2024 Rail Innovation in Action

Presented by the California State Railroad Museum & the Lemelson-MIT Program.

Program Updates

Applications are CLOSED for 2024
Contact us at [email protected] if you would like to be added to our contact list for future programs.

Overview

Railroading doesn’t just have a past—it has a present, and a bright future. This future depends on the people who join its ranks and what problem-solving skills they bring to the party. People just like you!

Program Details

This program is a joint effort between the California State Railroad Museum and the Lemelson-MIT Program (LMIT), and is financially supported by the California State Railroad Museum Foundation.

Online interactive program
Six-week course on Saturdays
11:00am - 2:00pm PDT / 2:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
September 28 to November 2, 2024
Open for 9th-12th grade students
For students of all interests and backgrounds
Free for participants!

POWER!

Motive power is the subject of focus for the 2024 pilot year of Rail Innovation in Action.

This online program will identify real-world issues related to powering trains which affect the current and future railroad industry.

Topics include the current layout of the US railway system, improvements to diesel electric locomotives, electrification and high-speed rail, and alternative fuels.

Guest speakers include those from Brightline, California High-Speed Rail Authority, Caltrain, MobilityData, MxV Rail, San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission/San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, and Siemens Mobility!

Meet Our Speakers View 2024 Speakers

Our expert speakers are coming from across the rail industry,
and we are honored to have them be a part of this program.

How to Apply

Students who will be in 9th-12th grade for the 2024-25 school year are welcome to apply for California State Railroad Museum & Lemelson-MIT’s "Rail Innovation in Action" program.

Applications are CLOSED

If you are interested in participating in this program in the future, please contact [email protected] to be added to our RIA contact list.

Prior knowledge of or interest in railroading is not required to participate in this program. Students should expect to spend 1-2 hours per week on this program, in addition to the online session times.

The online program is offered at no cost. Priority may be given to students from low-income households and groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields.

Rail Innovation in Action is open to anyone in the world, with the exception of United States embargoed countries (Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, or the Crimea, Donetsk People’s Republic or Luhansk People’s Republic areas of Ukraine), regardless of age, nationality, gender identity, cultural identity, or political viewpoint. US law prevents MIT from providing services to persons ordinarily resident in Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, or the Crimea, Donetsk People’s Republic, or Luhansk People’s Republic areas of Ukraine and to parties blocked by the US Treasury Department.

More about Rail Innovation in Action

This unique opportunity offers an exploration into cutting-edge innovations in railway transportation. Students will be honing research and invention development skills transferrable to higher academia and future endeavors.

Guest experts in the modern rail industry will talk about some of the challenges facing railroading, and additional program content includes lab simulations, virtual tours, group exercises, Q&A sessions, and watercooler career talks with railway professionals. Rail Innovation in Action aims to build intergenerational networks of experts who inform, coach and mentor young learners while they prototype their own inventions. Meet our speakers!

At the end of the six-week course, students will have an opportunity to present their own solutions to real-world issues affecting the current and future railroad industry.

Students can recruit a high school teacher and other team members and apply with their projects to the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams national grants initiative.

More About LMIT

The Lemelson-MIT Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a national leader in advancing invention education. They inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. Their work focuses on the expansion of opportunities for all young people to learn ways inventors find and solve problems that matter.

LMIT is devoted to bringing invention education opportunities to students, through which they identify problems, develop inventions, protect their intellectual property, and commercialize their creations.

LMIT also helps educators and partners create invention education opportunities in their communities that begin in the early years and continue through college.

“We want people to discover challenges they can help solve if they choose to pursue a college or career path related to the transportation sector.”

Stephanie Couch, Executive Director of Lemelson-MIT