Principal Investigator(s):
Gina Baas, Deputy Director, Center for Transportation Studies
Project summary:
Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies continue to advance in the areas of demonstrations, testing, and research. Minnesota leaders have recognized that it is critical for the state to prepare now for their eventual broad deployment on Minnesota roads. In 2019, Governor Tim Walz established a second Governor's Advisory Council on Connected and Automated Vehicles to continue work done in this area under Governor Mark Dayton.
One of the key areas of interest for the council is workforce development. New types of knowledge and skills will be needed to support this deployment in the future. This inevitably means new career paths and options. It will be important to attract people into these new paths in order to sustain them. As a state, Minnesota typically has a low unemployment rate which means CAV-related jobs and careers will be competing for existing and future talent.
The purpose of this project is to develop and deliver a one-week summer CAV Career Pathways Camp for high school students (grades 10-12) during the summer of 2021. During the camp, students will participate in sessions and activities to educate them about these technologies; will have opportunities to view demonstrations of the technologies; and will meet with professionals and academics to learn more about the educational and career opportunities that CAVs provide. The goal is to create a camp curriculum and evaluate its effectiveness with the student age group we've selected for the camp. If successful, we will pursue funding to offer the camp on a competitive selection basis in future years.