Research Impact Partners

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.

McNair Scholars is part of the federally funded TRIO programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education, and the only one primarily focused on students' postbaccalaureate success. McNair Scholars seek to increase the number of undergraduate students earning doctoral degrees who are low-income and first-generation. Participants must be serious and committed to enrolling in graduate programs with an end goal of completing a Ph.D. Students selected to participate in McNair Scholars work with both staff (on graduate school literacy) and a faculty mentor (on research and scholarship). Scholars define, develop, and deliver original, independent research projects.

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) connect PIs with undergraduate research assistants through our student advising and our online database of faculty research interests and projects (https://eureka.utexas.edu). OUR hosts Summer Research Scholars programming to support the professional development of undergraduate researchers taking part in summer research programs (e.g., NSF REUs), and offers a variety of student research funding opportunities and research presentation events to further the work and development of student researchers.

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.