Education
Developing the thinkers, doers, and leaders who are the future of the mobility industry
Tennessee’s long-term leadership in the mobility industry depends on preparing the workforce with a range of relevant skills. This includes skills developed through STEM undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as those gained through technical apprenticeships and other workforce development programs.
Academics
UT offers students unrivaled access to real-world research opportunities with premier laboratories and industry partners. Our faculty integrate research-driven insights into course curricula to make students’ academic experiences even more valuable.
We welcome undergraduate students, including those in their first year, to get involved in research through internships, co-ops, and experiential learning through the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. Many undergraduate research opportunities come with opportunities to travel, network, and present findings.
Our graduate students pursue research and hands-on experience through traditional avenues, like graduate research assistantships, in addition to other opportunities unique to UT:
- The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, which matches UT students with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and provides access to the lab’s world-class facilities.
- The Volkswagen PhD Fellows program, which hires PhD students each year to work as Volkswagen employees while working on their doctorate at UT.
- PoTENNial, a design-oriented, hands-on traineeship focused on the use of wide bandgap semiconductors in power electronics.
“When our students graduate, they already understand their future employer’s biggest problems and the cutting-edge solutions to those problems. They’re ready to make their stamp on the company they choose.”
—Kevin Heaslip, Professor and Director of the Center for Transportation Research
Explore Student Experiences
CURENT
Power electronics students from the Center for Ultra-Wide Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT) showcase their work at the IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Expo, the world’s largest power electronics conference.
Senior Design Capstone
Four undergraduates focused their senior capstone experiences on creating multimodal infrastructure at a reasonable cost for the ongoing redesign of Alcoa Highway. The students’ work integrates pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure to better serve local needs.
Workforce Development
Workforce development is vital for Tennessee to compete successfully in the mobility innovation economy. Our state’s workforce must be prepared to attract new manufacturing employment and investment opportunities.
This is why we integrate workforce development into our research projects. Notably, workforce development is one of three core priorities for our work in TEAM TN—Technology-Enabled Advanced Mobility—a statewide coalition of more than 100 partners led by UT and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Through TEAM TN, we support STEM and mobility-related upskilling, reskilling, and education programs. We aim to empower more Tennesseans, especially in underserved and rural communities, to gain sought-after skills. Ultimately, we envision a positive feedback loop: a prepared workforce attracts stable, high-quality jobs, these jobs provide greater economic opportunities for Tennessee’s workers, and more workers are encouraged to learn the relevant skills.
We’re also proud to advance workforce development through the impacts of our research: our work contributes to safe, reliable, affordable ways for diverse individuals to travel to training centers, social services, and workplaces.