Curriculum Development Projects

NURail’s vision to expand rail education and workforce development takes on several forms:

1. The NURail Center will focus on the development of new courses, adding substantial breadth and depth to the existing courses in the U.S.
2. New short courses will be developed and taught, focusing on topics that are relevant to U.S. rail research and operational needs such as shared corridor operation, freight rail safety, urban transport, and high speed rail engineering
3. Expanded outreach efforts will be developed to attract grade and high school students to the field and meet the growing demand for new employees

All of these efforts will facilitate the training and development of a rail transportation and engineering workforce that is prepared to design, deploy, operate, and maintain the complex rail and multi-modal transportation systems of the future. Key focus areas within NURail’s educational program are high speed rail engineering, shared corridor infrastructure design and operation, and the continued challenges associated with increasing heavy-axle-load freight train operation and the steady increase in gross railcar loads. These education areas also map to NURail’s research thrusts, which belong at the center of any rail teaching and research program due to the unique aspects of U.S. rail operations.

The list below summarizes education projects currently in progress.

# NURail Project ID Project Title University Principal Investigator PI Contact Information Start Date End Date
1 NURail2012-MTU-E01 Rail and Intermodal Transportation Summer Youth Program MTU Lautala Phone: (906) 487-3547
Email: ptlautal@mtu.edu
6/1/2012 7/31/2013
2 NURail2012-MTU-E02 Railroad Engineering Education Symposium (REES) 2012 MTU Lautala Phone: (906) 487-3547
Email: ptlautal@mtu.edu
5/1/2012 6/30/2012
3 NURail2012-MTU-E03 Undergraduate Student Projects MTU Lautala Phone: (906) 487-3547
Email: ptlautal@mtu.edu
8/1/2012 1/31/2014
4 NURail2012-MTU-E04 Undergraduate Certificate in Rail Transportation/Engineering MTU Lautala Phone: (906) 487-3547
Email: ptlautal@mtu.edu
8/1/2012 1/31/2014
5 NURail2012-MTU-E05 Technology Transfer Seminar with MDOT MTU Lautala Phone: (906) 487-3547
Email: ptlautal@mtu.edu
6/1/2013 12/31/2013
6 NURail2012-MTU-E06 Converting Rail Course(s) to On-line Format MTU Lautala Phone: (906) 487-3547
Email: ptlautal@mtu.edu
TBD TBD
7 NURail2012-RHIT-E01 Development of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Railroad Engineering Course RHIT McKinney Phone: (812) 877-8335
Email: james.mckinney@rose-hulman.edu
2/1/2012 1/31/2014
8 NURail2012-UIC-E01 METRA Management Training UIC Schlickman Phone: (312) 355-3656
Email: sschlick@uic.edu
9/1/2012 6/30/2013
9 NURail2012-UIUC-E01 Hosting home schoolers visit to expose to railroad engineering UIUC Edwards Phone: (217) 244-7417
Email: jedward2@illinois.edu
3/1/2012 5/31/2012
10 NURail2012-UIUC-E02 Develop & teach graduate course in shared rail corridor engineering and transportation UIUC Barkan, Saat Phone: (217) 333-6974
Email: mohdsaat@illinois.edu
1/1/2012 7/31/2012
11 NURail2012-UKY-E01 REES Module and Intermodal Course Enhancement UKY Rose Phone: (859) 257-4278
Email: jrose@engr.uky.edu
5/1/2012 5/31/2013
12 NURail2012-UTK-E01 Develop Railway Engineering Modules for Materials Courses UTK Huang Phone: (865) 974-7713
Email: bhuang@utk.edu
7/1/2012 12/31/2013