Long Term Impact of New Jersey National Summer Transportation Institute Hosted at Rowan University on Career Choices of Cohorts (Evaluation)

In the summer of 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Center for Research in Education in Advanced Transportation Engineering Systems (CREATEs) at Rowan University hosted the National Summer Transportation Institute. The goal of this program is to provide high school students exposure to transportation engineering and other transportation-related education paths. More than 50% from underrepresented minority groups, including women, African Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos attended the two-week program. In 2017, the program was a non-residential, four-week program; 2018 was a two-week residential program and, in 2019, the program was a two-week non-residential program. In all programs, the students explored different modes of transportation, such air, road, rail, water, with an overarching theme of safety and sustainability. The experience was provided through a) hands-on experiments; b) field trips; and c) federal, state and industry speakers. This paper presents the findings of the students' career choices and what aspects of the NSTI program, if any, impacted them the most. This paper also provides a blueprint to other NSTI programs across the country as they design their own curriculum.