Vernard Henley, Assistant Dean of the UA Little Rock College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT), has received $20,000 to host the 2017 National Summer Transportation Institute. The Institute is a two-week program designed to heighten interest in transportation careers for students living in rural and underserved regions of Arkansas and Memphis, TN. The Institute will run from June 18 to June 30, 2017.
The Institute, which is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, will heavily focus on the relationship between math, technology, engineering, and science in transportation related careers. Each student is required to complete a hands-on activity or project assigned by certified high school teachers and university faculty from the College of EIT. These assignments, which help students develop their critical thinking skills, will focus on land, air and water transportation.
Students in the program will also take field trips around the state to see various types of multimodal transportation infrastructure. They will visit the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s Materials Lab, USS Razorback, Henderson State University’s Aviation Program, Broadway Bridge site, Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff, Murray Lock and Dam, and the Big Dam Bridge.
Students in the Institute were selected based on academic record, teacher recommendations, and expressed written interest in careers in the transportation field.
For more information on the Institute, visit their website at https://ualr.edu/eit/additional-info/outreach
