Fifteen female students from across the U.S. have been selected by WTS International to participate in a transportation conference designed to introduce young women to a future in STEM studies (science, technology, engineering and math) and a career in the transportation industry.

The four-day summit, “Transportation YOU DC Youth Summit,” kicks off June 26. At its conclusion, these future leaders of the transportation industry will have established a national network of high-profile women transportation professionals, as well as an awareness of the variety of exciting and rewarding careers in the transportation industry, according to the WTS.

The WTS chapters represented by the mentors participating in the conference are just a handful of the many chapters across the U.S. to establish WTS International’s Transportation YOU program.

Transportation YOU is the joint initiative of WTS International and the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), which launched with the 2010 signing of a memorandum of understanding by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

Tina Tchen, the executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, as well as chief of staff to Michelle Obama, has been an ardent supporter of WTS International’s STEM initiative. The program also supports President Obama’s campaign to “Win the Future.”

WTS International’s Transportation YOU program is a source of scholarship, internship and networking opportunities. It links young women with professionals in the field and inspires them to pursue STEM-related coursework and exposes them to career possibilities in the transportation industry not typically pursued by women.

For the Transportation YOU DC Summit, each WTS chapter was asked to select a worthy young woman and her mentor to send to the conference. The Summit is the pinnacle of WTS International’s Transportation YOU program, as it brings together participants from across the country for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The agenda for the 2013 Summit, includes a visit to the U.S. DOT for behind-the-scenes access to the inner workings of critical centers of transportation; one-on-one meetings with high-profile female U.S. DOT executives; and tours of other transportation central intelligence centers, such as Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority.