Bose tours university’s Center for Railway Safety, meets with students
Friday, August 2, 2024
Science and Technology, Around Campus, Community, Research
By Maria Gonzalez
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – AUG. 2, 2024 – UTRGV recently hosted Amit Bose, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), who visited with the university’s next generation of engineers and transportation experts through UTRGV Summer Camps.
The camps, hosted by the University Transportation Center for Railway Safety, began with a welcome from Dr. Constantine Tarawneh, Louis A. Beecherl Jr. Endowed Professor and UTCRS director, who accompanied Bose in meeting with more than 1,000 K-12 camp participants.
Bose emphasized the integral role of transportation in shaping daily life, along with the diverse career opportunities it offers.
“Those of us at the FRA, some based in the nation's capital and others in field offices across the country, see transportation as our career, a career I hope many of the students here today will consider pursuing,” he said.
Bose emphasized the importance of creativity and persistence in transportation and pointed to STEM's critical role in sustaining and growing America's networks.
“STEM skills are crucial across the railroad sector, with growing demand spurred by significant investments like President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law,” he said.
As he toured the UTCRS summer camp facilities, Bose engaged with students, praising their commitment to STEM during their summer break.
“It's great to see the good work you're doing,” he said. “We need more people in these fields and your dedication is inspiring.”
Bose outlined the FRA’s responsibilities, including overseeing national railroad safety, and encouraged students to view those efforts as steppingstones to careers in rail.
“At the Federal Railroad Administration, we oversee railroad safety nationwide, from freight to passenger railroads, and we look forward to seeing you in these fields one day,” he said.
The visit included a stop at UTRGV's Hi-Bay research facilities in the Engineering Building, where Bose met with graduate and undergraduate students and observed their projects.
Tarawneh emphasized the importance of Bose’s visit.
“Having FRA officials tour our research facilities, and seeing our students working firsthand, is impactful,” he said. “It shows our students the importance of their work and how they are shaping the next generation of the workforce in this field.”
The visit concluded with a closing ceremony for the 2024 UTCRS STEM Summer Camps, where Bose delivered a keynote address to more than 400 attendees.
“I would like to congratulate UTRGV and these strong efforts to ensure that more students, at early ages, have access to STEM opportunities and vast knowledge of the transportation field and the opportunities it offers,” he said.
The UTCRS summer camps, established nearly a decade ago, have introduced more than 10,000 K-12 students and 1,000 teachers to engineering, with a focus on hands-on learning and real-world STEM applications.
The four-week camps annually host about 1,150 students, Tarawneh said, and are aligned with the transportation center’s mission to reduce railway-related fatalities and injuries through hands-on learning and real-world STEM applications.
“Many times, kids lack confidence. They think, ‘Engineering is not for me, it’s too difficult,’” he said. “But these camps provide them a window into the future.”
Francisco Romo, a participating teacher from Henry B. Gonzalez Elementary in La Joya ISD, said the program has had an impact not just on his students, but also on his teaching.
“This experience is truly one of a kind, where we get to see the perspective of others and, more importantly, learn from each other," he said. “The most enjoyable part is hearing students go from ‘programming is hard’ to ‘programming is fun.’ Or, one of my favorites, ‘I will never see a train the same way again.’”
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.