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Fostering Excellence in High School Students Exposed to Traditional Research in a Summer Transportation Institute Program Abstract

During the past 11 years, the Summer Transportation Institute (STI) program at The City College of The City University of New York has provided a broad range of intermodal transportation and academic experiences to underrepresented secondary school students. Cohorts of approximately 25 students participate in the program, each year, over the four-week period immediately following Independence Day. An effective internship component is embedded in the program to accommodate the STI graduates. The students (11th or 12th graders) are paired with faculty professors to conduct research in transportation-related topics. During the past two summers, the interns worked on transportation materials including plastic and SuperPave hot mix asphalt. It is not surprising that the interns had no initial interest in this type of a traditional research environment and laboratory setting since this new generation of students is attracted to the digital world, music, iPods, etc. However, if the right conditions are set in place, significant contributions can be drawn from these groups. This paper and presentation will focus in detail on evaluation of assessment results obtained from STI interns during the past two summer of work in the Civil Engineering Transportation Materials Laboratory, at The City College of The City University of New York. Not only did the students appreciate, enjoy, learn, and contribute significantly to the research project, but their work has been presented in two separate venues in collaboration with other professional engineers and graduate and undergraduate research students. At the end of the program, the interns admitted that the research exposure attracted them and enhanced their confidence for majoring in engineering disciplines. Lessons learned from the STI interns may provide a model for other programs of similar settings.

Introduction

Since its inception in 1993-1994, as the first center for the Institute, the success of the South Carolina State University Summer Transportation Institute continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of partnerships1. The resultant magnitude continues to attract youth to the field of Transportation. The Summer Transportation Institute (STI), hosted by the City University of New York (CCNY), Institute for Transportation Systems at the City College of New York campus, commenced in 1996. During the past years, the STI Program has formed partnerships with, and received support from the U.S. Government, private and public organizations, agencies, as well as the academic community. The STI Program is a collaborative investment in our youth. They represent tomorrow's work force. With the continued assistance of the various partners, the program remains committed to fulfilling the mission of creating an awareness of the career choices and opportunities that exist in the transportation industry. On average approximately 25 scholarships are awarded to students in grades 9 through 12. Every year, the Non-Residential - Summer Transportation Institute, hosted at CCNY, commences with an Opening Ceremony, usually on the day after the July 4th holiday, and concludes with its Closing/Award Ceremony on the last Saturday of July. Family members and friends of the STI

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Villiers, C., & Parker, N. (2007, June), Fostering Excellence In High School Students Exposed To Traditional Research In A Summer Transportation Institute Program Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1804