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    <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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    <description></description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
      <url>https://rip.trb.org/Images/PageHeader-wTitle-RIP.jpg</url>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>University of Miami’s National Summer Transportation Institute (UM)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2663224</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Already inhabited by more than 50% of the population and contributing to more than 55% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), coastal regions are still continuing to grow and attract people. At the same time, coastal regions are facing increasing threats from erosion and flooding caused by chronic events  like heavy rainfall, as well as discrete extreme events such as hurricanes. These events put people and properties, as well as the region's economies, in harm's way. It is through deliberate and strategic investments in STEM education, outreach and workforce initiatives, that the USDOT has the workforce to meet challenges, while advancing and maintaining our technological superiority.
The University of Miami (UM) is requesting to host the National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) program to encourage the younger generations into the STEM disciplines and coastal transportation infrastructure. Activities will include lectures, laboratory hands-on activities, and fun competitions related to coastal transportation infrastructure. Participants will engage in science rich activities, and develop critical thinking, teamwork, and career development skills. The PI was the director of the 2024 CREATE UM NSTI as well as 2015-2017 UM NSTI funded by FHWA and has the experience and expertise in transportation outreach programs. The following points include the goals that the NSTI program at the University of Miami seeks to accomplish. (1) Provide an exciting and effective summer program that will depict the principles, applications and challenges of the STEM fields through use of lessons, teamwork, group activities, competitions and field trips. (2) Create awareness of the coastal transportation industry and its career opportunities. (3) Encourage high school students toward the STEM disciplines by educating them on transportation engineering career opportunities. (4) Develop teamwork, problem solving, computer, writing and reporting skills to enable high school students to excel in their intended STEM field.


The University of Miami will conduct recruitment procedures through several media to select interested and enthusiastic high school students to participate in the summer program. The following media will be implemented to recruit students for the summer program: Flyers, Website, social media, school visits, information sessions.

Program Curriculum: (Week 1: 2nd week of July) Weekly Objective: Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of engineering. As the week progresses, the components of transportation engineering will be explored. The focus of this week will be on the explanation of advanced and high-performance construction materials used in the various modes of coastal transportation infrastructure, the importance of safety in transportation engineering, the different types of transportation structures and vehicles, and the new technological advancements in the coastal transportation infrastructure engineering industry. In addition, this week will also discuss the engineering of airport terminals and airplanes. (Week 2: 3rd week of July) Weekly Objectives: Students will learn about the emerging technologies for enhancing safety and resilience in coastal transportation infrastructure. Students will become familiar with the other modes of transportation, including water, and continue to learn about the air transportation.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 10:57:13 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2663224</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Multi-State Assessment of Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2571989</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project will consist of testing the implementation of the Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab (AMIL) program in multiple states to reach underserved K-12 students in rural and urban core areas of the southeast. The portable STEM lab will fuse transportation technology demonstrations with project-based STEM activities to expose students to advanced technologies and educate them about the STEM principles used to develop and operate such systems. The project will include the refinement of tools and plans developed in a prior project (R-EWD-1), the enhancement of this partnership with other CR2C2 consortium members along with two test events one in Tennessee and one in North Carolina that includes the demonstration of an autonomous vehicle.  

This project will continue the development of the AMIL program. AMIL’s are mobile STEM laboratories used to demonstrate existing and newly developed mobility technologies and serve as a resource to teach STEM content using advanced transportation technology-themed problem-based learning activities. The concept is analogous to “Bookmobiles” or “Libraries-on-Wheels” that have been used for decades to take books to underserved areas to inspire children to read, but the AMIL program focuses on developing STEM skills rather than reading.  
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2025 14:24:54 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2571989</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute -2025</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2536177</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI) Program aims at introducing a group of motivated pre-college students (10th to 12th grade) to the transportation industry. During the two-week program, students will participate in academic and enhancement activities designed to improve their skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and leadership.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2025 14:24:37 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2536177</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Development of AR/VR-Enhanced Tools for STEAM-Integrated Education</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2526442</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Technological advances have given unprecedented cause and fresh opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration in public transportation and related fields. Given this cross-functional momentum and with awareness of the present technological revolution in public transportation, a new educational approach is required of those stakeholders tasked with navigating the future landscape of supporting careers. Such workforce development stakeholders include kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) educators, career technical educators, employers, and, of course, the students themselves, who must be age-appropriately inspired, empowered, and equipped. In response, DriveOhio has developed an Educator Toolkit to provide effective resources to these stakeholders by which Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math (STEAM)-integrated education may be facilitated, and career outreach programs may be advanced.

The interdisciplinary opportunity sought by this project and necessarily inherent to STEAM-integrated education is answered by the collaboration and the unique breadth of experience provided by the submitting research team. Specifically, the research team represents the past and present work of two complementary Student Transportation Advancement Research (STAR) projects, each with novel contributions to DriveOhio's Educator Toolkit and the referenced stakeholders it aims to serve. 

This project is intended as a bridge between the previous STAR projects, a continuation of their shared efforts and goals, and a means by which the entire DriveOhio Educator Toolkit may be advanced. This project will provide an educational platform for teachers to use in a K-12 context, consisting of various future scenario modules where students can learn about the next generations of technologies, the vehicles that they will enable, and the infrastructure required to sustain such innovation.  ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:21:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2526442</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Impact of Children's School Format on Women Professionals in STEM</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2244203</link>
      <description><![CDATA[With many school closures during the pandemic resulting in long-term changes (more than just a month) to child education format (e.g., online or hybrid), many women took on increasingly greater home and childcare responsibilities. Even prior to the pandemic, the retention of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faced many challenges. The research project described herein tried to capture the experiences of women in STEM with children, as (rather than in retrospect) they navigated various school formats during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The authors anticipate that the results of this research will highlight the challenges facing women in STEM with children when it comes to the education of their children. Three surveys were administered to women in STEM: one in October of 2020, one in March of 2021, and one in May of 2021. Forty-six, ten and three survey respondents replied to each survey. The results suggest that while overall survey respondents remained concerned about impacts that COVID-19 may have on them and their families, the level of concern seemed to dissipate over the successive surveys. Overall, women in STEM reported very limited options for additional support (e.g., a nanny). The hybrid school format was reported as requiring some of the most significant levels of support followed by online and then in-person. As a whole, women in STEM whose children were attending school in-person reported little to no impacts, often instead remarking on impacts felt during the initial lockdowns. Women in STEM with elementary school-aged children seemed to report the most significant impact. The inability to work uninterrupted was one of the most significant challenges suggested, as there are implications that the work that women in STEM are conducting requires periods of meta focus. Therefore, while the flexibility of allowing women in STEM to work at home can bring some benefits, ultimately, when her children are also at home, the benefits are significantly mitigated. Finally, while the three surveys were expected to be able to capture the oscillation between school formats, at least one survey respondent described many changes between subsequent surveys.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 08 Sep 2023 19:02:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2244203</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>GIS Training in Transportation and Environmental Justice for Promoting Student Success in STEAM Education</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1874092</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Minority and lower-income populations have historically been disproportionately underrepresented in STEM education and jobs. The educational attainment gap for underrepresented minorities graduating high school and earning a college degree, especially in the STEM field, continues to remain wide. Teaching theories of environmental justice and transportation planning in a school curriculum helps to empower the youth of communities by addressing local issues concerning transportation plans and environmental justice and ultimately, helps students to develop skills to make important life and career decisions. To address the education gap and promote student success in STEM Education, the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at UT Arlington will partner with two high schools in the City of Dallas and develop a 4-week lab course curriculum on geographic information systems (GIS), known to be useful for career development. This GIS lab course will demonstrate the interdisciplinary approaches between transportation planning and environmental justice. It also aims to expose young students with diverse backgrounds (e.g. Hispanic, other minorities) at the early stages of their higher education to interdisciplinary learning and research to promote academic and career success. The curriculum will be developed jointly by the research team and the high school teachers to ensure replicability by the teachers beyond the lab course. The lab course will include GIS training with real-world data,  guest lectures by transportation and environmental planning experts, and a site survey with emerging technologies (e.g. a drone). The findings from the lab course will help students to initiate practical analysis for their existing/new courses (e.g. architectural studio, geography & technology) addressing transportation and environmental justice issues of accessibility around the Trinity River in the DFW metroplex. The findings will also feed into the IUS’s larger research that documents various aspects impacting the well-being of the Upper Trinity watershed. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Aug 2021 16:49:47 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1874092</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Implication of School Format on Women in STEM</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1740572</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) (examples of each of STEM include Marie Curie, Katherine Johnson, Ellen Ochoa, and Irmgard Flugge-Lotz ( (Shetterly, 2016), (Waisman & Tietjen, 2008))) have made and continue to make important contributions to their fields.  The ability of women to contribute to their fields without feeling that they have to give up on having a family relies on the presence of a support system or village typically made up of family, friends, childcare, and schools.  The coronavirus pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of these support systems, particularly schools, in enabling women the time and resources to contribute in STEM fields.  Many K-12 schools are currently not offering full-time, traditional in-person learning.  More often, schools are offering only at-home, online options and many women must make difficult choices between their professional futures in STEM ( (Boorstin & Taylor, 2020), (Kramer, 2020), (Gewin, 2020)) and supporting online learning, “pandemic pods”, or transitioning to homeschooling their K-12 students.  This research seeks to document the importance of school format (e.g. online, hybrid, in-person, “pandemic pod”) on women in STEM.  The results are intended to provide input regarding how policies in the future can better support these important contributions, but potentially, for more immediate solutions to be realized.  This is different than many of the other on-going research initiatives that tend to focus on work-life balance and tenure (Rincon & Nguyen, 2020).]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:07:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1740572</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI), JSU (YR3)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1715405</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Jackson State University (JSU) organizes the Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI) program to introduce high school students to transportation engineering as a career. During the program, students participate in academic and enhancement activities to improve their skills in mathematics, science, engineering, and leadership. Co-funded through the STRIDE Center, the Marine Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC), and JSU, the MSTI collaborates with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) to provide guest lectures, laboratory tours and/or investigations.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2020 12:33:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1715405</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI), JSU (YR1)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1715361</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Mississippi Summer Transportation Institute (MSTI) aimed to introduce a diverse group of motivated high school students to the transportation industry. This three-week program was held at Jackson State University’s Engineering Building in Jackson, Mississippi. The Inter-modal Advisory Committee recruited thirty rising 9th-12th grade students for the residential MSTI program. The high school students participated in academic and extra-curricular activities designed to improve their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) knowledge and leadership skills. This residential program provided a well-balanced curriculum
and an environment that was conducive to both academic and personal development, promoted interpersonal skills and exposed students to real-world transportation issues. These were accomplished through a series of classroom activities, field trips and recreational activities. Robot competition, traffic design, and bridge competitions were included to enhance students’ design ability and teamwork skills. An evening coordinator organized in-class scientific projects, including Eiffel tower construction, hanging in duct tape, balsa bridge glider, egg drop,
and paper tower competitions. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2020 12:30:56 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1715361</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Workforce Development &amp; Technical Transfer Activities, NCSU (YR1)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1715408</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The mission of the U.S. DOT University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program is to advance the state-of-the-art in transportation research and technology, and to develop the next generation of transportation professionals. STRIDE, in its efforts to achieve this mission, seeks to fund projects that engage K-12 students—especially females and underserved/rural populations—to expand their knowledge of and encourage interest in transportation careers. The first two tasks of this multi-year project involved outreach to various stakeholders—state DOT administrators, transportation experts, and public educators—to develop four K-12 proposals for STRIDE funding. The proposals focus on conducting a variety of activities to improve connections for middle and high school age students between their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics in the classroom and the application of these topics in the transportation industry. Outreach through in-person meetings, conference calls and email discussions was completed to facilitate the proposal development. The draft proposals were reviewed by their respective stakeholders, finalized and submitted to STRIDE for funding consideration. 
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2020 12:29:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1715408</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Summer 2020 High School STEM Teacher Workshop, STRIDE/Tennessee Tech (YR3)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692008</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Summer STEM Teacher workshop will focus on providing background information
and material on transportation subjects for 15 high-school mathematics and/or science teachers. The
material and tools are designed to help these teachers incorporate transportation-based learning
objectives into their classroom lessons. During the workshop, the participating teachers will have
contact time with both STEM teaching experts and engineering faculty and students with
transportation expertise to provide a well-rounded learning experience. The teachers will attend three
workshop events. The teachers will be guided to develop a transportation topic lesson between their
second and third workshops. The workshops will be led by the STEM Center and the College of
Education faculty with through collaboration of the College of Engineering faculty and student at
Tennessee Tech University. The participating teachers may work collaboratively if appropriate to
develop additional lessons that can be incorporated into to their classroom teaching. It is anticipated
that support resources (supplies) will need to be purchased to support the effort and to provide the
necessary material to the teachers. The support resources will be stored within the Lending Library
at the Oakley STEM Center at Tennessee Tech University and teachers can check out the support
resources—free of charge—to use during the administrations of their lessons. A preliminary
schedule and agenda for the Summer 2020 STEM High School Teacher Workshop is attached.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:18:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692008</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Summer STEM Teacher Workshop, STRIDE/Tennessee Tech (YR2)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692006</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A Summer STEM Teacher workshop will train 10-15 middle school mathematics and/or science teachers how to incorporate transportation-based learning objectives into their classroom lessons. The workshop will be conducted in collaboration with the STEM Center at Tennessee Tech.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:17:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692006</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Workforce Development/Outreach,The Citadel (YR3)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692005</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objectives of this project are to: (1) coordinate, organize and conduct a 1-week Summer Camp on multimodal mobility, connected vehicles and congestion mitigation for targeted population of 15-20 student cohorts; (2) host Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, an event for 80 Girl Scouts each year to learn about engineering through an engaging 3-hour program including interaction with college student mentors, and resulting in participants earning a Girl Scout Engineering Badge; and (3) host STEM Outreach and Events, including hosting bridge breaking competitions, conducting student workshops, hosting special student groups on campus, engaging college students in outreach activities.  
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:15:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692005</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Workforce Development/Outreach, The Citadel (YR2)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692004</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objectives of this project are to: (1) Host a 1-week long STEM Camp focusing on transportation and congestion reduction themes, engaging students and additional mobility oriented educational threads connecting with research and educational activities. (2) Continue with previous K-12 initiatives focusing on K-12 outreach for Charleston Lowcountry region, specifically focusing on student engagement with transportation engineering issues. Implementation of this outreach program is anticipated to engage approximately 1,000 students.  
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:09:56 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692004</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>K-12 Workforce Development/Outreach,The Citadel (YR1)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692002</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Each year, the Citadel department of civil and environmental engineering coordinates with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Lowcountry Branch, the Girls Scouts of Eastern South Carolina, the Lowcountry STEM collaborative, and local elementary schools to excite K-12 students about engineering. This project will focus on incorporating hands-on activities and educational material to introduce kids to transportation engineering at three major events: “Introduce a girl to engineering”; “STEM festival”, and “Leadership Day at Spann Elementary”. Overall, those three event will reach out to and inform more than 1000 kids about the world of transportation engineering through hands-on activities. Such events make kids view transportation engineering as a possible future career.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 16:08:03 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1692002</guid>
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