EL PASO, TX – El Paso Community College (EPCC) students are working in collaboration with UTEP to participate in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program, designed to address the nation’s growing need for safe, efficient and environmentally friendly movement of people and goods.
The program is a consortium with institutions in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and New Mexico that is designed to enable students, faculty, USDOT, and institutions to collaborate at a high level to promote national interest in transportation research and education.
Each UTC brings together two-year and four-year colleges and universities to form a unique center of transportation excellence on specific research topics. EPCC students were put in contact with UTEP students and faculty specializing in the topic.
The students visited labs, listened to presentations and discussed the transportation research they will embark on next year. “This partnership allows EPCC to work closely with UTEP to prepare students for careers in the transportation industry,” said Becky Escamilla, Dean of Arts, Architecture, Mathematics and Sciences at Valle Verde Valley.
Through this program, EPCC students enrolled in academic disciplines related to public transportation will learn about careers, as well as better understand the academic opportunities they can pursue at the baccalaureate level and beyond.
EPCC Mathematics Professor Ivette Chuca, faculty coordinator for the fellowship, said students will join UTEP students to participate in research throughout the fall and spring semesters, as well as a week-long immersion camp.
Both UTEP and EPCC will also form Transportation Leadership Councils to enhance cooperation and advance research initiatives.
According to USDOT, UTCs continue to improve and transform the nation’s transportation system, keeping it in sync with our nation’s economic, environmental and social goals. As a result of the UTC program, EPCC and UTEP will contribute to the advancement of technology and expertise in the many disciplines that comprise transportation through education, solution-oriented research and technology transfer, as well as the exploration and exchange of cutting-edge ideas and approaches.
