Research Guides: Engineering Partnership Programs: Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado Universities: Engineering Learning Materials

Ask our Engineering, Math & Physics Librarians

Make an appointment

Chat, Call, Text

Email: libraries@colorado.edu

Gemmill Engineering, Math & Physics Library website

Engineering, Science and Design Librarian

Emily Dommermuth

she/her

Email Me

Computer Science Librarian

Elizabeth Novosel

Email Me

Professional News and Societies

Many CU Boulder engineering students are involved with chapters of professional engineering societies. Did you know these professional societies are a great source of information, in addition to offering networking and career resources? Often professional societies publish magazines, blogs, or newsletters with news, trends, and developments relevant to professionals working in the field. Here are some suggestions of professional news sources:

ENR: Engineering News Record Provides the engineering and construction news, analysis, commentary and data
IEEE Spectrum IEEE Spectrum Magazine, the flagship publication of the IEEE, explores the development, applications and implications of new technologies.
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine The first magazine to focus on issues facing women who study or work in IEEE’s fields of interest.

Civil Engineering The magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers
Water Environment & Technology From the Water Pollution Control Federation
Concrete Published by The Concrete Society

Communications of the ACM ACM's flagship magazine. Covering computing technologies, as well as the latest discoveries, innovations, and research that inspire and influence the field.
Computerworld IT news, careers, business technology, reviews
XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students Established in 1994 and published quarterly, XRDS, formerly Crossroads, is the official Association for Computing Machinery magazine for student members. XRDS brings exciting research trends, interviews, columns, and career advice articles. The magazine also lists major conferences, calls for papers, grants and fellowships, and other useful information to help students make the most of their educational careers.

Communications of the ACM ACM's flagship magazine. Covering computing technologies, as well as the latest discoveries, innovations, and research that inspire and influence the field.
IEEE Magazines IEEE publishes dozens of professional trade magazines. Browse all their titles here.
Electronic Design International technical information for design engineers and engineering managers. Electronic Design provides comprehensive coverage of the electronics industry. Electronic Design covers the technologies required for engineers to make the right design decisions at the right time – quickly & efficiently.
Solar Today Provides information in the area of solar energy for engineers, scientists, architects, educators, practitioners, researchers, and users including actual case histories and reviews of different technologies.

Mechanical Engineering Magazine Published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Delivers an interdisciplinary view into engineering trends and breakthroughs, giving readers a roadmap to better understand today's technology and tomorrow's innovations.
Machine Design Covers product design, materials specification, design analysis, machine components, engineering management. comprehensive technical resource for mechanical engineers providing the technical essentials of advanced design and manufacturing. Our content team, engineers who have worked in the trenches, provides in-depth, precise technical information on a full spectrum of products, markets and technologies.
Popular Mechanics Features information on the latest innovations in science and technology, and educates with informative 'how-to' stories on automotive, home and digital technology.

This list is not exhaustive so I encourage you to browse the websites of other professional societies, or check to see what information sources your membership provides access to.

Searching in a databases that includes professional magazines can give you news from multiple sources at one time:

SciTech Premium Collection (ProQuest) Provides full-text to science and technology scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications. Includes the following collections: Natural Science Collection, Technology Collection

There are many other sources of news relevant to engineering, and science and technology more broadly, so seek out more sources! Also consider following researchers and professionals on social media to learn about news and trends.

Engineering and Business Case Studies

Engineering Case Studies Online (Alexander Street) Collection of engineering failure case studies designed to facilitate detailed understanding of the causes and impact of these failures.
SAGE Business Cases A digital collection of business cases on subjects such as entrepreneurship, accounting, healthcare management, leadership, social enterprise, and more.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are "teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others." - The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Course Instructors, use some of the resources below to find open materials to teach with.

Students, find free and open materials to help you study and teach yourself more.

Open Textbooks for Engineering Links to open open textbooks in engineering fields, organized by engineering discipline/ subdiscipline. Created by the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.
Mason OER Metafinder The OER Metafinder performs a simultaneous search across 18 different sources of open educational materials.
Khan Academy Self-paced video tutorials for many programming languages, including JavaScript and SQL.
MIT Open Courseware MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.

Open Educational Resources from CU Boulder:

PHET Interactive Simulation Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. Learn more...
CU Learn ChemE LearnChemE features chemical engineering education resources prepared by faculty for use by students and instructors. The resources were produced by the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The Benefits of OER

Open educational resources address the high cost of educational materials and inspire a renewed approach to collaborative, social, and open pedagogical practices. The CU Boulder Librarians work alongside faculty, students, and staff to explore these potentials by supporting the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER.

OER remove price and permission barriers to learning.
OER are largely born digital enabling sharing, copying, and distribution for near zero cost.
OER are openly licensed enabling legal reuse, remixing, revision, and redistribution of content.

CU Boulder Libraries: Open Educational Resources
Learn why OER are beneficial to students and instructors. This guide will help you find, evaluate, adapt and create OER. Learn more abut OER efforts at CU Boulder, including our OER tracker, award, and grant opportunities.

Impact of Open Education Resources (OER) on Student Academic Performance and Retention Rates in Undergraduate Engineering Departments by Yongchao Zhao, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Cailean Cooney
Publication Date: 2020 Fall ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Meeting