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.

Cumbre Kids produce children's STEM podcasts that reach 130,000 Spanish-speaking families. Their programs feature researchers answering questions submitted by children 3-10 years old. Cumbre Kids has worked with the McDonald Observatory at UT Austin, as well as dozens of universities, federal agencies, museums, and more.

This summer program pairs 2-4 students with a Freshmen Research Initiative Research Stream for a unique two-hour tour of a real scientific laboratory.

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.