Gearing up for transportation engineering, a summer institute : phase VII

010464272006Final reportPDFResearch PaperUTCA-06304NTIS-PB2007105590DRTS98-G-0028Transportation careersTransportation engineeringStudentsEducationMinoritiesFemalesDiversityHuman resourcesMentorsAdministration and ManagementEducation and TrainingHighwaysI10: Economics and AdministrationAlabamaUnited StatesUniversity Transportation Center for AlabamaLeonard, Kathleen M.Anderson, MichaelSchwartz, LoisToutanji, HoussamUniversity of Alabama. Dept. of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUniversity Transportation Center for AlabamaUS Transportation CollectionThe numbers of female and minority students enrolled in engineering schools are increasing slowly, however there is still a relatively small percentage drawn to the field of transportation civil engineering. As a consequence, there is a need to educate young people about the profession to encourage under-represented individuals to appreciate the contributions of engineers to society and encourage them to become civil engineers. This summer institute project consisted of bringing middle school students, after recommendations by their teachers, to the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus to learn about engineering as a career and experience a variety of transportation engineering design topics. The participants gained knowledge about the role of engineers in society as well as learned how engineers use their knowledge in design applications. An additional program was held this year in which the alumni were invited back for more advanced research in civil engineering projects. Several University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) faulty members and Society of Women Engineer professionals acted as team mentors. As an important part of this project, local minority and female engineers served as mentors for the program. This was the seventh year of the transportation summer program at UAH