Q3 Project 4: Pathways

July ’25 Updates

Project lead: Jennifer Ramos-Chavez, University of Texas at El Paso, & Brandon Allen, Purdue University

Families building EV microkarts at the CU Precollege Engineering program family STEM night at Flatirons Elementary School.

Events:

Researching Experience and Mentoring (REM) Program Continues: Summer-Fall 2025

2024 REM students building EV go-karts as a part of the REM program.

Purdue is continuing to engage high school students from Purdue Polytechnic, a program designed to prepare students for success beyond graduation, in the REM program in Summer-Fall 2025. This third edition of the program will continue to teach students Electrified Transportation System concepts by providing them with STEM & professional resources in addition to hands-on experiences. Students have opportunities to study and build EV go-karts, then race them in the Purdue Grand Prix, a student-run organization that raises funds for engineering scholarships.

NSTA National Conference on Science Education

On March 29, Jennifer Ramos-Chavez represented ASPIRE at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) national conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She presented her research entitled “Connecting the Dots: Examining Student Engagement and Understanding of Socio-Environmental Factors Through StoryMaps on the Parallels of Air Quality, Transportation, and Engineering.

2025 ASEE Annual Conference

An international collaboration of engineering educators gathered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the 2025 American Society for Engineering Education conference on June 22-25. This year brought another exciting opportunity to host the 2025 Purdue Road School Transportation Conference and Expo. ASPIRE representatives presented two Creative Engineering Design (CED) related papers.

Discover more details about the 2025 ASEE Annual Conference here.

EV Ride and Drive Event

UTEP students and faculty participated in an EV Ride and Drive Event hosted by El Past Electric and held in Las Cruces, New Mexico. There, ASPIRE’s work and efforts were disseminated and the group helped build learning about EVs with attendees, which included over 150+ community member who were able to text drive several EV models. In addition to engaging in meaningful conversations about their research, participants had the opportunity to test drive several EVs, including the Mustang Mach-E, Hundai Ioniq 5, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Tesla Cybertruck.

Publications:

  • A literature review for the USU Credentialing programs report was conducted.
  • The ASPIRE K-12 Hub on TeachEngineering (TE) is now featured on the new TE community of Practice (CoP) webpage. The TE CoP aims to democratize engineering education, support educators, and guide students in fostering engineering skills and interests. The ASPIRE Creative Engineering Design Curriculum and other ASPIRE K-12 resources contribute to these goals.
    • Click here to check out the new ASPIRE curriculum!

Additional Highlights:

For Year 6, the Student Leadership Council (SLC) is being redesigned. Now known as the Council of Presidents, members are the presidents and vice presidents from their university’s ASA program. Members will also participate in a Student Leadership Retreat during the first quarter.

Most campus applications are still open, so reach out to your campus directors for more information on applying!