In Rail Innovation in Action, created in partnership with Lemelson-MIT, 9th-12th graders will explore and develop innovations in rail transportation.? For Fall 2024, students will discover real world challenges and the latest innovations in MOTIVE POWER: the energy used to power locomotives. Each student will be coasting through virtual tours, completing lab simulations, and will work together as a dev team to launch their own railway invention alongside real industry professionals.
Rail Innovation in Action is a 6-week course offering exploration into cutting-edge innovations in railway transportation. Students will be honing research and invention development skills transferrable to college and beyond! Guest experts in the modern rail industry will talk about some of the challenges facing railroading, and additional program content includes lab simulations, virtual tours, group exercises, Q&A sessions, and career mentor chats talks with railway professionals. Rail Innovation in Action aims to build intergenerational networks of experts who inform, coach and mentor young learners while they prototype their own inventions. At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to present their own solutions to real-world issues affecting the current and future railroad industry. Students can recruit a high school teacher and other team members and apply with their projects to the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams national grants initiative.