By Maria Gonzalez
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – JULY 12, 2023 – UTRGV's University Transportation Center for Railway Safety (UTCRS) recently hosted its inaugural advisory board meeting, marking an important milestone in its commitment to enhancing railway safety.
The meeting brought together industry experts to align workforce development and implementation strategies with the evolving needs of the U.S. rail transportation industry.
Kim Bowling, director of Wayside Diagnostics at CSX Transportation, emphasized the significance of collaborative efforts.
"We are making sure to bring the view of the industry to the research being done at UTCRS, to make sure the two align and improve the safety and reliability of our fleet and national rail operations," Bowling said.
In part, the center’s focus for advisory board meetings is to leverage the expertise of industry leaders to identify innovative solutions, address challenges, and ultimately enhance safety measures across the railway sector.
Dr. Constantine Tarawneh, senior associate dean of the UTRGV College of Engineering and Computer Science and director of the UTCRS, said the goal is to produce knowledge that is relevant to the railway industry.
“That will help us shape the direction of the center to help the university, the students and the industry,” he said.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
The meeting also served as a platform to underscore the center's commitment to workforce development.
Dr. Gary Fry, vice president of Fry Technical Services Inc., highlighted the center's lasting impact on workforce development and the transformative effect on families.
“UTCRS has impacted generation after generation," he said. “Many elementary students who participated in UTCRS's first stem camp – 12 years ago – are now professional and practicing engineers."
The workforce and business goals underscore one of the core missions of the UTCRS: to develop and graduate engineering professionals who are well-prepared to tackle and solve the challenges the transportation industry faces today and in the future.
Tarawneh said the primary strategic goal of UTCRS is to ensure the safety of railway systems. And with its firm commitment to reducing the number of accidents experienced in rail transportation systems, he said, the UTCRS strives to enhance safety standards and practices throughout the industry.
"We want to help transform the industry by ensuring that we conduct conditioning monitoring in a better and safer way to avoid derailments," Tarawneh said. "Together with the advisory board members, we aim to explore how we can work together to ensure that our center's projects are synergistic."
During the meeting – held June 29-30 on the UTRGV Edinburg Campus – members of the the advisory board also had a chance to provide feedback to UTCRS researchers on their project proposals, and were given a tour of UTCRS facilities. They also were able to observe the final competitions for the UTCRS STEM Summer Camps.
To learn more about UTCRS, visit https://www.utrgv.edu/railwaysafety/index.htm.
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.
