Academic Program

 

Howard University Summer Transportation Institute staff coordinated Institute activities and administered grant affairs. STI faculty and mentors developed transportation projects and activities with the assistance of the Advisory Committee and TransTech staff.  Faculty from the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences (CEACS) provided seminars on careers, ethics, and experiences from the perspective of engineering. The Howard University Office of Recruitment and the recruitment staff from CEACS provided forums regarding attending college after graduating from High School. Every student had direct access to a Personal Computer for preparing reports, exhibits for presentations and graphics associated with the Math and Science Projects.

 

STI Projects

 

STI projects were designed to provide interactive experiences that will build skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, team interaction, and communication in addition to exposure to innovative technology. Students were divided into groups, assigned projects, and guided through each step of the project development phases.  The projects were divided into areas of research and presentation.  Students utilized the library and the Internet to obtain the background information required.  In addition, data was collected to determine outcomes of studies regarding traffic patterns.  Students prepared written reports as well as poster and computer-generated charts of their findings.       

Students prepared presentations on project assignments.  Visual aids were used along with oral presentations that were developed by students in each group.  Students prepared charts using graphs and diagrams in addition to the text of speeches that were written with the assistance of the English Instructor.

Special sessions were scheduled to allow students to work in their groups to organize their individual roles, brainstorm, research, construct visual aids, plan presentations and give feedback.  Practice sessions were also scheduled to obtain feedback from staff as well as peers.  After careful preparation, students gave their presentations during the Closing Ceremony.

 

Classroom Sessions / Projects

Intermodal Travel Time: This project involved the gathering of travel and dwell times during an intermodal trip from Washington, DC to the Baltimore Harbor.       Students, working in groups, recorded the commute time between transit stations while riding rapid transit, commuter rail, and light rail.  Students learned how to collect travel time data for transit service management.  Using provided inter-station distances the students were able to calculate speed statistics. The data was collected with the use of stopwatches. Analysis was done using the Microsoft EXCEL software program.

Electricity Experiment:  Participants observed a number of brands of AA batteries to determine which one held a charge for the longest.  Students designed circuit boards and used voltmeters to measure the voltage of the batteries in the live circuit.  They plotted graphs by hand and then by computer using the Microsoft EXCEL software program.  Students were divided into groups, one group for each brand of battery.  Each group then analyzed their recorded data and the findings were reported.

 

Pedestrian Bridge: Participants utilized problem-solving techniques and teamwork during the construction of a steel bridge designed by Civil Engineering Seniors. The High School students participated both in a seminar and in the construction of the model steel pedestrian bridge.

 

Solar Energy:  Participants were introduced to the potential for solar energy as a viable alternative to the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy. They were exposed to the apparatus involved in the capture and transmission of energy gathered from the sun.  Students also learned about environmental issues related to solar energy. An addendum to this project was the solar car race. Participants raced miniature solar cars and gained a true appreciation for solar energy’s potential.

Poster  Project: Participants Developed Posters for presentation and display During the Closing Ceremony. The students developed themes and created visual presentations of Experiences encountered during the STI program.

Trip Journal: Each participant was required to maintain a journal covering each of the field trips. After each field trip a writing secession was held where mentors could help participants to document each field trip using Standard English. The trip journals became the basis for the STI Newsletter On the Move.

Intro to Computer Hardware and Software: Working in teams, students were introduced to the internal elements of the computer. Students disassembled a computer and learned of its components and their functions. They then reassemble the computer and learned to install different software packages.