Catalyst Award: Targeted Infusion Project: Advancing STEM Education Through Transportation Studies (TIP-ASETTS)

Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to work towards establishing the research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution, and involve undergraduate students in research experiences.

This project at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T) intends to create a digital badging program for students interested in the transportation industry. The proposed work has the potential to increase student skillsets to increase competitiveness for technical opportunities in the transportation industry and increase diversity in the transportation field.

It is the intent to position the proposed work in the P21 framework which focuses on equipping students with the skills they need to succeed in school and their careers in the 21st century.

The goal of the Advancing STEM Education Through Transportation Studies (ASETTS) digital badge program is to advance knowledge and understanding within STEM education through activities designed to increase the number of highly skilled NCA&T undergraduate students entering the transportation workforce. This goal will be achieved by using the following approach: (a) creating a stackable-units digital badge program that encourages undergraduate students to increase their skillsets along various dimensions such as life/career, innovation, technology, and core subject matter skills; (b) increasing the number of undergraduate students participating in transportation research experiences and other engaging activities that will expose students to career opportunities in transportation; (c) establishing a professional-to-student and student-to-student mentorship program, and (d) updating current courses by including activities designed to develop specific competencies needed in the transportation workforce.

A successfully implemented program has the potential to serve as a case study through which the ability of a stackable-units digital badge program to increase students’ engagement in educational activities will be evaluated. By focusing on students across different STEM majors, the proposed program will be unique and novel in that it will develop students’ competitive skillsets such as initiative and self-direction as well as introduce them to transportation innovations and technologies.

The research projects intend to cover diverse topic areas within the transportation domain including transportation demand management, optimization, emerging technologies, and human factors. Finally, through the integration of the P21 and experiential learning components in transportation courses along with the mentorship activities, the ASETTS program aims to innovate existing curricula and provide a much-needed support network to facilitate the success of students underrepresented in STEM disciplines who desire a career in the transportation industry.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.