The senior design team of Eric Eisele, Courtney Reid, Dan Pugh, Sarah Byrnes, and Charlie Woods was awarded a Phase II People, Prosperity, and Planet Award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  See Senior Design Team wins EPA funding for more details.

Eric and his team used several Library resources over a period of time.  These include:

• ASCE Civil Engineering Database
• ASCE Conference Proceedings Online
• BuildingGreen – (BuildingGreen Suite integrates online versions of GreenSpec, Environmental Building News, and a database of more than 160 high-performance building case studies.)
• DoE Energy Codes
• Ei Compendex and INSPEC
• Environmental Engineering Abstracts
• Google Scholar
• Home Depot Smart Home
• Knovel: Engineering and Scientific Online References
• MAD CAD – (NOTE: access to cross-referenced collections of building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, fire, and maintenance codes from BOCA, SBCCI, ICBO, ICC, and NFPA.)
• ScienceDirect
• Statistical Resources
• Statistical Resources on the Web-Energy
• Web of Knowledge

Eric also needed some ASTM standards for the Solar Coating project. Using How Do I access ASTM, SAE, ASHRAE, ISO or ANSI standards? Any other standards? Eric was able to obtain ASTM standards that he needed for the project. Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering and Materials Engineering Site include a few resources that may also help in future for other projects. See also Cool Roofs and Cool Roofing Materials Database available from Heat Island Group Resources.

Eric also contributed in creating  Drexel’s web site for Sustainability and Drexel Green.

Congratulations to the Senior Design Team!

INIS, the International Nuclear Information System, was established in 1970 in response to the IAEA’s mandate “… to foster the exchange of scientific and technical information on peaceful uses of atomic energy”.

INIS processes most of the world’s scientific and technical literature on a wide range of subjects from nuclear engineering, safeguards and non-proliferation to applications in agriculture and health.

Access: INIS (International Nuclear Information System) Database

Scirus is a comprehensive science and engineering specific search engine that searches open-access websites as well as peer-reviewed content from publisher sites.  With over 450 million scientific items indexed at last count, it allows researchers to search for not only journal content but also scientists’ homepages, courseware, pre-print server material, patents and institutional repository and website information.

Scirus is also linked from Databases/Article indexes for Engineering or it can be found by searching on our Library’s online catalog in the ‘Title’ field.

To link to Drexel full text from Scirus, first add Drexel University in the Library Partner Links within Scirus Preferences

Thomas Fuller, SF Environmental Policy Examiner, analyzed nanotechnology patents using ‘Advanced Search’ feature in scirus.   He found records of 8,007 patent filings for nanotechnology.  According to Fuller, “Of those 8,007 patents that have nanotechnology in the title, abstract or text, 7,007 were filed in the past 5 years.  That’s 88%. Almost a quarter–23%–were filed last year alone. That’s one reason why I think nanotechnology will be to this century what electricity was to the last.” He also writes, “the recovery of the American economy and progress to unprecedented heights over the next 10 years would be led by nanotechnology, bio-technology and robotics.”

Read the full article at: American economy and progress to be led by nanotechnology, bio-technology and robotics.

BuildingGreen Suite integrates online versions of GreenSpec, Environmental Building News, and a database of more than 160 high-performance building case studies. The information is searchable and cross-referenced by CSI MasterFormat division, LEED credit, or green topic. Each article, product listing, and case study also lists related content and information sources.

Access: BuildingGreen Suite or go to Databases by Title page an click on BuildingGreen  Suite.

Building Green also provides access to High Performance Building database that provides access to case studies of projects ranging from homes and commercial interiors to large buildings and even whole campuses and neighborhoods. See ‘Using High Performance Building Database’ for more information on how to search this database.

The BuildingGreen.com LIVE blog is the place for real-time event coverage, reviews,and latest news from atest news from all over the green building world. You can find entries such as Putting wind turbines on buildings doesn’t make sense

UMTRI carries out short- and long-term research projects in broad areas involving accident data collection and traffic safety analysis, bioengineering, human factors, mechanical engineering, psychology, economics, public policy, and all aspects of the science of driving. In addition, numerous multidisciplinary research programs are currently being conducted with other units of the University involving specialized areas of engineering, business, medicine, and public health.

The UMTRI Library houses one of the world’s most extensive collections of literature on traffic safety. It reflects the diversity of disciplines that the field comprises: biomechanics, lighting, vehicle dynamics, driver behavior, and injuries from motor-vehicle crashes.

Recent deposits include:

• Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems field operational test plan
• Relationships among driver age, vehicle cost, and fatal nighttime crashes
• Truck mirrors, fields of view, and serious truck crashes

Search: Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) Reports