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CR2C2 Joined the NCA&T’s Transportation Institute to host the 2024 Summer High School Transportation Institute (STI) attendees. This year, the STI program hosted 17 participants, including rising juniors and seniors from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New York, Texas, Maryland, and Virginia. These high-achieving students were selected based on their interest in STEM/Transportation, recommendation letters, engagement with extra-curricular and community, and academic performance.

During the program, STI attendees were briefed on research conducted at CR2C2 on transportation technologies and autonomous vehicles, both manned and unmanned.  The tour provided an opportunity for students to get hands-on experience with one of the autonomous vehicles and learn about the scientific methods and engineering principles that our researchers use to develop and deploy automated driving vehicles.  The students engaged with our researchers and the different components of self-driving cars.

The driving simulator was also part of the tour, and all students got a chance to drive in the simulator and be part of the simulation backend. The visit concluded with an all-encompassing presentation on previous and ongoing research being carried out at NC A&T’s Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities, including the pilot program launched in September 2023 that connected the NC A&T’s main campus to downtown Greensboro and previous undergraduate experiments where brainwaves were used to give instructions to a vehicle to stop and go.

About the The Summer High School Transportation Institute (STI)

STI has been an enriching educational opportunity for rising high school juniors and seniors since its first STI program in 1993 in N.C. A&T’s Transportation Institute has introduced hundreds of high school students to careers and academic pursuits in transportation. Many individuals have had successful careers with Fortune 500 companies and government entities. As the nation's oldest National Summer Transportation Institute program, N.C. A&T is proud to have earned a reputation for offering an exceptional educational experience.

The STI experience was conducted in person during the summer at the N.C. A&T campus. Students are exposed to supply chain management, transportation technologies, the various modes of transportation, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topics and disciplines. They also conduct personal development activities through classroom instruction, group projects, and on-site field trips.

Historically, 40% of the program's participants have become Aggies, and about 40% of those go on to pursue transportation in their education and career.