Middle school students learned about aviation, automated vehicles, bridges, public works, and more during an immersive two weeks at CTS’s ninth annual National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) in July.
Thirty campers going into seventh through ninth grades participated in the free summer program, which encourages students to engage with STEM and aims to attract them to transportation-related education and careers. The camp is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and CTS and administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).
This year’s activities included programming with Ozobots, giving students a glimpse at coding; an introduction to stratospheric ballooning and parachute-making from the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium team; and making chocolate “asphalt” cookies with MnDOT staff to learn how pavement materials are made. In other sessions provided by MnDOT staff, students experimented with an augmented reality sandbox to learn about construction surveying concepts and embarked on a campus-wide scavenger hunt for street design elements.
Campers interacted firsthand with connected and automated vehicles provided by The PLUM Catalyst. They also heard from CTS’s Gina Baas about her experience riding in a self-driving Waymo car. During a day focused on transportation safety, Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths program representatives discussed the dangers of impaired driving, and students got behind the wheel of a driving simulator in the Human Factors Safety Lab.
Throughout the week, campers took field trips to:
- Life Link III in Blaine, where they spoke with pilots and medical professionals, explored the inside of a helicopter and plane, and watched a helicopter take off.
- FedEx’s shipping facilities at MSP Airport, where they explored a cargo plane and saw firsthand what goes into shipping a package. Campers also visited the airport’s police and fire departments, where they saw a K-9 and water truck demo.
- The U’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, where they learned how researchers use water to study fluid flow, the environment, and energy.
- The University of Minnesota Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics for a demonstration of its wind tunnels and a flight simulator.
- Metro Transit, with stops at bus and Blue Line maintenance facilities.
- A construction site and sign shop with Hennepin County public works staff.
- Cemstone and Dakota Aggregates, where they learned about aggregate mining and concrete development. Campers toured the grounds, watched a 16-yard dredge at work, and crafted their own concrete figures.
