As urban and rural areas continue to see traffic growth, the need for more transportation engineers is also growing. The profession is losing over half of the state agency transportation engineers and many more local agency professionals as baby boomers retire. In response to this shortage, the UFTI along with its USDOT Regional grant-funded University Transportation Center (UTC), have teamed up to work harder at recruiting more students to the field, by creating K-12 programs to introduce the younger generation to engineering.

STRIDE partnering institutions implementing K-12 programs include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, The Citadel, North Carolina State University, Georgia Tech, Jackson State University, and Tennessee Tech. Programs include school visits, Girls Engaged in Engineering events, demonstrations and activities at community events, summer camps focused on transportation and engineering, and teacher workshops. More information about STRIDE programs and a list of free K-12 online educational resources may be found at https://stride.ce.ufl.edu

For more information, contact Ondine Wells, K-12 Education/Technology Transfer Coordinator.