An engineering summer camp for rising 9th–12th graders
June 10–14, 2024
A Hybrid Experience: Half Online, Half Residential
Cost: $25 registration fee.
Registration is now closed. You will receive details by email to complete your application through Penn State Altoona’s Office of Continuing Education.
Once applications are received and reviewed through Michigan Tech, student applicants will need to complete a separate registration form through Penn State Altoona. This will include the $25 registration fee. Details will be sent directly to applicants by email starting in April.
Please note that preference will be given to students who did not attend last year.
About the Camp
The “Tracks to the Future” camp is a competitive engineering summer program that offers high school students an exciting opportunity to investigate careers and education paths toward today’s rail transportation industry and beyond. This is a week-long camp that will include two days of virtual activities at your home, a travel day, and then two days of in-person activities on the Penn State Altoona campus in Altoona, PA. Through a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), all costs for the program will be covered. Students will only need to pay a $25 non-refundable processing fee. Students will also be responsible for transportation to and from the Penn State Altoona campus.
Students will engage with university faculty from Penn State, the University of Illinois, and Michigan Technological University to learn about modern railroad tracks and structures, explore railway equipment from around the globe, and analyze the latest train operations, communication, and control systems. They will learn how rail transportation compares with other modes and how railways lead the charge in energy efficiency and in reducing transportation greenhouse gas emissions. Students will participate in both online and residential activities, hands-on design competitions, and field trips to local and regional railroad transportation hotspots.
The funding, provided the Federal Railroad Administration, includes all materials plus camp staffing, overnight accommodations, and meals for the on-campus portion of the program. Campers are responsible for their own travel expenses to and from the Penn State Altoona campus.