The Electrical Engineering Department (PEE) of COPPE was founded in 1966, in a joint collaboration of professors from France, England, Germany, United States of America and Brazil. Since then, the faculty of the Department is consolidating, reflecting the trends in the best universities in the world. Most of the Department faculty obtained doctorate degree in foreign universities with tradition in research in the area (France, England, United States of America, Canada, Germany and Japan). The faculty members with Brazilian doctorate degree obtained international experience in post doctorate internships or sandwich doctorate degree. Such diversity of experiences gives the Department exceptional characteristics in its research areas and in terms of relationship with international community.

The main objectives of the Electrical Engineering Department are excellence in the education of students and in the development of science, technology and innovation that concerns Brazilian society. The number of faculty members is growing, with young researchers with remarkable scientific production, bringing new contributions and research fields to the Department. The Department also excels in terms of faculty members who are granted CNPq productivity research incentives, Our State Scientists (and Young Scientists) Award from FAPERJ, IEEE Fellows, members of Brazilian Academy of Sciences and National Order of Scientific Virtue and Professor Emeritus of UFRJ.

The quality of faculty is reflected on scientific production and also in the amount of international scientific cooperation and exchange with other universities and research centers, in Brazil and abroad, complemented with the cooperation with Brazilian industry projects.
The research areas of the Department cover a wide range of relevant topics for electrical engineering and its applications. These areas are organized in 26 lines of research that encapsulate around 150 projects. New subjects and lines of research are introduced, in accordance with trends in Electrical Engineering. Other than that, new partnerships with academia and technology companies are set, in order to face the scientific and technologic challenges that are put in international level to Electrical Engineering research.