Top 50 Engineering Professor Blogs
From the basics of engineering to the very advanced, this area of study is as complex as it ever was despite the emerging technologies. Navigate through various problems or just get helpful information from those who teach it as a profession.
General Engineering
Written by and for engineers, learn about various topics including every day life and the future of this complex and growing field.
1. Engineering Science: Geoff Davis has taught at Dartmouth College, Rice University, Sigma Xi, and Harvard Law School. He is currently a Senior Quantitative Analyst in the User Experience Research Group at Google where he co-runs this blog. Devoted entirely to engineering you can read posts, see graduate school rankings, look for jobs, and much more.
2. Scientists and Engineers For America: The scientists, engineers, and concerned citizens who comprise SEA are united by shared values and beliefs. Their goal is to raise the level of science debate, encourage careers in science, participate in policy, and provide timely information. By visiting this site you can read the latest news, find out where your political candidate stands on science, and or leave a comment.
3. Networkers-online: This site was founded by a group of network engineers with different backgrounds. Every day they face problems on troubleshooting, building new nodes, designing customer solutions and studying how to improve the networks. Through Networkers-online they can share their hands on experience, daily work, and studies.
4. Engineering Ethics Blog: Karl D. Stephan is an Associate Professor for the Department of Engineering and Technology at Texas State University. His blog is full of comments on current events with an engineering ethics angle. Read about nuclear power, stem cell research, and other hot topics by visiting this site.
5. Go Engineering!: This blog is run by the American Society for Engineering Education and intended to help K-12 teachers stimulate students’ interest in engineering. In addition to a twice-monthly newsletter, you can learn about their workshop, read news, and view special features. A useful resource for teachers, this blog will show you different engineering-focused lessons, including how to get kids to build a solar powered car.
6. Engineering Education: This blog started as an attempt to connect people across the globe who are focused on engineering education. It is now a place to find out about conferences of interest to the engineering community, places to publish, items in the news of relevance, and other musings.
7. Aurelie Thiele: Aurelie holds a chaired Assistant Professorship in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. An academic expert on quantitative risk and uncertainty management, she blogs on business, engineering, and higher education.
8. Professor Boardman’s Blog: Educators are welcome to use any images or text they wish for their own teachings on this site. Focusing on bio-sciences, Professor Boardman also writes on genetic engineering. He uses this blog to post assignments, give commentary, and welcomes all suggestions.
9. Engineering Library Blog: This blog is maintained by the Princeton University Library. Started in 2006, it gives students and visitors relevant information on engineering. The numerous categories include awards, tips, documents, news, projects, and more.
10. Tomorrow’s Professor Blog: This blog is a partnership between MIT and Stanford University. The goal is to create a forum for issues concerning education. Although there are topics on engineering, students will also find this blog a useful source for learning about the present as a student and the future as a professional.
11. Engineering News & Magazine: With four different contributors, this blog is a must visit for engineering students. Part of Missouri University’s College of Engineering, you can browse by news, research, student teams, and more. Topics include biodiesel, information on undergraduate research, and Engineers Without Borders.
12. EngLibrary: With a number of contributors, this blog is maintained by the people at Drexel University. Learn about new engineering books, DVD’s, software updates, and more. You can also contact them if you have any questions.
13. Raffy’s World: Rafael Saldana is a faculty member of the School of Science and Engineering at Ateneo de Manila University in the Phillipines. Blogging on everything from the scientific to the personal, this is a collection of his thoughts, activities, environment, and the people around him. Also of note are the dozens of pictures that thoughtfully catalogue his everyday life.
14. Sustainable Business Design: N.E. Landrum is from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This blog is devoted to the intersection of economic, social, and environmental interests. Believing that sustainable business is good business, she encourages others to “make a profit, make an impact, make a difference.”
15. Dr. Jekyll & Mrs. Hyde: She has a postdoctoral degree in biological sciences. He is a professional scientist. Together they blog on everything from purchasing lab equipment to quasi-scientific pleasures.
16. Candid Engineer in Academia: This blogger is an engineer and scientist trying to find their way as a postdoctoral researcher at Brilliant University. Read for insight into science and academia from the perspective of a tell it like it is postdoctoral engineer. You will find thoughts on funding, pompous colleagues, and other random academic topics.
17. Comrade PhysioProf: This blogger writes about things he finds interesting, inside and outside the constraints of the scientific and academic writing. Some of those topics include politics, media, academia, and other blogs. Known to tell students to, “step in, sit down, chill the fuck out,” this blog is not for the easily offended.
18. The Mind of Dr. Pion: This anonymous blogger is a theoretical physicist and professor. His goal is to simplify the complex and complexify the rest. Topics include physics, politics, education, motoring, and the Harvard comma.
Information Technology Blogs
With the digital age overtaking the globe, engineers are in demand in increasing numbers to improve upon the world of information technology. These professors teach their students how to meet that demand.
19. Andrew McAfee’s Blog: Andrew is an Associate Professor in the Technology and Operations Management area at Harvard Business School and a visiting Associate Professor at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management. Blogging since 2006, he focuses on how information technology is affecting the present and future. In addition, he also writes on how computerization is changing the competition for survival in an industry.
20. Billso: William A. Sodeman is an associate professor of information systems in the College of Professional Studies at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. His blog is about management, mobile computing, and information systems. You can read his numerous posts, get the latest news, or even take an online course from him.
21. Harga-Blog: Andrew Hargadon is an Associate Professor of Technology Management at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. His blog is devoted to technology, design, and creativity. Visitors can choose from posts on design, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, and more.
22. Steve Haragon: Steve is a consultant for Elluminate’s Social Learning, as well as the director of the K12 Open Technologies Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking. His blog focuses on K-12 technological education, software, and the future of education. Visit here to learn more about Web 2.0, Ning Dashboards, and many other topics.
23. Davos Newbies: A former advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit, Lance Knobel boasts many impressive credits. Davos Newbies is named after the World Economic Forum, and as Lance believes: “a state of mind.” Read his blog to get thoughts on IBM, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, and others.
24. Karim R. Lakhani’s Infrequent Musings: This blog is based on the principle of Spoudaiospaizen, or “serious play.” An assistant professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at the Harvard Business School, Karim specializes in the management of technological innovation and product development in firms and communities. He blogs about technological innovation, musings, and more.
25. Technology and Organizations: Terri Griffith is a Professor of Management at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. Her goal is to share perceptions and use of technology in organizations. While her foremost audience is the students, she hopes colleagues and clients will find it interesting as well.
26. Technology & Marketing Law Blog: This blog is run by Eric Goldman, an Associate Professor of Law at Santa Clara University and the Director of the High Tech Law Institute. Although there are many topics, he focuses mostly on how technology and law combine. Examples include using the web to convict child pornographers, trademarks, and liability for postings.
27. Ping!: Yuping is a professor at Old Dominion University, where she teaches a variety of courses at the undergraduate, MBA, and Ph.D. levels. A marketing professor and technology enthusiast, her blog focuses on the digital age. She discusses how marketing, technology, and consumer psychology work together.
28. Open IT Strategies: Joel West wears many hats, including Associate Professor at San José State University, Department of Organization and Management. His blog contains observations by an academic on the use of openness as a competitive strategy. There is also interest in coping with information, goods, and technologies.
For the Ladies
It is no little secret that the world of engineering is dominated by men. Learn how to survive as a woman in engineering, or how men can support their female colleagues. Often written anonymously, these blogs pull no punches in their insight to this patriarchal world.
29. Rants of a Feminist Engineer: A new assistant professor at an unnamed university, she blogs about negotiating the boundaries between engineering and women’s studies. Read as she wonders if it is possible to be a feminist, an engineer, all while trying to obtain tenure.
30. Thus Spake Zuska: Suzanne E. Franks is the Director of the Women in Engineering and Science Program at Kansas State University. The alter-ego Zuska is a goddess of science, engineering, and avenging angel. Her blog offers informative rants on the intransigent refusal of engineering and science to open their doors to anyone but white males. Posts verbally bludgeon morons, celebrate the fabulousness of techie women, and encourage every female to release her Inner Pissed-Off Woman.
31. A Lady Scientist: She is an anonymous fourth year Ph.D. student in biochemistry. Read this blog to follow her journey through graduate school and her theories on the “Two Body Problem.” She also posts blogs on her professors.
32. On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess: Known only as Dr. Isis, this blogger has advanced degrees and teaches at a major research university. She focuses on balancing research, career, and family, as well as how to succeed as a woman in academia. Posts include thoughts on awards, women mentors, and online courses in bioengineering and physiology.
33. Canadian Girl Postdoc in America: This blog documents the experiences of a first year postdoc from Canada, who moved to SmallUniversity somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Believing, “a woman must have money and a room lab of her own if she is to do science,” she is upfront about her experiences at the intersection of biology, gender, and culture.
35. Mother of All Scientists: A molecular biologist and geneticist by training, this blogger is also mother to a one year old son. Read how she struggles to excel at, or at least manage, both. With many posts to choose from, you’ll find out why she believes science is a bitch.
36. Sciencewomen: She is an assistant professor at Mystery University in Mystery City. A wife and mother as well, she blogs because as a graduate student, she felt isolated in her ambitions. This blog contains her experiences as a woman scientist struggling to balance the demands of academia and a family.
37. A Mad Tea Party: The author of this blog is a faculty member in a biosciences department. In addition to various science related topics, there are also humorous ramblings. Read about academia, diversions, gender issues, and more on this candid blog.
38. Journeys of an Academic: This quirky engineer would like to make a difference in the world. With numerous political posts, she focuses on women in science. However, you can also read about how to survive academic life, how to get a job, and cultural insanity.
39. Janus Professor: An assistant professor in an unnamed scientific field at an Ivy League University, this blogger is married with a new baby. Read about her two-bodied academic career, babies, and general musings. Post include taking the time to slow down, equal opportunity, and funding.
41. FairerScience: This group began as joint project of the Wellesley Centers for Women and Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc. Their goal is to join researchers and advocates for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to communicate their findings. Some of their posts are on wind tunnels, role models, diversity, and many more.
Specialty Engineers
These bloggers focus on a specific aspect of engineering.
42. MAE Chair’s Blog: Dr. Barbero is a professor of mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at West Virginia University. It contains his thoughts and discussions about MAE. In addition, his blog is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, MAE staff, MAE faculty, and comments are welcome.
43. Shtetl-Optimized: This blog is run by Scott Aaronson, who is the Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Not for those looking for the basics, the blog’s tagline is, “quantum computer are not known to be able to solve NP-complete problems in polynomial time.” Posts range from Ayn Rand to the ten most annoying questions in quantum computing.
44. James B. Orlin: Jim is the Edward Pennell Brooks Professor of Operations Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His expertise is in network and combinatorial optimization; operations research; logistics. Recent posts include lecturing, terrorism, and continuing education.
45. Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog: Michael is currently a Professor of Operations Research at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon and a former president of INFORMS. His blog is intended to make operations research relevant and interesting. Established in 2005, this blog has many posts and a ton of information on operations research.
46. All About Flexible Macroelectronics: Teng Li teaches at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland. Fascinated by the emerging field of flexible macroelectronics, he set up this blog to share his findings. He now uses the blog to track the latest technological progress and research on flexible macroelectronics.
47. Spokutta: Sebastian Pokutta was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT and is currently working for a risk management and finance consulting company. His blog focuses on mathematics, optimization, and operations research. His most popular posts include tutorials, mathematical models, and other complex topics.
48. Blinkdagger: This engineering and MATLAB blog is contributed to by three engineering specialists. They explain the basics as well as more advanced MATLAB issues. This blog also offers tutorials, tips, and the option to send in a question.
49. Computational Complexity: Lance Fortnow teaches at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago. He runs this blog along with William Gasarch from the University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science and Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Their blog focuses on computational complexity and other fun stuff in math and computer science.
50. Ocean Engineering blog: James Miller and Christopher Baxter are with the URI Department of Ocean/Civil Engineering. This blog is devoted to the profession and teaching of Ocean Engineering. With posts ranging from rising ice levels to floating cities, this blog is worth a visit.
Whether you are a student, teacher, professional, or someone who is just interested in engineering, these 50 blogs are well worth a visit. From macroelectronics and quantum computing to student life or surviving as a woman, see the world of engineering from those on the inside.
