An unusual partnership: Transportation engineering outreach and Spanish translation program

There is a critical need to identify ways to reach future transportation professional early and increase minority representation in the transportation workforce. This paper discusses Vamos!, a free Spanish e-zine designed to increase awareness among Hispanic teens and Spanish speaking youths about careers and educational opportunities in transportation. Vamos! is published by a transportation research institute at a large Midwestern university. The paper discusses the motivations and beginnings of Vamos!, summarizes efforts to develop the e-zine, and the outcomes of these efforts. These strategies have the potential to address current financial challenges faced by US academic programs, especially in the areas of outreach and workforce development. In 2009 Vamos! was established as the Spanish version of Go!, which is a successful online magazine in English on educational and career opportunities in transportation. Since August 2010 Vamos! has involved two unlikely partners: the Institute for Transportation (InTrans) and the Spanish program at Iowa State University (ISU). The partnership began as a class experiment in a Spanish translation course. This has evolved into a promising internship program involving students, faculty, and community members. This unusual network of support has sustained Vamos!, injected it with new perspectives and energy. Further, this initiative has helped raise the awareness among non-transportation student interns about transportation as a field of study and for career opportunities.