The Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Transportation Diversity Recruitment Program (TDRP) recently celebrated its 10th season with a program showcase.
The TDRP runs from May to August. It recruits and introduces underrepresented groups of students to transportation-specific career opportunities. Students must be an engineering undergraduate student with a grade point average of at least a 2.0 and must be enrolled at an Historically Black College and University.
Students receive hands-on experience in civil engineering and other opportunities regarding careers in transportation.
“The TDRP, I think, is just one example of how we’re building diversity, equity and inclusion into the fabric of what we do,” Bradley C. Wieferich, state transportation director, said about the program’s anniversary. “It’s opening the door, where in the past (these students) might not have ever had these opportunities maybe that I had when I was coming up. We need to make sure that we’re expanding the pipeline as much as we can across the industry and the TDRP is an excellent way of making sure that we’re tapping all the resources we need.”
Students also expressed praise for the program.
“An opportunity like this doesn’t come as often as people would think. I think this program means a lot, especially to students coming from HBCUs who really don’t have that representation,” Zaya Wright, a second-year TDRP intern, said.