Computer Engineering

Computer engineering began in 1939 when John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry began developing the world's first electronic digital computer through physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering. John Vincent Atanasoff was once a physics and mathematics teacher at Iowa State University and Clifford Berry was a former graduate in electrical engineering and physics. Together, they created the Atanasoff-Berry computer, also known as the ABC which took five years to complete.[8] While the original ABC was dismantled and discarded in the 1940s, a tribute was made to the late inventors; a replica of the ABC was made in 1997, where it took a team of researchers and engineers four years and $350,000 to build.[9]

The modern personal computer emerged in the 1970s, after several breakthroughs in semiconductor technology. These include the first working transistor by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs in 1947,[10] in 1955, silicon dioxide surface passivation by Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derick,[11] the first planar silicon dioxide transistors by Frosch and Derick in 1957,[12] planar process by Jean Hoerni,[13][14][15] the monolithically integrated circuit chip by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959,[16] the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, or MOS transistor) demonstrated by a team at Bell Labs in 1960[17] and the single-chip microprocessor (Intel 4004) by Federico Faggin, Marcian Hoff, Masatoshi Shima and Stanley Mazor at Intel in 1971.[18]

The first computer engineering degree program in the United States was established in 1971 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. As of 2015, there were 250 ABET-accredited computer engineering programs in the U.S.

Computer engineers research, design, develop, and test computer systems. Some engineers specialize in hardware or software engineering. By creating and improving devices and programs, these technology professionals help keep the world working safer, smarter, and faster.

A computer engineer designs, develops, tests, and maintains computer hardware and software systems. Their work blends electrical engineering and computer science, allowing them to create everything from microprocessors to complex software applications.

Design and Development: Computer hardware engineers design new computer hardware, creating schematics for computer equipment. 

 

Testing and Analysis: They test the hardware they design, analyze the test results, and modify the design as needed. 

Manufacturing Oversight: They may oversee the manufacturing process for computer hardware.  Examples: This includes designing components like microprocessors, memory chips, and other electronic circuits.