Public Transportation Education: Inventory and Recommendations on Curricula
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 144, Issue 3
Abstract
Public transportation systems provide the opportunity for efficient and sustainable mobility. Twenty-first century technological innovation, as well as efforts to promote alternative modes such as bus, light rail, and heavy rail systems, encourages improvement within the field. As the field innovates, transportation engineering education must adapt to prepare and attract the next generation of public transportation engineers. The primary objective of this study is to investigate existing public transportation engineering courses throughout the US (sample of 145 schools) to provide recommendations for future course development. The investigation includes a spatial inventory, a comparison of topical coverage, and an identification of new topics to be incorporated in future course development. The results show that approximately 30% of civil engineering programs evaluated offer at least one public transportation course, with 98% of the courses evaluated offered at the graduate level. Program recommendations, such as including topical coverage on high speed rail and connections to automated vehicles, are provided with the goal of enhancing and expanding the field of public transportation engineering.
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Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 144 • Issue 3 • July 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 7, 2017
Accepted: Dec 18, 2017
Published online: Apr 11, 2018
Published in print: Jul 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Sep 11, 2018
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