The Sustainable Transportation Education Program (STEP) is a collaborative effort with North Carolina State University's NC Solar Center in the College of Engineering and the College of Education. STEP is a program educating middle and high school students on sustainable transportation and the current shift towards the electrification of transportation. The purpose of the STEP program is to prepa
re students to become immersed in learning about the electrification of transportation and careers. The program provides teacher training and curricula on electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Smart Grid, alternative fuels, and careers in science, engineering, and technology while providing application to the automotive and supporting infrastructure. The STEP curricula is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) based program that includes problem-solving, critical thinking, and inquiry-based learning with relevance to real world issues. STEP includes a hands-on component which in year one will include radio control electric vehicles with students learning about battery technologies, powertrain, chassis design, and other related topics. The STEP State Competition will be held May 5, 2012 at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation on the campus of NC State University with a range, speed, design, and plug-in with focus on a battery technologies, and charging stations. In the batteries competition, students design and construct for the race, a solar powered charging station for their vehicle. The team includes:
Dr. Bill Deluca, Technology Education-College of Education
Dr. Pam Carpenter, College of Engineering
Dr. Nasim Lari, Research Assistant
Mr. Erik Schettig, Research Assistant
Mr. Michael G. Thornton, Program Coordinator-NC Solar Center
