New Professor Letter

Faculty Grant Opportunity for Railway Engineering Education Symposium (REES)
 
High rates of retirement, combined with projected growth in the railway industry and renewed interest in high-speed passenger rail research and deployment across our communities, have resulted in a substantial increase in the railway industry’s need to hire new civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering graduates.  Current railway engineering education at universities across North America is limited, which causes difficulty in attracting students to the railway engineering profession.
 
To support anticipated academic needs to meet this emerging engineering challenge, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) is offering a Railway Engineering Education Symposium (REES) this June 15-16, 2022 at the University of Illinois Chicago.  REES will provide practical, hands-on, railway engineering lecture materials through an online portal to registered REES faculty participants, with the goal of encouraging and supporting their interest in adding railway engineering content to their current engineering courses and curricula.  REES has been held bi-annually since 2008, with each event attracting over 25 engineering faculty from across the US and Canada.  We are inviting you to be our guest at this year’s REES, where you can meet and collaborate with other engineering professors on railway teaching and research.  It is no coincidence that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have invested in the future of railways in North America.  The needs are great, but the educators are few – we need you!
 
REES content modules, suitable for classroom presentations, are available online for downloading and review prior to the event.  A field tour will occur on the afternoon of June 16.  The tour will give you the chance to see Chicago’s integrated dispatching center and a Class I Railroad terminal facilities. These two opportunities illustrate the possibility of conducting organized field trips in cooperation with railways or railroad suppliers as part of your instructional activities, as well as some of the lab instruction possibilities that may be appropriate in your institution. Here is the tentative agenda.

If you are unable to attend in-person, we plan to offer a virtual option.  As an in-person guest, documented travel expenses (airfare, hotel or student apartment, and car rental) for REES 2022 will be reimbursed by AREMA up to a $750 maximum.  In addition, all meals during the symposium will be provided.  If you are unable to attend, but one of your colleagues would be interested in attending this event, we encourage you to provide this event information to them if they have not previously attended REES.  Travel reimbursement for new faculty attendees at REES 2022 is limited to 15, and spots will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, so please respond as soon as possible to increase your chances of attending.  REES alumni are welcome to attend, and funding is available to reimburse travel expenses for a limited number on a first-come, first-served basis.  
 
The deadline for responses is Friday, April 29, 2022.  Please send the attached completed Professor Application Form to meetings@arema.org and select in-person or virtual attendance.  
 
Sincerely,

Elizabeth S. Caruso, IOM, CAE
Executive Director 
AREMA Educational Foundation