The National Summer Transportation Institute (Nsti): 10 Years Motivating Minority Students Toward Professions In The Transportation Industry

Ten years have passed and it seems as it was yesterday when a group of minority students gathered at the South Carolina State University (SCSU) to participate in the first pilot Summer Transportation Institute (STI). Today, more than 40 Institutions of Higher Education serve as Host Sites to offer STIs around the nation with a common format that has evolved from the pilot program. The objective of this program is to expose high school students to the many opportunities available in the field of transportation and to inspire them to pursue professions in the transportation industry through a variety of educational, motivational, recreational, and cultural activities. In addition, the institute provides supplementary experience and training in mathematics, science and technology needed for a better involvement in the careers related to the transportation field. Besides achieving its main objective, the NSTI has also been beneficial at many other levels including the opportunity to present the students a diverse group of transportation educators and professionals, the optimization of expertise and available resources to meet adequately the goals of NSTI, and the excellent opportunity for high school students to learn about university life in all its manifestations. This paper includes a description of the program, the experiences in the last 10 years and the plans for the future to continue generating the benefits for many potential minority engineering and science students.