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The Centers for Excellence at UTRGV represent a dynamic network of interdisciplinary hubs dedicated to advancing sustainability, innovation, and community impact across South Texas and beyond. From industrial energy assessments and bilingual education to coastal research and space exploration, each center fosters experiential learning, collaborative research, and strategic outreach, empowering students, faculty, and regional partners to lead transformative change.
The Centers for Sustainability Across the Curriculum program aims to build on the expertise of these institutions by supporting them in organizing workshops that are open to faculty from other institutions in the region. The overall goal of this program is to significantly accelerate the infusion of sustainability content into the curriculum.
The Center of Excellence in STEM Education builds a community of faculty who are leaders in Challenge-Based Instruction and student programs in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
The Center for Innovation and Commercialization will promote economic growth in a region that has been historically underdeveloped. This will be achieved by pursuing three key tasks: first, by assisting regional entrepreneurs in the ideation, development, and acceleration of new business ventures; second, by developing the next generation of RGV entrepreneurs by providing students with experiential learning opportunities in new venture creation; and lastly, by becoming the nexus of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. In so doing we will drive the creation of innovative, scalable enterprises.
The UTRGV SBDC seeks to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity, and improved management skills for small businesses in the Rio Grande Valley through quality advisement and business training.
CARA is a leader in developing radio frequency-based techniques for space exploration as well as for creating innovative programs to attract and train the next generation of scientists and engineers. CARA currently runs three integrated research/education programs: the Arecibo Remote Command Center (ARCC), the Low-Frequency All-Sky Monitor (LoFASM), and STARGATE. In addition, CARA's director is a founding member and current chair of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav).
UTRGV’s Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) has been directly involved with the first and subsequent detections of gravitational waves, contributing to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project - a massive, international physics experiment and observatory built to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop technologies for such observation. The LIGO project founders were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The purpose of the UTRGV Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Advancement (SARA) is to improve agricultural sustainability and advance rural communities through multidisciplinary approaches that involve the environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainability, while engaging UTRGV faculty and students in research, education, and experiential learning.
The Coastal Studies Laboratory located on South Padre Island was established in 1973 and is dedicated to providing educational opportunities, enhancing research, engaging in public service, and providing community outreach related to coastal and marine concerns in the Gulf of Mexico with special emphasis on the South Texas region.
The center’s official goals are threefold: Conduct research to foster a collaborative partnership between UTRGV faculty and agencies like the USDA, CDC, and state and local agencies; Provide educational opportunities for students with certificate courses, internships, or research opportunities, learn about vector-borne diseases and become interested in pursuing careers in related fields, such as medical entomology; and Provide community outreach by providing expertise to workshops and seminars about vector-borne diseases.
The UTRGV College of Engineering and Computer Science has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the Department of Energy to house the Industrial Assessment Center, the only ITAC in the UT System. The ITAC will provide industrial energy assessments, at no cost, to local small- and medium-size enterprises. Through the provision of these industrial assessments, the ITAC has the potential of helping manufacturers save millions of dollars each year in energy, productivity and water management costs.
We help BUILD organizational structures that foster performance and success through training, workshops and technical assistance. We help CONNECT organizations to develop collaborative alliances that leverage strengths and produce lasting regional benefits through networking, events and ongoing dialogue. We help PROMOTE partnerships where the community and the university join together to identify needs and share resources through engaged scholarship and learning courses, community-based research and volunteer connections.
The new observatory, which was formerly located on the UTRGV Brownsville campus and named the Nompuewenu observatory, has been moved to Resaca de la Palma State Park and renamed the Dr. Cristina V. Torres Memorial Astronomical Observatory. Resaca de la Palma State Park is located at 1000 New Carmen Ave. in Brownsville. The observatory is 30 feet in diameter.
The STARGATE facility will be a radio frequency technology park located adjacent to the SpaceX launch site command center. SpaceX will assemble and launch their signature advanced rockets and spacecraft, with launches every month at the Boca Chica Beach site. When not being used for launches, SpaceX facilities will be used by student and faculty researchers at STARGATE for training, scientific research, and technology development.
UTCRS operates as a consortium of three institutions, namely; UTRGV, Texas A&M University (TAMU), and The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The strategic research goals of the UTCRS aim to fundamentally improve railway safety outcomes by reducing fatalities and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs); Reducing failures by developing more durable materials and systems; Developing advanced technology for infrastructure monitoring, and Developing innovative safety assessments and decision-making tools.
As part of UTRGV’s vision to be a highly engaged bilingual university, the Center for Bilingual Studies (CBS) is an interdisciplinary unit that brings together faculty from Colleges across the University to collaborate on research that supports bilingual families and communities. CBS also partners with local schools to discuss and create action plans that address critical issues of bilingual education and bilingualism as they impact children, schools, families, and communities of South Texas and beyond. CBS’s work supports UTRGV’s goal of becoming a bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate university.
The Sustainability Approach has three main components: economic, social, and environmental. In a sustainable approach, all three components are equally addressed. To be meaningful, successful sustainable approaches are developed by a diverse array of entities that together have the knowledge and skills to effectively address an issue. A democratic process of decision-making in the Network is essential to assure that all points of view are represented.
ScaleUp Rio Grande Valley helps established business owners in the Rio Grande Valley grow their businesses through intensive, business training and advisement, information, and networking opportunities.
To help create, retain, and develop Veteran-owned businesses across Texas by coupling Veterans with local, SBA-sponsored technical and managerial assistance.
The center assists students in certifying education benefits, advocating for services, developing projects to unite the university with our local community, providing counseling services specifically for veterans, and promoting student involvement through the Student Veterans of America National Organization. We are proud to assist those who have served our country and are committed to helping military students and their military families start or continue their education. Our ultimate goal at UTRGV is to provide an academically challenging environment to help you succeed in the next phase of your professional life.
UTRGV UTeach is the secondary teacher preparation program for science and mathematics majors at UTRGV. The program has offices, classroom space, faculty and staff, and a student workroom/instructional resource room on both campuses. The purpose of the program is to prepare highly qualified science and mathematics teachers according to the UTeach model developed at The University of Texas at Austin. During its five-year period as a replication grant, UTRGV UTeach graduated 92 students and in its fifth year surpassed all UTeach programs in the nation with an active enrollment of 485 students.
The goal of the IFSEEN consortium is to create an educational program to address the NIFA areas (i.e. (a) Curricula Design and Materials Development, (e) Student Experiential Learning, and (f) Student Recruitment and Retention) through collaboration among four major HSIs in Texas and New Mexico.
The RGV Asset Mapping Initiative is a collaboration between UTRGV, the LRGV Economic Council, and local community members to provide a map of what resources exist and where they exist in the Rio Grande Valley. Do you ever ask yourself, “Don’t we have that expertise here in the Rio Grande Valley?” And if we do, where is it.