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Job outlook for electrical engineering professors in the United States
Are electrical engineering professor jobs in demand?
Electrical engineering professor job and salary trends over time
Electrical engineering professor jobs over time
Electrical engineering professor job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 85 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 97 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 103 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 107 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 108 | 0.00% |
Average electrical engineering professor salary over time
Electrical engineering professor salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $88,218 | $42.41 | +3.5% |
| 2024 | $85,227 | $40.97 | +1.4% |
| 2023 | $84,013 | $40.39 | +1.1% |
| 2022 | $83,138 | $39.97 | +2.4% |
| 2021 | $81,218 | $39.05 | +1.7% |
Electrical engineering professor jobs by state
Most common states for electrical engineering professors
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 323 | 47% |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,610 | 23% |
| 3 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 1,265 | 23% |
| 4 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,763 | 21% |
| 5 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 666 | 21% |
| 6 | Delaware | 961,939 | 198 | 21% |
| 7 | Alaska | 739,795 | 153 | 21% |
| 8 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 148 | 20% |
| 9 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 118 | 20% |
| 10 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 250 | 19% |
| 11 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 577 | 18% |
| 12 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 345 | 18% |
| 13 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 238 | 18% |
| 14 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 924 | 17% |
| 15 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 177 | 17% |
| 16 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 985 | 16% |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 880 | 15% |
| 18 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 553 | 15% |
| 19 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 430 | 15% |
| 20 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 267 | 15% |
Most common cities for electrical engineering professors
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Cruz | 1 | 2% | $100,531 |
Electrical Engineering Professor job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of electrical engineering professor experts
Gonzaga University
Stevens Institute of Technology
California State University - Fresno
University of Alabama at Birmingham
San Diego State University
Jackson State University
University of Utah
Old Dominion University
University of Central Florida
Kennesaw State University
University of California, Davis
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
What Electrical Engineering Professor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Steven Schennum Ph.D. P.E.: The most important skill is the ability to learn new things, and especially to unlearn things you “know” after evidence demonstrates that these things are not true. Learn how to analyze information. Your intuition, simulations, and results should all be in alignment. If they are not, then dig deeper. Learn the terminology and jargon specific to your company and your projects. Spend time reading. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be intimidated by new software.
What Electrical Engineering Professor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Min Song: Communication skills and innovative thinking skills. As emerging technologies continue to be complex and multidisciplinary, it’s important to be able to communicate with professionals in diverse disciplines. Taking robotics, for example, the electrical engineer must be able to work with mechanical and biomechanical engineers, computer engineers, software engineers, artificial intelligence experts, cognitive scientists, system engineers, etc. A person will be able to generate innovative ideas only if the person has a complete and comprehensive understanding of the entire system and can work well with other individuals with a range of expertise.
What general advice would you give to an Electrical Engineering Professor?
Hovannes Kulhandjian Ph.D.: Negotiate Your Starting Salary: Research industry salary standards and be prepared to negotiate a competitive starting salary based on your qualifications and experience. Pursue In-Demand Skills: Develop specialized skills and certifications that are in high demand within the industry. This can make you more valuable to employers. Seek Opportunities for Advancement: Look for roles with potential for growth and advancement within the company. Express your interest in taking on challenging projects and responsibilities. Leverage Internships and Experience: Demonstrate your value to employers by showcasing your internships, projects, and relevant experience. Stay Informed: Keep up with industry trends and market conditions. Staying informed can help you position yourself for better opportunities and salary increases.
What Electrical Engineering Professor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Arie Nakhmani: Electrical Engineering has always (from its inception) been a good profession to enter, but now it is better than ever. Now everything is becoming Electrical Engineering, and the world cannot survive without it even for a few days. Electrical Engineering is the most necessary profession for the survival of modern society.
What will help Electrical Engineering Professors increase their earning potential?
Dr. Arif Engin: Electrical engineers solve problems by skillfully applying mathematics and science. Electrical engineering classes are challenging at college, and electrical engineers must embrace lifelong learning to remain at the top of their skills. In the end, seeing the results of their work in a finished product is a rewarding experience.
Mahmoud Manzoul
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Jackson State UniversityJackson State University
Electrical, Electronics, And Communications Engineering
What Electrical Engineering Professor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Mahmoud Manzoul: In addition to honing strong technical abilities, cultivating soft skills is paramount. Unfortunately, as professors, we often overlook the significance of these skills, which are indispensable for thriving in one's career. Soft skills encompass effective communication across diverse audiences and the ability to collaborate harmoniously within a team.
Florian Solzbacher
Department Chair, Professor, Elect & Computer EngineeringUniversity of Utah
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
What soft skills should all Electrical Engineering Professors possess?
Florian Solzbacher: Engineering is about teamwork. All major quantum leaps and most products require extensive system engineering and diverse skills. Engineers need to be able to understand the languages and workflows not only across engineering disciplines but also ranging into business, legal and ethical aspects of their work. This includes communication and project management skills.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Electrical Engineering Professors?
Florian Solzbacher: First of all, the fundamentals (mostly math, physics, materials/chemistry) and basic EE/CE concepts need to be solid. As stated above: the ability to solve real-world development and system integration problems that require "global optimization" of technical performance as opposed to local optimization of specific sub-systems or components is really critical.
Beyond that, given the accelerating breadth of specializations and sub-areas, it is important that students have sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge in the specific area they are targeting. It is important that schools are offering tracks and guidance as to what skills are needed to allow students to successfully master engineering tasks across a range of sub-areas. We have to recognize that in the context of a 4-year program, it is no longer possible to train a student in all areas of ECE - a combined BS/MS degree or MS/Ph.D. degree obviously provides more runway to add breadth.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Electrical Engineering Professors?
Michel Audette Ph.D.: My take on this is what I've seen with my wife's work in industry, which suggests that the industrial landscape is going to be increasingly equipped for, and open to, remote work. I think that the implication for graduates is that they may need to be flexible about working within a geographically distributed team. If company deciders feel that someone is worth employing because of a unique skill set, then they would typically be more willing to hire that person even if unable to make it to work regularly, if that is feasible given the nature of the work; some work, such as hardware testing or industrial production, may not lend itself to remote contributions.
Nonetheless, for those areas that accommodate geographically distributed activity, such as software development, graduates can expect to interact with team members all over the US, possibly all over the world, if someone is deemed unique enough to hire despite living abroad. This places a high premium on the ability and willingness to work in a heterogeneous team, where not only will members look different, but also have myriad accents in their English, which will also impose a certain adaptability and tolerance to team members.
A related impact could also be that global hiring will make it easier for multi-national companies to hire a portion of their talent in countries where wages are lower and motivate US-based engineers to seek out graduate degrees in order to increase their competitiveness and employability at US salaries.
Maria Jacob
ProfessorUniversity of Central Florida
Department of ECE
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Electrical Engineering Professors?
Maria Jacob: Well, this is a somewhat difficult question, since it's hard to predict what is going to happen.
Given the current research, everything seems to indicate that even with the vaccine, we won't be able to come back to what we were used to for a long time.
This will mean, work and classes from home for some time. Although I see and enjoy some of the advantages of staying at home (that go from clothing to saving money on gas), I feel we are losing some of the human contact we were used to. Of course, we have software like Zoom or Meet that helps us to communicate with others, but this virtuality is just simply different. For example, some students do just fine, and others can't deal with the fact that they have to write their questions over a chat. More than that, some students have family making everything more difficult.
There are other aspects that also impact the knowledge the new graduates have at the time of start working. For example, we as professors also have to take into account that we are living special circumstances and that some students may find this new system more difficult. Then, sometimes is easy to overcompensate and be more lenient with some things. If we are not careful this could lead to students graduating having less knowledge in some topics, where students pass a class not knowing certain topics that they should.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Electrical Engineering Professors?
Hai Ho Ph.D.: I believe the impact is short term, and once vaccines are effective and available, our graduates will have expected graduation and access to a responsive job market.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Electrical Engineering Professors?
Andre Knoesen Ph.D.: As an educator of electric engineers, I am optimistic that the core skillsets we provide our students will continue to be essential for the immediate future, albeit that demands by industry maybe different. One positive aspect is that new engineers have gained practical experience working in virtual environments, a trend that had become commonplace in industry before the pandemic. Effectively operating such virtual collaborative team environments will be expected from new engineers.
Robert Saunders P.E.
Assistant Department HeadUniversity of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Electrical Engineering Department
What general advice would you give to an Electrical Engineering Professor?
Robert Saunders P.E.: The job market for an electrical engineering student coming out of college is challenging right now. Many companies are still hiring electrical engineering students but, the students can't be as finicky about what jobs they are accepting. More than half of the students are starting their new jobs working remotely, which is a large shift from normal but the companies seem to be using this time to bring the new hires up to speed on policy, procedures, and industry regulations.