Electrical and Computer Engineering

What are specialized and professional resources? 

Electrical and Computer Engineers use types of resources that are created for different purposes. These resources are not "books" or "journals" or "websites" -- they are created for very specific purposes.

This page introduces you to: 

1. Standards -- documents that describe agreed-upon ways of designing products or following procedures

2. Patents -- documents that protect inventions. These documents have a wealth of technical information.

3. Organization and Society websites and publications -- what is the latest going on in ECE? What are the hot topics? What are all of the professionals talking about? 

What are standards? 

The International Standards Organization (ISO) standards definition is as follows:

"Standards are internationally agreed by experts Think of them as a formula that describes the best way of doing something. 

It could be about making a product, managing a process, delivering a service or supplying materials – standards cover a huge range of activities.

Standards are the distilled wisdom of people with expertise in their subject matter and who know the needs of the organizations they represent – people such as manufacturers, sellers, buyers, customers, trade associations, users or regulators."

Learn more about standards: 

Standards Overview from NIST -- the National Institute of Standards and Technology

What are standards? Why are they important? From the IEEE Standards Association. 

Many organizations create standards -- IEEE and ASTM are two important standards organizations for engineering students to know about. Government agencies such as NASA and the military also develop standards. Some standards are easy to obtain -- others are more difficult. If you need help finding a standard, ask a librarian. 

Standards resources for ECE:

What are patents? Why should I search for patents? 

Whether you're developing a new invention or would like to learn more about a currently existing one, patents serve as a useful source of information regarding existing intellectual properties, their inventors, blueprints/schematics, when they were filed, etc.

Learn more about patents and patent searching from these resources: 

Why do we have patents? What is the USPTO? Watch this introductory video Patents accelerate the cycle of innovation from the USPTO for a very general introduction.

Patents Guide from Iowa University Libraries -- provides the basics of patent searching, how to read a patent, and more. 

Local chapters of professional societies are a great way to network and get engaged with your profession: 

IEEE NJIT Student Chapter

ACM NJIT Student Chapter

Check out these professional organizations -- they are a great way to learn about what's going on in your chosen profession. Many have free or very low price student memberships -- take advantage of them while you can!

IEEE (Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE)

Library of Congress page on renewable energy organizations.