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Title:

Rebuilding Railroad Engineering Education in the United States with Industry–University Partnerships

Accession Number:

01128870

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States
Order URL: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/Research_and_Education_2009_162453.aspx

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Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309126366

Abstract:

Because of the growing volume of freight traffic, the increasing interest in intercity and in urban passenger rail, and the escalated retirement among industry professionals, the rail industry has been returning to university campuses in search of future leaders. In so doing, the industry has discovered that today’s universities are a challenging environment in which to recruit because most of them eliminated railroad engineering from their curricula many years ago and graduates are not familiar with the rail industry. A research study at Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) assessed whether greater participation by universities would help to encourage students to pursue rail careers. Surveys targeting industry managers, recently hired engineering graduates, and university professors were used to define the demand and supply for university engineering graduates and to determine the effect on students’ career choices from pregraduation exposure to rail topics. The results indicated a high demand for railroad engineers for the next 5 to 10 years but few opportunities to expose students to rail topics before their graduation. The research indicated a strong correlation between exposure to the rail industry and career selection and identified the development of university–industry partnerships as an attractive approach for reintroducing railroad engineering at universities. This paper summarizes the study results and provides recommendations for developing these partnerships. It also presents a short case study on how Michigan Tech has successfully introduced rail transportation into its curriculum.

Monograph Title:

Research and Education 2009

Monograph Accession #:

01141709

Report/Paper Numbers:

09-3239

Language:

English

Authors:

Lautala, Pasi Tapio
Sproule, William J

Pagination:

pp 37-44

Publication Date:

2009

Serial:

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Issue Number: 2109
Publisher: Transportation Research Board
ISSN: 0361-1981

ISBN:

9780309126366

Media Type:

Print

Features:

Figures (7) ; References (21) ; Tables (3)

Geographic Terms:

United States

Subject Areas:

Education and Training; Railroads; I10: Economics and Administration

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 30 2009 7:39PM

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