Educational Activities
STEM Education for Middle & High School Students
Each summer, the University of Memphis engages, educates, and excites Memphis area students and teachers with two fast-paced interactive programs involving a number of activities designed to motivate and challenge participants to explore engineering. The Girls Experiencing Engineering Program (GEE) targets middle and high school aged girls. The male version of the program is called Transportation Engineering Careers (TREC).
Freight Transportation Leadership Academy
The Academy is a 4-part certification program targeted for mid-to-upper level executive positions that fills an important industry need. It is concise, affordable professional primer that teaches leadership skills, offers hands-on experience through "field trips" to see each mode in action, and provides participants a total understanding of the transportation industry and its connectivity. The Academy is creating a pipeline for future industry leaders. Click here for more information.
Partnership with Memphis City Schools
The Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration has awarded the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program grant to Wooddale High School in partnership with the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute (IFTI) at the University of Memphis for their proposed Memphis Transportation Engineering Careers (TREC) project. Read More...
U of M's IFTI and Russian University Agree to Exchange Program
The Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute (IFTI) at the University of Memphis hosted a delegation of 20 Russian logistics professionals as part of the International Trade Administration Special American Business Internship Training (SABIT) Program Nov. 18-20, 2013.
During the program, the U of M and Volga State Academy of Water Transport signed a memorandum of agreement to hold scientific, educational and cultural exchanges. Dr. Andy Meyers, U of M vice provost for Research, signed the agreement on behalf of Interim President Brad Martin.
IFTI arranged a three-day freight transportation course for the Russian professionals that included time with several IFTI research faculty members to learn about the four modes of transportation and IFTI's research specialties, presentations from the Memphis logistics industry (BNSF, Commercial Advisors, CN Railway, Dunavant Logistics, FedEx, and JAMAC Logistics) and a few technical tours to the CN Hump Yard, BNSF Intermodal Yard and the FedEx night sort. This is the fourth year that IFTI has hosted a SABIT group.
"We are overwhelmed by the opportunity to solidify this international partnership with a transportation university in Russia. Partnerships like these truly signify the global impact of our research," says Dan Pallme, IFTI interim director. "This agreement impacts our current and future students by expanding their breadth of opportunities."
The International Trade Association, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, strengthens the competitiveness of U.S. industry, promotes trade and investment, and ensures fair trade through the rigorous enforcement of trade laws and agreements.
Transportation Modeling Workshop
Dr. Mike Golias, Assistant Professor with the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis explained and demonstrated a new integrated transportation model developed for the Memphis, TN metropolitan area for approximately 20 Memphis area industry and government leaders on June 29, 2012.
The model links traditional software used for transportation planning applications such as TRANSCAD, with simulation tools such as PARAMICS and micro analysis models such as SYNCHRO. With this integrated package, analysts can evaluate the impacts of various infrastructure and operations alternatives on the transportation network. The analyses can be performed quickly with a minimum investment in data preparation. MPOs, DOTs, emergency responders, and others can use the model to evaluate projects. Potential applications include measuring the impact of a new intermodal rail facility on the roadway network, evaluating the impacts of major new developments such as large retail or commercial clusters, and determining best practices to respond to road incidents.