Worcester wins Science Foundation grant targeting public transportation

Worcester, San Diego and Chicago have been chosen to share a $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help each city develop an approach to a local problem.

San Diego will focus on water issues and Chicago on access to nutritious food. Worcester will be working to improve its transportation network, including public transit and access for bicycling and walking.

The grant stipulates that a science museum be involved with the project, and the director of Worcester’s EcoTarium, Joyce Kressler, is the project’s coordinator.

Kressler said that Worcester, which is bisected by interstate highways, faces a number of transportation challenges. With the grant, the city aims to create physical links, such as pedestrian and bicycle paths, that could connect colleges and city neighborhoods.

The core of the program involves 10 teams of 10 people each, ranging from high school students to college professors. Each team will explore one aspect of transportation and how it could benefit the city.

“The core curriculum is experiential,” Kressler said. “It’s not, ‘here’s a book, go read it, and give me a report.’ It’s … let’s talk about the process, and then go and apply it to a workshop.”

One early step, according to Kressler, was to meet with Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty and City Manager Edward Augustus, who put them in touch with city transportation officials.

While the project has attracted people with strong science and technology skills, artists and those with backgrounds in the humanities are also a valuable asset, according to Kressler. She said the National Science Foundation grant program grew out of a consensus of more than 400 corporate leaders on the core skill sets needed in this century: creativity, communication and collaboration.

“Artists think differently, they experience the world differently,” Kressler said. “They’re collaborative by nature. They are wonderful at nuances.”