AV Technology and Area High School Students: A Winning Combination
By Barbara Moreno, WTS-DC
March 2022
Understanding robotics is key for anyone looking to build a career in engineering, and the students at McKinley Tech and Dunbar High Schools are no exception. Robotics naturally lends itself to Automated Vehicle (AV) technology, so WTS-DC’s Transportation YOU Committee worked with staff at both schools to supplement the staffs’ existing lesson plans with some fun AV guest speakers.
On March 14, 2022, Tiffany Dubinsky, a Statewide Transit Planning Manager at the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation, spoke to over 40 engineering students at McKinley Tech about her AV work in the state and the region. One of the most exciting parts of the lecture was when she discussed the applications that AV has for public transit and showed clips of local jurisdictions using AV technology on their local shuttle transport systems, which ignited a lively discussion for the future engineers in the classroom.
Then, on March 15, 2022, engineering students at Dunbar High School experienced a series of presentations about electric vehicles. Laura Garcia, Director of Automotive Programs at Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria Campus (NOVA), kicked off the event by speaking about the maintenance, repair, and safety protocol aspects of working with electric vehicles and high-charge batteries. And she would know! Not only is Ms. Garcia in charge of automotive programs at NOVA, which includes a course specifically about EV hybrids, but she is a master automotive technician herself. Ms. Garcia explained the intricacies of hybrid motors and the simplicity of electric vehicle motors–as well as how high voltage batteries are manufactured and perform in the field.
Deepak Gopalakrishna, Vice President at ICF International, followed with an introduction to the concept of scenario-based planning and described different futures that could result from wide-scale adoption of electric and autonomous vehicle technologies in our everyday lives. Students, we were told, still had vivid pictures of those potential future scenarios weeks afterward -- a helpful reminder of how impactful it can be for students to see and hear from transportation professionals in their classroom.
WTS-DC thanks Ms. Dubinsky, Ms. Garcia, and Mr. Gopalakrishna for offering their time and talents to the Transportation YOU Program and area high school students.