the double major will be eligible to take the PE examination for obtaining the PE license.

Students requiring more information about the new program should contact the department of Engineering Science and Physics at the College of Staten Island at (718)982-2825 or the deputy chairman of the department Professor Neo Antoniades at (718)982-3291, or contact him by email at neo.antonides@csi.cuny.edu.