Research Impact Partners

The Center hosts a variety of education and outreach initiatives that can be leveraged in research proposals, e.g., the K-5 Research Experiences for Teachers program, Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, First Year Undergraduate Research Program: FUSE, Industrial Mentorship program for Graduate Students, Artist in Residence program, afterschool STEM clubs at local schools, and K-12 STEM outreach to the Texas School for the Deaf and Texas School for the Blind.

Connecting Research and Education At TExas (CREATE) was founded in 2017 through a partnership established between Dr. Sean T. Roberts at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) and Dr. Shawn M. Amorde at Austin Community College (ACC) with support from the National Science Foundation. CREATE’s initial goal was to improve community college student retention in the physical sciences by fostering mentorship relationships between ACC students and UT faculty through research projects tied to green energy. Over time, CREATE’s managing team has been broadened to include Dr. Emily Que (UT), Dr. Samantha Soebbing (ACC), Dr. Purna Murthy (ACC), and Dr. Huilang (Evan) Wang (UT) which has allowed its scope to expand into a range of areas in chemistry, molecular biosciences, physics, materials science, and engineering.

The Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) gives first-year students the opportunity to initiate and engage in real-world research experience with faculty and graduate students.

Girls Who Code is an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology, and leading the movement to inspire, educate and equip young women with the computing skills needed to pursue 21st-century opportunities. The Girls Who Code College Loops are committed to reaching gender parity in tech by creating an inclusive community on campus and offers monthly challenges focused on honing computer science skills and engaging women to take action, collaborate, and create with one another.

Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) is a collaboration of universities and colleges committed to developing curricula, research agendas, and experiential learning programs in public interest technology (PIT). PIT-UN helps advance the field of PIT and bring positive impact to communities around the globe by providing programming and funding for members to grow PIT on their campuses and communities.

The UTeach Institute supports the development of highly effective K–12 STEM teachers who stay in teaching and effectively engage all students in meaningful learning of STEM disciplines through research-based best practices in preservice teacher preparation, and in-service teacher induction, mentoring, and coaching. It serves as the hub to a vibrant national community of practice of more than 700 college and university STEM education experts and 5,000 K–12 STEM teachers. UTeach Institute develops innovative K–12 coursework and teacher professional learning that strengthens STEM teacher effectiveness and engagement and preparation of K–12 students across STEM disciplines.