The Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica, POLI) was founded in 1893. On January 25, 1934 the University of São Paulo was founded, and POLI became a part of it. In 1945 a structural reform resulted in the creation of the Electrotechnical Department, which in 1965 was transformed into the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (DEE/EPUSP).

In 1968 the Master’s program was instituted, followed by the Doctoral program in 1970, thus forming the Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (PPGEE).

The history of DEE/EPUSP, which is made up of four departments that currently participate in the PPGEE, is the story of contemporary Brazilian Electrical Engineering, especially in the State of São Paulo. 
It’s close ties to industry, combined with the solid academic education provided by its staff and student body, have made it possible to anticipate advances that today are part of Brazilians’ everyday lives. To mention just a few of these achievements, we can begin with the first Brazilian computer, the Patinho Feio (Ugly Duckling), in the beginning of the 1970s, which was followed by the first computer for industrial applications, the G-10, which was developed with support from the Brazilian Navy. The group of researchers and students involved in this work was responsible not just for the birth of the Brazilian computer industry, but also for the definition of industrial policy in this area, today represented at PPGEE by the Computational Engineering major.

The communications area, which was strategic for this country during the 1970s, invested heavily in DEE/EPUSP. One of the fruits of this investment was the development of the first Stored Program Control (SPC), which generated the critical mass responsible for the creation a few years later of Telebras’s Center for Telecommunications Research and Development (CPqD). Today this area at PPGEE is represented by the majors of Electronic Systems and Computational Engineering.

The group that worked on the theory and application of control at DEE in the 1970s participated actively in the creation of the Brazilian Society of Automation, which is represented at PPGEE by the Systems Engineering area.

DEE/EPUSP was also responsible for the rise of Microelectronics research in Brazil, creating technology for the treatment of materials that placed POLI at the cutting edge of expertise in international microelectronics at the time. Microelectronics remains a very active area at PPGEE.

PPGEE, through its professors in the Energy Systems major, has also participated in decisions regarding the National Power Grid. This participation involves research activities together with public and private energy providers, as well as consulting and the formation of technical teams. PPGEE professors have played a leading role in the formation of these companies, especially in reference to energy planning, with an emphasis on the integration of resources and the expansion of the power grid considering conventional and alternative forms of energy. Another area of interest is the study of energy transmission and distribution as well as energy efficiency, in terms of management as well as appropriate technologies and electrical equipment. In addition to this, they’ve been active in automation as it relates to the supervision, protection and control of large power grids as well as building, port and industrial process automation.

PPGEE also values the interdisciplinary approach that has become indispensible in recent decades. One of the many examples of this can be seen in the Biomedical Engineering Department which uses engineering methods, processes and techniques and applies them to the biomedical and health areas in general. Without a doubt Biomedical Engineering has made a substantial contribution to biomedical science and the technology applied to medical problems around the world. Given the relevance of this area, Biomedical Engineering became the sixth major at PPGEE in 2013.