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LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA — Garnering new partnerships and student opportunities, Lincoln University has been awarded a grant from the 2010 Dwight David Eisenhower HBCU Fellowship program for its Department of Business and Information Technology, a Center of Excellence. The fellowship, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration’s Technology Partnership Programs (TPP), provides a grant of $17,500 to three Lincoln University Business and Information Technology students. The objective of TPP is to “attract qualified students to the field of transportation and research, and advance transportation workforce development.”
The recipients and the awards are:
|
Shalisa Bethea |
Management & Finance |
$7,500 |
|
Jelani Faison |
Management & Information Technology |
$5,000 |
|
Denzil Mooney |
Information Technology & Finance |
$5,000 |
As a condition for the receipt of this funding, the three students have written an abstract and a collaborative report on the following topic:
Monorail – An Alternative to Current Transportation Systems in Urban, Suburban and Metropolitan Areas
Abstract:
Developed and developing societies need effective and efficient transportation systems as part of an infrastructural network for the movement of goods, services and people. Societies that are deficient in this area experience stagnation to their economic, financial and productive growth.
The history of the United States has been marked by advancements in its transportation capacities that have stoked changes in the organization of society, the way we live, travel, work and play. The growth of states, cities, towns, villages and manufacturing has also been a byproduct of advancements and evolution in transportation systems. Our civilization is partially dependent on modern transportation that is reliable, resourceful and realistic.
The current and most popular modes of transportation that dominates the American landscape are vehicular (bus, car, truck, taxis), airborne (passenger, freight), shipping (seaborne passenger, freight) rail (passenger, freight) and trucking. As America reindustrializes by modernizing its multitudinous infrastructures, there is a need to take a very hard look at an alternative form of transportation that has not been in widespread use, although the technology has been in existence for many years. The form of transportation to which we refer is the monorail. Why monorail?
Monorail is a rail-based transportation system that was invented in 1825. The system is safe, fast, extremely cost effective, and proven to be green, which is extremely important in today’s world of greenhouse gases and energy efficiency. While monorails are currently in use at amusement parks, such as Disneyworld, they can be adapted to states, cities and other political subdivisions. The use of a monorail system will benefit the economy by producing more jobs, enhancing the means of public transportation and reducing dependence on noise- and pollution- producing vehicular modes of transportation.
Our team plans to produce a scholarly report that elaborates on the use and benefits of monorail transportation systems. We do not envision this system as a replacement for all modes of transportation. But it certainly has application in urban, suburban and metropolitan areas.