VTCA Contributes to Workshop for K-12 STEM Teachers

	STEM teachers explore friction using fish scales.

VTCA members and staff were at the Hotel Roanoke on November 16 to help K-12 STEM teachers implement engineering problem-based learning (PBL) in the classroom. 

PBL is a core concept of the Donna Sterling Institute, an annual workshop organized through the Virginia Association of Science Teachers (VAST).  This year’s central theme was sustainability of transportation infrastructure. 

VTCA’s contribution included the presentation of a case study on sustainable pavements, which discussed the relative importance of recycling, the use of locally sourced raw materials, and the interaction of pavements and their users.  Kevin McGhee, VTCA’s Program Manager for Engineering Consultants and Associates made the presentation. Jake Gusler of Boxley then helped answer questions about how aggregate characteristics contribute to pavement properties, which are key to optimizing vehicle-pavement interaction.  Jake and Kevin were then joined by Josh Lawrence from MBP for a panel discussion where they talked about how they had come to work in the transportation/mining engineering fields, what it has taken to be successful, and the prospects for young STEM students who might want to work in the transportation field.