Advisement
For undergraduate & graduate students in Electrical and Computer Engineering, our department is focused on helping you navigate the advanced studies and research opportunities available with your program. Questions that may come up like course selection, research pursuits, and thesis or dissertation work can be answered by staff and faculty within the department.
Advisement for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025
To determine who you should contact for advisement, please refer to the CECS Advisement Grid for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025. This comprehensive page will help you identify the appropriate advisor for your needs. If you're on Academic Disqualification or Academic Probation, please email the ECE department at ece@csun.edu to schedule an appointment with Dr. Geng.
Undergraduate Advising
Students with general queries regarding the Electrical or Computer Engineering programs can visit the ECE Department at Jacaranda Hall 4509 or give us a call at 818-677-2190.
Freshmen students have two options when seeking academic advisement:
- Students need to make an appointment with the Matador Advising Hub (Extended University Commons (EU) Room 150, 818-677-2900). Visit their website for more information.
- Students need to make an appointment with the CECS Student Services Center/EOP Satellite (Jacaranda Hall 1501, 818-677-2191).
Sophomore students need to make an appointment with the CECS Student Services Center/EOP Satellite (Jacaranda Hall 1501, 818-677-2191).
Students transferring courses from another college or university should make an appointment to see the Undergraduate Advisor, Dr. Ruting Jia (Jacaranda Hall 3515, 818-677-2190). You may email the ECE department to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jia.
Students who start enrolling ECE 240/L or ECE 320/L and students in junior and senior standings should refer to the list below to find your assigned advisor and contact them directly with any questions or to schedule an appointment.
| Last Digit of Your CSUN ID | Advisor (Fall 2024) | Advisor (Spring 2025) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Prof. Sahabul Alam | Prof. Sahabul Alam | md-sahabul.alam@csun.edu |
| 1 | Prof. Xiyi Hang | Prof. Xiyi Hang | xhang@csun.edu |
| 2 | Prof. Ali Amini (ID ending in 02, 12, 22, 32) Prof. Sembian Rengarajan (ID ending in 42, 52, 62) Prof. Nagi El Naga (ID ending in 72, 82, 92) |
Prof. Brad Jackson | ali.amini@csun.edu sembiam.rengarajan@csun.edu nagi.elnaga@csun.edu brad.jackson@csun.edu |
| 3 | Prof. Ruting Jia | Prof. Ruting Jia | ruting.jia@csun.edu |
| 4 | Prof. Shahnam Mirzaei | Prof. Shahnam Mirzaei | shahnam.mirzaei@csun.edu |
| 5 | Prof. Jack Ou | Prof. Jack Ou | jack.ou@csun.edu |
| 6 | Prof. Matthew Radmanesh | Prof. Matthew Radmanesh | matthew.radmanesh@csun.edu |
| 7 | Prof. S. K. Ramesh | Prof. S. K. Ramesh | s.ramesh@csun.edu |
| 8 | Prof. Kourosh Sedghisigarchi | Prof. Kourosh Sedghisigarchi | kourosh.sedghisigarchi@csun.edu |
| 9 | Prof. John Valdovinos | Prof. Ali Amini (ID ending in 02, 12, 22, 32) Prof. Sembian Rengarajan (ID ending in 42, 52, 62) Prof. Nagi El Naga (ID ending in 72, 82, 92) |
john.valdovinos@csun.edu (Emails for others listed above) |
Students on academic probation must make an appointment with the Department Chair (Jacaranda Hall 4509, 818-677-2190). You may email the ECE department to schedule an appointment with the Department Chair.
Recently disqualified students, and those with questions regarding their readmission academic contracts, should make an appointment to see the Department Chair (Jacaranda Hall 4509, 818-677-2190). You may email the ECE department to schedule an appointment with the Department Chair.
Students participating in the EOP program must make an appointment with the CECS Student Services Center/EOP Satellite (Jacaranda Hall 1501, 818-677-2191) for required advisement prior to registration.
Senior students need to have a DPR review and graduation check done with an ECE Faculty Advisor at least one month before the deadline for submitting the Application for Graduation (for deadlines, visit CSUN Admissions & Records ).
To make a DPR review and Grad Check appointment with the Undergraduate Advisor, Dr. Ruting Jia (Jacaranda Hall 3515, 818-677-2190). You may email the ECE department to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jia. After Grad Check, the student must request a meeting with a full-time faculty advisor in their appropriate area of specialization to fill out a major evaluation (Senior Electives) form.
Contact the faculty advisor directly to make an appointment.
Graduate Advising
Students with general queries regarding the Electrical or Computer Engineering graduate programs can visit the ECE Department in Jacaranda Hall (JD) 4509 or call 818-677-2190.
Entering graduate students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering programs will have an orientation session with the Graduate Coordinator before the semester starts. An email announcement will be sent out. Flyers and an announcement on the Department website will also have the orientation information. RSVP as soon as possible once the date has been provided. You can sign up by going to JD 4509 or calling 818-677-2190.
First-time graduate students should make an appointment to see the Graduate Coordinator by visiting JD 4509 or calling 818-677-2190.
Graduate students on academic probation are advised to make an appointment with the Graduate Coordinator, by visiting JD 4509 or calling 818-677-2190.
Graduate students may submit their formal program once they have chosen their 30 units of graduate level ECE or COMP courses. Visit JD 4509 or call 818-677-2190 to make an appointment to meet with the Graduate Coordinator.
Once the conditions for classification have been met (as stated in your departmental welcome letter), graduate students may file for classification. Make an appointment to meet with the Graduate Coordinator by visiting JD 4509 or calling 818-677-2190.
International students are welcome to reach out to the ECE department via 818-677-2190 or email with any inquiries.
International Advising
Students with general queries regarding the Electrical or Computer Engineering programs can visit the ECE Department in JD 4509 or call 818-677-2190.
Entering graduate students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering programs will have an orientation session with the Graduate Coordinator before the semester starts. An email announcement will be sent out. Flyers and an announcement on the Department website will also have the orientation information. RSVP as soon as possible once the date has been provided. You can sign up by going to JD 4509 or calling 818-677-2190.
Students with internship offers need to receive a CPT authorization from the International and Exchange Student Center (IESC) prior to starting their paid internship.
Bring the following to the ECE Department:
- Filled out CPT form (pick up from the IESC)
- Offer letter (must have the job title, job description, and the starting date). Drop off the paperwork at JD 4509.
Students requesting an extension of stay need to pick up an Extension of Stay Request Form from the International and Exchange Student Center (IESC). Fill out the form and drop it off at the ECE Department at JD 4509.
The ECE Department does not create letters for embassies or scholarship programs. If a letter is needed for the student to show academic progress, the student can submit a Degree Progress Report (DPR) and a transcript to the requesting institution and the ECE Department will be happy to entertain inquiries from the institution to clarify the student’s academic progress.
For any course not articulated through www.assist.org, a pre-approval from the ECE Department must be obtained before taking it at another institution. Only lower division courses may be taken elsewhere once the student has matriculated at CSUN.
Course Substitutions/Pre-approvals
Effective August 22nd, 2014, the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department only accepts course substitution requests from matriculated students (those currently enrolled in a CSUN degree program) who must repeat a course for their third attempt at CSUN, or in cases where they have exhausted their grade forgiveness and averaging units.
ECE Students are permitted to take lower division, articulated courses without the need for pre-approval. Course substitution forms are not required for articulated course as these will be automatically incorporated into the students DPR (Degree Progress Report) after an official transcript is provided to and processed by the Office of Admissions and Records. For a list of articulated courses, please visit Assist.org.
A student runs the risk of having his/her course substitution request denied if it was not pre-approved. After the course has been taken, official transcripts must be submitted to Admissions & Records to be entered on the student's Degree Progress Report (DPR).
The ECE Department does not accept online courses. The minimum grade for a transfer course in the major program is a C. Courses that are not yet on the DPR will not be reviewed for substitution.
These policies supersede the College of Engineering and Computer Science pre-approval requirement.
Course substitutions are processed by the student’s major department. If the course being substituted is a course offered by the ECE Department, then the Department Chair will review the course but the substitution will not be processed by the ECE Department.
Courses which transfer automatically appear in their respective sections on the DPR (see illus. 1).
The example below shows that the course was taken at LAVC and meets the CSUN requirement for “Analytical Reading and Expository Writing”.
Courses that require manual course substitution requests are listed at the end of the DPR under "Additional Courses Which Count Toward Total Units Required For A Degree" (Illus. 2)
If, upon review of the DPR, the student identifies courses that could possibly be substituted for a CSUN requirement, he or she needs to provide the following documentation with a completed Course Substitution Request form (link). Label and highlight all the courses and other pertinent information when submitting supporting documents.
The following supporting documents are required to accompany the Course Substitution form:
Printout of Assist.org report if the institution has an articulation agreement with CSUN.
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If there is no articulation agreement, submit a catalog course description of the course/s taken at the other university. Provide it in a format that clearly shows that the descriptions were from an accredited university. Do not copy and paste.
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Include catalog course description of any prerequisite course/s for the course being substituted.
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If the course was pre-approved, submit a copy of the course description that the Department Chair signed before the student took the course.
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DPR reflecting the course/s and the passing grade/s.
Fill out the substitution form completely. A contact number must be included to allow the Department to reach the student as necessary. Provide the course and institution information exactly as it appears on the DPR (illus. 3).
Once the completed form and all the supporting documents have been substituted to the ECE Department, the Department Chair will review the course/s and make a decision to deny or approve as appropriate. Substitutions for majors other than Electrical or Computer Engineering will be returned to the student’s major department.