Preparing Vehicle Technicians for Advanced Transportation Fuels

Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC) and partners are implementing the Preparing Vehicle Technicians for Advanced Transportation Fuels project. The project advances knowledge of the evolving transportation industry by training secondary and two-year college students, educators and incumbent workers in advanced transportation technologies and alternative fuels. Further, it provides hands-on experiences that directly correlate to real-life industry concepts through redesigned curricula, summer academies, teacher professional development, and technician training. Societal benefits include preparing the 21st century workforce in Kentucky and the nation to be knowledgeable of the evolving technologies that are transforming the transportation industry. Public science literacy is enhanced by offering opportunities for engagement with science and technology through a variety of outreach efforts such as a National Alternative Fuel Vehicles Day Odyssey.

Project objectives include: (1) providing training in advanced transportation technologies and alternative fuels to a minimum of 150 community college students;(2) exposing 150 high school students, particularly those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (females, underrepresented minorities, disabled, low-income, and first-generation college students), to the high-tech field of automotive and diesel technology through summer academy offerings; (3) providing training leading to an industry-endorsed certification in alternative fuels technologies to 100 incumbent workers employed in transportation industries; (4) providing professional development training in advances in the automotive and diesel technician industry to 90 high school and two-year college instructors who teach in STEM areas; and (5) promoting increased public engagement and awareness of science and technology used in the transportation industry to 1,000 citizens in Kentucky and surrounding states. Outcomes of the evaluation plan will inform the broader community on issues of innovative and evolving alternative fuels technologies, ways in which competencies in current fuel technologies may be assessed, and how the use of industry-validated certifications in an academic program supports increased skill levels of current automotive and diesel technicians.