“Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans became a part of SWUTC this year, bringing to the consortium their national leadership in hurricane traffic analysis, evacuation strategies, and  modeling,” says Dock Burke, SWUTC director and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) research economist. “LSU and UNO offer some high-quality resources in terms of its faculty, students and some of their ongoing programs. We believe the entire Gulf Coast will benefit from this new alliance.”

Burke, who has been the “head coach” of SWUTC for 20 years, has been affiliated with the unique program since its inception in 1988. SWUTC is a part of a national effort to foster university-based, long-term research and education initiatives. Its major goal of attracting and developing students to become first-rate transportation professionals and industry leaders sets it apart from other transportation research programs.

“When you consider our consortium members, we have a critical mass of expertise that can address almost any topic you could conceivably think of in transportation,” Burke adds. “The consortium has long included TTI at Texas A&M, the University of Texas and Texas Southern University; and now the University of New Orleans and LSU have joined us.”

“In his wisdom, Dock told us from the beginning that he wanted to keep us autonomous, that SWUTC would not simply absorb us,” LSU’s Brian Wolshon says. Dr. Wolshon is a national expert on all matters related to emergency evacuation research, and he serves as the director of the Gulf Coast Research Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency.  “TTI is the 800-pound gorilla of university-based transportation research. Dock is heading-up the UTC program with the philosophy that LSU is a vital part of the team that should keep its expertise whole.”

As part of this year’s grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, SWUTC will focus its efforts on projects that improve lives through research. The LSU addition will last through the rest of the year with project work expected to continue through 2013.

“It’s possible that the LSU involvement with SWUTC could continue past this grant period,” Wolshon says. “I hope it does, because I believe our affiliation is a win-win situation.”

For more information, please see the Texas Transportation Researcher article “A New Era: The SWUTC Adds Two New Schools to Consortium.”

Houston-area high school students with interests in STEM tour TTI as part of a week-long camp at Texas A&M University.

Cesar Martinez grew up near the Boeing and Lockheed Martin facilities in Houston. It gave him an appreciation for aircraft and inspired in him a dream for what he might one day become: an aeronautical engineer.

Martinez and 50 other Houston-area high school students arrived on the Texas A&M University campus July 22 for a week-long camp designed to show them the world of engineering. They were selected to take part in the camp through Houston Works USA and its Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program, which is in its fifth year. A U.S. Department of Defense grant and sponsor donations funded the camp.

As part of the visit, the group toured the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and attended presentations about TTI’s Teens in the Driver Seat Program, distracted driving research, Crash Testing Program and Environmental and Emissions Research Facility. In addition to getting behind the wheel of the Institute’s driving simulator, the 10^th and 11^thgraders learned about the various transportation-engineering careers available to them.

As part of their tour, the Houston Works USA students learned about the TTI driving simulator.

“Many of these students have never been on a college campus and don’t have an understanding about the options open to them,” Houston Works Counselor Eric Hill said during the TTI tour. “They really have been in learning mode all week. I wish I would have experienced a program like this when I was in high school.”

To be considered for the program, the students had to have an interest in engineering and a 3.0 grade-point average. Each was selected based on his or her application, which included an essay about why the student wanted to participate in the engineering camp. The students come from diverse backgrounds, representing 29 Houston-area high schools.

While staying in Lechner Hall for the week, the students’ schedule included tours of the university’s Visualization Laboratory and Space Engineering Research Center. They also learned about solar energy and robotics research.

“This visit really gave them an introduction to college life and all the opportunities that are available to them,” Brenda Woods, the youth services director for Houston Works USA, says. “It was a wonderful experience, and the hospitality was like none other. And I can tell you that many of students, because of this visit, decided to become Aggies.”