Transportation, Infrastructure, and the Environment

Mr. Garrett Morgan, an African American inventor and innovator, designed what we know today as the three-position traffic signal.This year's Junior Engineers Tomorrow's Scientists (JETS) program will pay homage to this great engineer and focus on transportation, infrastructure and the environment.

Classes will be offered in the following categories. Students may sign up for one class but will need to rank their class choices.

All of the JETS classes are taught by professional engineers and scientists. Classes will take place on Thursday evenings from 6:00-8:00p.m. starting January 14 2021-May 6, 2021.

Aerospace Engineering – Students will learn about drone technology, airplanes, and how they fit into the overall transportation infrastructure. Students will research and discuss some of the new ideas of having commuter plane-like cars for transportation usage (i.e., drones with people inside).  

This class is for grades 6-10.

Bridge Engineering – Students will learn the engineering concepts of designing and building the world's most famous bridges. Students will build balsa wood bridges using the design criteria they learn in the classes.  

This class is for grades 6-10.

Construction – Students will learn the planning strategies that construction professionals use to build the most beautiful buildings, roads, bridges, and shopping malls in the world. Students will build structures to support the transportation infrastructure for the 2021 JETS program. 

This class is for Middle School students.

Computer Science – Students will learn how to design and build software from scratch, starting from creating a concept idea, defining requirements, and writing real code. By the end of class, students will know how to design and build software/programming language for electric cars to protect the environment.  

 This class is for High School students.

Civil Engineering – Students will learn how civil engineers design roads, highways, bike paths, skate parks, and running trails using green construction concepts to protect the environment. Students will design and build their city and complete transportation infrastructure. 

 This class is for grades 6-10.

Fun with Microcontrollers – Students will learn about Auto Intensity Control of Street Lights using a simple circuit that automatically controls streetlights; intensity, designed using a microcontroller and LEDs.

This class is for 5th grade.

Project Management – Students will learn how project managers plan, schedule, and develop budgets to build multimillion-dollar transportation projects for major cities worldwide. Project managers will be responsible for planning the entire transportation and infrastructure system for the 2021 JETS program.  

This class is for grades 11 and 12.