The Role of the Puerto Rico Transportation Technology Transfer Center in the Enhancement of Engineering Education

Published in: Engineering for a Smarter Planet: Innovation, ITC, and Computational Tools for Sustainable Development: Proceedings of the 9th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology
Date of Conference: August 3-5, 2011
Location of Conference: Medellin, Colombia
Authors: Felipe Luyanda-Villafañe
Benjamín Colucci-Ríos
Refereed Paper: #175

Abstract

The Puerto Rico Transportation Technology Transfer Center of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez will celebrate this year its 25 th anniversary serving the engineering education market in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. This service has been accomplished at various levels including continuous education to engineers and technicians that are working for the transportation agencies and the municipalities, specialized education and professional development programs related to urban transit systems to students primarily from the University of Puerto Rico and coordination of special programs and activities to provide additional education opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students.
The continuous education has been provided through a comprehensive seminar program consisting of technical and supporting topics related to transportation related tasks. The specialized and professional development programs were related to the various phases of the construction of the “Tren Urbano” and to its operation in the Metropolitan Area of San Juan, Capital of Puerto Rico. This special transit program provided economic support to students through fellowships in order to create interest towards the transportation engineering profession and a market of highly trained engineers that could contribute in the enhancement of the specialized transit field. This paper provides a general description of the Puerto Rico Transportation Technology Transfer Center and a detailed description of the various activities that have contributed to the enhancement of engineering education.