News | Research Spotlight: PSR Publishes Newest Phase of Innovative Talent Pipeline Project

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METRANS

by METRANS Staff

 
 
A new report from Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) researchers validates the feasibility of university-industry partnerships and their ability to support the development of multi-tiered curricula to empower workforce development in the transportation and mobility sector. The talent pipelines piloted in the study demonstrate the unique opportunities enabled by an alignment between educational programs and industry engagement, with an eye towards a period of rapid technological and socioeconomic change that researchers, philanthropists, and policymakers have called the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” (4IR). The report was authored by Dr. Tyler Reeb, Executive Director at CITT, Dr. Barbara Taylor, Interim Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs at CSULB, and James Reuter, Project Manager at CITT.
 
 
“The incredible rate of technological change and advancement that we are currently experiencing and the traditionally slow pace of curricular change in higher education are incompatible. At the same time, half of currently enrolled undergraduates question whether the degree they are getting is worth the time or the cost they are spending to get it. The best way for higher education to adapt to the demands of students and the changing workforce is to partner with employers to align curriculum to current industry needs,” said Taylor.
 
 
The authors documented and assessed the implementation of two talent pipeline pilots. First, an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Engineering Talent Pipeline was implemented at CSULB, as recommended by Reeb and Park (2023) [link: https://transweb.sjsu.edu/assets/upload/news/2144-Reeb-Trade-Transportation-Talent-Pipeline-Blueprints_0.pdf]. This involved developing a specialized curriculum in the spring semester, followed by three internship opportunities at Gannett-Fleming, a prominent global engineering firm. A second talent pipeline pilot was developed in coordination with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a renowned leader in space exploration and satellite technology. The authors closely studied the efficacy of the talent pipelines in close collaboration with students, faculty, and industry partners.
 
 
A stakeholder survey conducted in Spring 2023 recorded near-universal support for pursuing university-industry partnerships, with 97% of CSULB faculty and staff and external stakeholders supporting the concept. The CSU system has ready homes for these partnerships in their Colleges of Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) and in the centers and institutes within their Offices of Research and Sponsored Programs. PACE units grant industry, government, and non-profits access to the university’s research and development resources while granting the university access to the real-time, on-the-ground workforce needs of employers for its educational activities. The research found that these partnerships are supported by a range of industry experts and stakeholders and can mitigate career choice uncertainty that students experience prior to program completion.
 
 
Reeb, Taylor, and Reuter thank the researchers in the Earth Science Section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, specifically, Dr. Eric Larour, Section Director; Dr. Joshua Cuzzone, Research Affiliate; and Dr. Daniel Cheng, JPL Postdoctoral Fellow, who led the data science workshop and mentored student interns from CSULB. The authors are also grateful to Patrick Son, PE Director of Advanced Mobility Services at Gannett Fleming and our partners at the Mineta Transportation Institute for supporting this work. The full report can be read here [https://transweb.sjsu.edu/research/2333-Trade-Transportation-Education-Training-Data-Science].