Through funding new curriculum and engaging with community partners on STEM education, we seek to introduce students to transportation concepts and careers at an early age. Additional focus is placed on increasing the number of women and Black, Indigeneous and people of color in the transportation profession by attracting and retaining those students to transportation-related degree programs.

K-12 Transportation Curriculum

Workforce development doesn't have to wait until the university. In addition to our education and outreach programs, we invest funding and expertise into the development of new K-12 transportation curriculum that can be used by educators.

High School Programs

Transportation Summer Camps in Oregon

Through a variety of funders, Portland State University supports transportation career-focused summer camps for Oregon high school students entering 9th through 12th grade, with a special emphasis on education for young women. The programs provide experiential learning on transportation, connects high schoolers with local professionals in transportation-related fields, and attracts students from diverse backgrounds to transportation-related course work in their higher education pursuits.  

ChickTech Workshops 

Portland State University works with ChickTech to host workshops for high school girls interested in technology. ChickTech’s high school program focuses on events that pose engineering challenges to get girls excited about technology. The program breaks down stereotypes and provides opportunities to encourage girls to consider technology-based fields. Supported by NITC-funded curriculum, our one-day workshops focus on engineering concepts and basic transportation modeling. 

Middle School Programs

Transportation YOU events

The University of Utah and Portland State University partner with their local WTS chapters for their Transportation YOU programs. Transportation YOU is a hands-on, interactive, mentoring program that introduces girls ages 13 to 18 to a wide variety of transportation careers. Students and/or staff design and host an after-school activity at a Transportation YOU middle school annually. Portland State most recently partnered with WTS and Transportation YOU on the design and implementation of a challenge activity for the summer 2019 weeklong event in Washington D.C. 

Grade School Programs

Curriculum for Elementary Students

In 2015 we supported the development of a program called “Investigations in Transportation,” a collaboration with the Portland Metro STEM Partnership. The program includes transportation curriculum development and implementation in Portland area elementary classrooms. The curriculum applies science inquiry, engineering design and mathematical practices to transportation-related topics and directly addresses Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards.