Program Update: Please note that the CEEE-I program will no longer be offered for incoming students, beginning in Fall 2025. Current CEEE-I students will not be affected and will continue in their CEEE-I program as planned.
Future students interested in entrepreneurship are encouraged to learn more about the Certificate in Business available to engineering students.
Ready to start in ECE from your first day at Queen’s?
Our Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering – Innovation (CEEE-I) is a direct-entry undergraduate program option for ECE students who are interested in learning additional entrepreneurship and innovation skills. Whether you want to become an entrepreneur with a world-class engineering background or pursue an engineering career in industry, CEEE-I prepares you with the business and communication skills to give you a step up in your career.
As an CEEE-I student, you will still experience the variety and benefits of the common engineering first year. You will still take courses across disciplines during your first year of study. However, the first-year CEEE-I course APSC 100 Engineering Practice offers you an enhanced curriculum and innovation-oriented design projects to prepare you for your upper years in the program.
This combination of a common engineering first-year and a head start in your discipline offers our CEEE-I cohort the best benefits of both worlds.
The CEEE-I program includes all core BASc Computer/Electrical Engineering courses + four Commerce courses in entrepreneurship/innovation + one elective. Students graduate with a BASc in either Electrical or Computer Engineering and can take advantage of all the opportunities that the department has to offer, including the internship program, graduate studies, and the Accelerated Master’s Program that combines BASc and MASc degrees.
As a first-year CEEE-I student, you will take the same common first-year curriculum as common-core Smith Engineering students, with special course outlines and projects in three core first-year courses:
In your upper year, you are required to take the following four courses offered by Queen’s Smith School of Business:
We encourage our CEEE-I students to experiment, learn, and pursue their own business projects outside of the classroom. There are multiple resources on campus to support your projects. We encourage you to participate in the many initiatives by the DDQIC, including the summer innovation accelerator program QICSI. In your first year, you will have access to the Bain and the Electrical ’65 E.D Makerspace Labs in Walter Light Hall.
CEEE-I is a small cohort of students. The program accepts up to 50 students a year. The small community ensures that you will get to know your peers throughout the program and build a strong network with CEEE-I students and alumni. For core program courses, you will attend labs and lectures with the rest of the students in the department. In CEEE-I - specific courses, you will study in separate course sections with only your cohort.
Prospective students can choose to apply to CEEE-I under a separate category in OUAC.
Queen’s offers a broad range of certificate and/or international exchange programs to students who wish to gain business and entrepreneurial skills. Smith Certificate in Business, The International Innovation Term (i2TRM), and the Certificate in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC - ENIN) are all available options for undergraduate engineering students. Unlike any of these optional programs, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship designation for CEEE-I students is included in the undergraduate curriculum and requires no extra time to complete. The CEEE-I curriculum does not, however, prevent students from taking additional certification programs.
The main difference in student experience for CEEE-I students is the smaller class size. The CEEE-I program only accepts around 50 students each year and for CEEE-I-specific courses, the students learn in a separate class section. This allows for a tight-knit community of CEEE-I students across program years. It is common for upper-year and lower-year CEEE-I students to team up together for extracurricular projects, such as the programs offered by Queen’s Innovation Park and the DDQIC.
Yes, our students are well taken care of! Starting from year one, CEEE-I students have access to undergraduate student resources at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, including help from the ECE Undergraduate Chairs and access to the Bain and ECE Makerspace lab spaces.
For students already in the ECE program (i.e., years 2 and above): Students are asked to submit an academic change form request to the department and then when all the requests are in, Smith Engineering determines if there is available space in the CEEE-I stream to accommodate students who wish to change from ECE to CEEE-I. Since CEEE-I is a direct entry program with limited spots (50 spots), students cannot just automatically change from the ECE to CEEE-I program.
For students in first year engineering but not yet in our ECE program: Since CEEE-I is not one of the options offered to general engineering, when students make their discipline choice, they would have had to choose ELEC or CMPE program. The next step is to fill out an academic program change form and request to switch into Innovation from Regular Stream ECE. Every year a certain number of CEEE-I students choose to drop into the regular ECE program which leaves room for students wanting to move into the CEEE-I stream.
For students accepted into engineering but not Direct Entry ECE (CEEE-I): This is handled centrally by the Queen’s Undergraduate Admissions Office. The ECE department is not involved in the admission process. If applicants decide well before the OUAC deadline of June 1 that they want to change their choices, they can do it centrally through the OUAC system. They may also contact Queen’s admissions for more information.
To learn more about CEEE-I, please refer to our Undergraduate Contact Page.