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 Engineering Student Success Center provides special programming through workshops, student leadership opportunities and welcoming spaces that help all students have a wonderful experience to aid in positive educational outcomes.

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.

The summer High School Research Academy provides high school students with an immersive and hands-on five-week interdisciplinary research experience at the University of Texas at Austin campus. (Including 9th-12th grade students)

Horns Helping Horns is a program that provides students with financial support, professional development, mentorship, resource navigation, community, and one-on-one support/intervention with program coordinators as needed.

The Lab for Immersive Media (LIM) is a high tech interactive and immersive media laboratory that enables novel research and entertainment experiences in virtual and physical space. A key goal of the LIM is to broaden research impact through partnerships, public engagement, and unique collaborations between art and science.

Living Learning Communities (LLCs) are residential communities that introduce and integrate academic and social learning through faculty/staff involvement and holistic education. Students living in LLCs live together in the same area of a residence hall and share experiences that reinforce the theme of their LLCs. LLCs provide students and faculty opportunities for connection outside the classroom and support networking across common interests.

The Longhorn Impact Fellowship at Texas (LIFT) pairs student consultants with sustainable corporations, social enterprises, and non-profits to solve sustainability and impact-focused problems.

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 Oden Institute conducts interdisciplinary computing research that brings together foundational mathematical, statistical and computational elements with applications that cut across science, engineering, geosciences, and medicine. The Oden Institute has a vibrant culture of collaboration and welcomes the opportunity to engage in research partnerships with all sectors of society -- industry, academia, military and government.