Students from area high schools are riding trains, bikes and even ferries this month as part of a special transportation careers camp at North Carolina Central University (NCCU).
The National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) is sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to spark interest in transportation careers, said NCCU Associate Professor Timothy Mulrooney, a member of the Environmental, Earth and Geographic Sciences Department.
“We are doing hands-on work with drone and GIS mappings, as well as taking a train, a ferry and riding bicycles,” Mulrooney said. “On the last day of camp, students will be presenting their work on a transportation-related problem that we’ve encountered during class.
The daily classes in transportation planning are followed by field trips to see how various modes of transportation really operate, Mulrooney said. Friday, July 13, the class will commute together on bicycles from NCCU to downtown Durham. Monday, July 16, they’ll visit the Unmanned Aviation Services division at Raleigh-Durham International Airport to view drone acrobatics. Wednesday, July 18, they travel to the Outer Banks to examine how hurricanes affect transportation in coastal areas.
Originally published July 12, 2018 by Renee Elder.