The property, buildings, and facilities owned or controlled by The University of Texas at El Paso are not open to the general public for assemblies, speeches, or other activities, and such their usage by students and employees are subject to reasonable regulation.

No person, organization, group, association, or corporation can use property, buildings, or facilities owned or controlled by The University of Texas at El Paso for any purpose other than in the course of the regular programs or activities related to the role and mission of the University, unless authorized by the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System. Any authorized use must be conducted in compliance with the provisions of the Regents’ Rules and Regulations, the rules and regulations of The University of Texas at El Paso, and applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC)

The Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC), developed and supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, was established in 1992 as a basic biomedical research center in Infectious Diseases, Toxicology, and Neurological and Metabolic Disorders. The mission of the BBRC is to enhance the capability for biomedical research at the University of Texas at El Paso relevant to the border region and to promote the progress of minority scientists in biomedical research. The BBRC’s Core Facilities in Analytical Cytology, Cell Culture, Biomolecule Characterization and DNA Sequencing and Analysis all have up to date instrumentation. The BBRC also has an active Statistical Consulting Laboratory, and a modern Bioinformatics Laboratory.

Visit the BBRC Website

Border Clinical Research Center

The College of Health Sciences Border Clinical Research Center is housed in the University of Texas at El Paso, College of Health Sciences, Stanton Building and is dedicated to research that explores health disparities related to chronic conditions and non-communicable diseases in the border population, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This 1,100 sq ft facility is equipped with the equipment and facilities necessary for clinical research, including outpatient beds, vital signs monitoring devices, medical digital scales, autoclave, stadiometer, Sonosite Titan portable ultrasound equipment, among others. The laboratory is equipped for the handling and processing of blood samples and is equipped to perform clinical chemistry and immunochemistry.

Border Region Modeling Project

The mission of the Border Region Modeling Project (BRMP) is the analysis of economic issues that are relevant to policy analysts and business analysts in the Borderplex regional economy. The BRMP maintains and updates the 250-equation Borderplex Econometric Forecasting Model. The primary goal associated with these efforts is to empirically quantify aspects of the Borderplex regional economy in an accurate manner that will better inform investment and policy decisions. 

For more information visit the website.

Center for Aging

The Center for Aging was established in May 2000 with a mission to provide training in geriatrics for working health professionals and health-care students enrolled at The University of Texas El Paso Administratively, the Center for Aging is within the School of Nursing, and reports to the Office of the Dean. Activities are grant funded and include a current comprehensive geriatric education grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Funding from this grant provides workshops and other educational programs to students, working nurses, and other health professionals in the community on aging and the health care needs of older adults on the border.

Dr. Charon Pierson is the current director. She can be contacted at capierson@utep.edu, or by phone at 915.747.8297. Dr. Pierson serves as the liaison to the Southwestern Consortium of the Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence (Hartford Center) at Arizona State University, College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation (ASU). UTEP is the only school in Texas that participates in this consortium.

Center for Defense Systems Research

The mission of the Center for Defense Systems Research (CDSR) at the University of Texas at El Paso is to apply a broad range of cutting-edge research and technology to applied, multi-use technical solutions for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. In applying this research toward real solutions, the CDSR shall provide experiential programs for undergraduate, graduate and faculty members at the University of Texas at El Paso. The Center shall also act as a one-stop shop for DoD, DHS and University collaborations. Current and efforts cross into multiple Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies. The Center is currently supporting research efforts for U.S Army White Sands Missile Range, U.S Army Space and Missile Defense Command and U.S Customs & Border Protection.

Center for Earth and Environmental Isotope Research

CEEIR's mission is to provide a regional facility devoted to understanding the Earth and our natural and managed environments through the use of stable and radiogenic isotopes and by pioneering novel isotope methodologies and applications. Isotopic data provide us with new insights into the formation and dynamics of our Earth and nearby planets as well as a record of interactions among the biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere. New approaches also allow work ranging from “fingerprinting” and tracking contaminant elements in the environment, to constraining magmatic processes. The cornerstone of CEEIR is a Nu Instruments™ Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICPMS) funded through the National Science Foundation with support from UTEP. Ancillary facilities include a class 100/1000 (ISO 5/6) clean room with equipment for sample preparation and an ICP-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) for bulk chemical analysis.

Center for Effective Teaching and Learning (CETaL)

The Center for Effective Teaching and Learning (CETaL) is a resource for University faculty. CETaL provides faculty workshops, confidential consulting on issues of course and curriculum design, assessment and documentation of effective teaching, the opportunity for faculty mentoring, and a library of teaching and learning materials. Through these services, faculty can document their teaching effectiveness.

CETaL seeks to cultivate an environment in which teaching is highly valued and in which teachers strive continuously to improve their effectiveness. It is a scholarly center working to find, document, report, and help advance the best teaching practices at UTEP and elsewhere. In addition, CETaL aids faculty in conducting scholarly research on teaching, curriculum, and other issues related to teaching and learning.

CETaL is a resource for those who understand that teaching is a complex and interactive process among many parties in a variety of environments, and that it can be taught, improved, and evaluated.

Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM)

The Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) coordinates faculty and student research addressing the environmental problems affecting the border region of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, including water availability and quality, desalination technologies, desert and wetland ecology, environmental health, , air quality, renewable energy, and sustainability. Students receiving support through CERM obtain hands-on experience with research projects addressing a variety of issues such as management of water resources, measurement and characterization of air pollution, methods of containment and remediation of soil-borne and water-borne contaminants, development of alternative energy technologies such as solar power, and ecology of riparian wetlands. Research infrastructure is available to support a number of environmental programs coordinated by CERM, including , the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, Indio Mountains Research Station, and the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy Consortium (SCERP). In 2007, CERM received a Texas Environmental Excellence Award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Center for Hispanic Entrepreneurship

Mission and Goals: Creating knowledge, developing entrepreneurs, and empowering the business community. The mission of the Center for Hispanic Entrepreneurship is to generate and disseminate innovative information on Hispanic and minority entrepreneurship, to translate insights into practical trainings and workshops, and to connect with the community of business professionals, scholars, and entrepreneurs. With 76 percent of local businesses minority-owned in the border region, the CFHE has the advantage of accessing Hispanic and other minority businesses to determine the firms’ background, challenges and needs, as well as the owners’ culture and how that impacts enterprise development. The ultimate goal is to further El Paso’s entrepreneurial infrastructure and to help other regions learn from our findings, solutions and actions.

For more information visit the website. 

Center for History Teaching and Learning

The Center for History Teaching & Learning is a division of UTEP’s History Department created to promote scholarly teaching among department faculty, support teacher education among our students, and provide outreach and professional development opportunities for area social studies teachers. Located in room 334 of the Liberal Arts Building, the center houses a history textbook library and provides advising and support services for pre-service history and social studies teachers. The center hosts regular workshops and annual summer teacher institutes for secondary social studies teachers and the center’s website and blog operate as a local clearinghouse for resources, events, and information related to history and social studies teaching.

Center for Information Assurance

The Center for Information Assurance promotes education and research in information assurance, computer security, and related fields at The University of Texas at El Paso. It builds on existing strengths in information assurance, including department faculty who teach courses and conduct research in information assurance and the recent certification of our education program in information assurance. Our Information Assurance courseware was certified as mapping 100% to the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) National Standards 4011 and 4013E. Through this Center, UTEP is now officially designated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE) for Academic Years 2010-2015.

Center for Inland Desalination Systems

The Center for Inland Desalination Systems (CIDS) partners with El Paso Water Utilities to develop and implement technologies to create alternative water sources in Texas and across the globe. CIDS leverages El Paso’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, which is among the largest of its kind in the world, to research on desalination-related areas that have potential commercial applications. Some examples include mining the brine concentrate produced during the osmosis process, developing small-scale portable desalination equipment to be used in remote locations, and developing processes that can reduce energy and water use during desalination.

Center for Inter-American and Border Studies (CIBS)

The Center for Inter-American and Border Studies (CIBS) coordinates UTEP’s degree programs in Latin American and Border Studies. These include the undergraduate major and minor, and an interdisciplinary MA. CIBS also conducts research and assists other units with research on the Border, in Mexico, and in Latin America. Recent projects have focused on issues such as Border demography, Border health, Border governance, and Border economics. CIBS sponsors events and publications addressing Border and Latin American issues, and works to forge linkages between UTEP and other institutions and agencies in the Border region, in Mexico, and in Latin America.

Vision

The Center for Inter-American and Border Studies of the University of Texas at El Paso strives to capitalize on its border location by becoming a Center of Excellence in matters related to the US-Mexico border, other borders throughout the Americas, Mexico and Inter-American dynamics. The Center will achieve this level of excellence through its research activities, academic programs, and public outreach.

Mission

The Center for Inter-American and Border Studies’ interdisciplinary academic programs will educate a new generation of professionals and scholars dedicated to the application and creation of knowledge about the region. In addition, the Center will assist other academic units to apply their discipline’s perspectives to Border and Inter-American topics.

The Center conducts research, offers academic programs, and undertakes public outreach activities on topics related to borders and the Americas. We are especially dedicated to forging partnerships within and across national boundaries which support our mission while also partaking in activities that join the University of Texas at El Paso campus and partners in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. The Center’s research will contribute to a wider understanding of US-Mexico border phenomena and other Inter-American topics. Its outreach activities will allow the regional and international community to appreciate and learn about Inter-American relations along the US-Mexico border and beyond.

Center for Interdisciplinary Health Research and Evaluation

The mission of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Research and Evaluation (CIHRE) is to develop and sustain an interdisciplinary core group of researchers who advance the scope, quality, quantity and translation of health-related research to populations living in the US-Mexico border region. In addition, the Center collaborates with UTEP’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) to train and support undergraduate and graduate students and faculty as health researchers to help improve the health of border region residents.

The primary purpose of the Center is to address the shortage of well-prepared behavioral, social, and clinical researchers in the US-Mexico Border region that possess the knowledge and skills to engage in cutting-edge interdisciplinary health research and evaluation, the ability to translate that research into practical applications and to adapt it to different contexts and populations. These researchers in turn will provide support to other researchers, upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in research design, implementation, translation and dissemination of new knowledge.

Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education and Research (CenMASTER)

The Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education and Research (CenMaSTER) coordinates the science and mathematics education initiatives in the College of Science. Our main focus is on teacher preparation and we encourage and support the efforts of secondary education minors in the college through support of the CASE advising center, the MaST academy, and other efforts to produce the teachers of the future in El Paso. We also work with in-service teachers to increase their content knowledge in Science through the Masters of Arts in Teaching Science program (MATS), SABE MAS, and a variety of professional development programs.

Center for Multicultural Management and Ethics

Mission and Goals: The fundamental mission of the Center for Multicultural Management and Ethics is to foster ethical principles within a multicultural management environment in serving the binational Paso del Norte region. The Center: a

1. Continuously interacts with the community and positively influences the ethical climate in the El Paso region.
2. Facilitates access to our educational initiatives for the promotion of excellence in ethical business practices.

For more information visit the website. 

Center for Nursing Research and Evaluation

The center for Nursing Research and Evaluation (CNRE) was established to facilitate excellence in nursing research by providing faculty and students with services, support, and scholarly activities in research development and implementation as well as the translation of research for evidence-based practice. The CNRE is also responsible for formative and summative data to determine consistency in degree track programs in meeting the mission and goals of the SON and University in accordance with standards for accreditation.

Center for Research Entrepreneurship and Innovative Enterprises (CREIE)

The Center for Research Entrepreneurship and Innovative Enterprises (CREIE) is an outcome of a Kauffman Foundation Campus Initiative and grant to infuse entrepreneurship into UTEP’s education, research, administration, and outreach activities. The Center was established to create a central identity for entrepreneurship, technology transfer and commercialization at UTEP. The main mission of CREIE is to stimulate innovation and unify campus initiatives in technology transfer, entrepreneurship and commercialization at UTEP. The Center is available to guide inventors on how to bring their scientific advances or inventions to the marketplace, in partnership with the University.

Center for Research on Educational Reform (CRER)

Established in 2002, the Center for Research on Educational Reform (CRER) conducts broad-based and multidisciplinary research on issues of educational reform in the public schools and in higher education. The University-wide center builds on more than a decade of K-16 educational reform efforts at the University of Texas at El Paso. A significant element of the Center’s initial work is research that addresses critically important questions about the impact of these and similar reform efforts. Major initiatives of the Center include the NSF-funded Mathematics and Science Partnership, Teaching Gender Equity in Mathematics and Science, and Math Education Reform. The Center also provides opportunities for faculty and graduate students to do significant research.

Center for Space Exploration Technology Research (CSETR)

“The Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research (cSETR) has a strong and simultaneous focus on developing the next generation workforce while advancing technologies and bodies of knowledge in energy and aerospace. Spanning multiple colleges, cSETR is a NASA Group 5 URC that actively advances research in alternative propellant characterization, injector, ignition and engine development, and aerospace structures. Rounding out the aerospace area is an array of in-situ resource extraction and utilization research. The energy research component stands in compliment to the aerospace effort through advancement and characterization in the fields of oxy-fuel combustion, fluidized bed dynamics, materials and thermal barrier coatings. This is done on an 11,000 sq ft facility housing multiple altitude simulation facilities, combustion rigs for turbines and engines, and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. The current capabilities have been built over many years via repeated collaboration with the Department of Energy, NASA and the Missile Defense Agency.”

Center for Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CTIS)

The Center for Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CTIS), addresses the need for basic and applied research related to transportation infrastructure. CTIS is an internationally known center of excellence in nondestructive testing of transportation facilities; it is extensively involved in research dealing with the use of advanced field and laboratory techniques in transportation infrastructure, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and environmental engineering. At any given time, CTIS is engaged in about 20 projects dealing with the planning, design, evaluation, and construction of transportation infrastructure. CTIS has also expanded its research activities to include transportation planning and infrastructure management: current projects deal with risk assessment of transporting hazardous materials along the U.S.-Mexico border and the impact of increased traffic flow on the safety of people and the environment.

Center of Excellence for Sharing Resources to Advance Research and Education Through Cyberinfrastructure (Cyber-ShARE)

The Center of Excellence for Sharing Resources to Advance Research and Education through Cyberinfrastructure (Cyber-ShARE) was created in 2007 to bring together experts in computer science, computational mathematics, education, earth science, and environmental science. The team addresses the challenge of providing information to scientists and other users of cyberinfrastructure (CI) that allows them to make informed decisions about the resources that they retrieve and to have confidence in using results from CI-based applications. The Cyber-ShARE team conducts innovative research to facilitate the development of CI-based applications and increase their use by scientists by enhancing CI results with provenance information, trust recommendations, and uncertainty levels (areas that are recognized as essential for the success of CI); by creating scientist-centered tools and artifacts; and by contributing CI resources to appropriate CI portals.

Franchise Center

The Franchise Center has been established to increase the level of entrepreneurship internationally by expanding and developing future business owners.

Future Aerospace and Technology Center (FAST)

The Future Aerospace Science and Technology (FAST) Center provides engineering, research and development capabilities to address the needs of the aerospace, defense, and energy industry and government agencies. The FAST Center provides these capabilities by forming collaborative teams constituted by faculty from the College of Engineering and the College of Science. Projects managed by the FAST Center are conducted complying with ITAR and Export Control regulations.

Graduate Business Center

The UTEP Graduate Business Center (GBC) houses many of the graduate business programs of the College of Business Administration (COBA). The GBC is a 12,000 square foot facility located in One San Jacinto Plaza at the center of the El Paso Downtown Business District. It features four classrooms, student collaboration areas and administrative offices. The GBC offers Professional and Executive MBA students as well as MAcc students a state-of-the-art learning environment that accommodates the unique needs of working professionals. For more information visit the website. 

Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center (HHDRC)

The Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center (HHDRC) provides leadership to research-based innovations that will reduce Hispanic health disparities. Funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the HHDRC is a collaborative venture among UTEP’s College of Health Sciences, UTEP’s School of Nursing and the University of Texas at Houston School of Public Health. The aims of the Center are to:

1. build capacity for researchers in health disparities;
2. create a program of excellence to investigate and eliminate Hispanic health disparities in the Texas-Mexico border region;
3. establish the University of Texas System as a leader in the study and solution of Hispanic health disparities; and
4. promote knowledge transfer to both practice and policy.

The mission of the HHDRC is guided by a conceptual framework that makes explicit and serves as a catalyst for research on the variables of interest that influence Hispanic health disparities. Activities of the Center include research, research training and education, and community engagement and dissemination. A recently awarded NIH P20 grant funds two full studies, including (1) a population-based assessment of health disparities among Hispanics in El Paso and (2) research focused on cultural and institutional factors affecting adherence to HIV/AIDS treatment in border clinics. In years three through five of this grant, new pilot studies based on this research will be funded.

Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness

Mission and Goals: The Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness generates and distributes applied economic research mechanisms to elucidate the market conditions in binational and international markets to facilitate exchange and investment in the U.S.-Mexico cross-border region. The Institute has developed a project portfolio highlighting the assets of the region, including: i) Regional Databases; ii) Regional Economic Sector Reviews; iii) Regional Asset and Supply Chain Maps; and, iv) Regional Economic Impact Analysis. A fundamental element present in the work of the Institute is its ability to collect, harmonize, and interpret regulatory and economic indicators across markets, binational or international. The Institute’s Regional Economic Sector Reviews serve to provide a deep and thorough regulatory and quantitative analysis of the region’s key sectors such as trade, energy, and finance. The Institute has also developed a mapping portfolio that creates a comprehensive and holistic mechanism for regional stakeholders to ascertain certain deeply rooted and value-added industries that are present in the U.S.-Mexico cross-border region of New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua. The Hunt Institute currently utilizes the two leading economic impact models (REMI and IMPLAN) to measure and forecast the potential effects economic or policy changes can have on an industry and the regional economy analyzing historical data to produce a large array of model flows across multiple industries.

For more information visit the website. 

Institute for Manufacturing and Materials Management (IM³)

Please see the Research Institute for Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (RIMES).

Institute for Policy and Economic Development (IPED)

The mission of the Institute for Policy and Economic Development (IPED) at The University of Texas at El Paso, provides leadership and coordination in objective analysis and interpretation of public and private policy research addresses issues of importance to the people of the Paso del Norte and Camino Real and ensures that economic development proceeds in a rational and sustainable fashion. The Institute’s interdisciplinary approach to research design, data collection, and analysis provides the Institute’s clientele objective, timely information that forms the framework needed for public policy investigation in areas such as economic development, technology and business development, and trade and transportation.

Law School Preparation Institute

Initiated in 1998, the mission and goals of the Law School Preparation Institute (LSPI) are to help students prepare for law school by developing their critical thinking skills and study habits, and by mentoring them toward the maturity, responsibility and integrity required of law students and lawyers. LSPI strives to educate, inform, and guide UTEP students and members of the community about the advantages of legal training. LSPI provides a variety of law and prelaw-related programs that serve undergraduate students, high school students, and the general community. The minor in Legal Reasoning is made available through LSPI, and LSPI faculty and staff advise students on all aspects of the law school application process and on law school in general. Students admitted to the LSPI participate in an intensive summer program and are afforded opportunities to work with the legal community through internship experiences and the newly implemented Court Appointed Special Advocate Initiative. LSPI also offers its High School Law Camp each summer and collaborates with educational and community partners in its high school outreach efforts.

Materials Research and Technology Institute (MRTI)

The Materials Research and Technology Institute (MRTI) fosters interdisciplinary research across the Colleges of Science, Engineering, Business, and Liberal Arts; and supports the University’s multidisciplinary Ph.D. program in Materials Science and Engineering (MASE); Environmental Science and Engineering (ES&E), Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Engineering. MRTI also fosters the development of intellectual property by UTEP faculty, staff, and students and helps develop industrial partnerships and new businesses based on UTEP intellectual property. An example is Mayan Pigments, Inc., which has commercialized complex organic/inorganic materials developed by UTEP researchers. MPI products can be purchased in the University Museum store. Recently, MRTI developed a UTEP/HUNT Energy Enterprises partnership to develop novel petroleum upgrading technology and novel photovoltaic technology.

Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce

Mission: The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce seeks to develop the region’s economy by promoting a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at the confluence of business administration and engineering, through research, education, and collaboration. Goals:

1. Position the Mike Loya Center as the epicenter of innovation and entrepreneurial developments.
2. Position the university as a hub of innovation, economic engagement and new business/employment creation.

For more information visit the website. 

Minority Access Research Center

Department of Chemistry

University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX. 79968-0513
Phone: 915.747.5796
Fax: 915.747.5748
Website: https://www.utep.edu/science/chemistry/faculty-pages/dr-keith-pannell.html

National Center for Border Security and Immigration

The Center for Border Security and Immigration will develop integrated education and research initiatives, which are complementary in scope, in order to promote interest in science and technology. Through education program, the Center will develop and educate future scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians to meet emerging challenges of homeland security in a global context, and design multidisciplinary degree programs with an emphasis in homeland/border security. The program is designed to create a path for careers in DHS components or in a homeland security-related industry. Through research, the center assists the Department of Homeland Security in meeting its border security and immigration-related science and technology needs, collaborates with homeland security-related industry, and provides full support to those agencies and individuals charged with the defense of the homeland and development of national immigration and border security policy.

Regional Geospatial Service Center

The Regional Geospatial Service Center (RGIS) provides accurate geospatial data to local emergency responders including the Texas National Guard and other members of the El Paso region’s emergency response community. The Center is also involved in the development of geospatial applications to support UTEP research and service activities in a variety of areas including border security, economic development and public health. The works closely with its partners, Stephen F. Austin State University and Texas Natural Resource Information System, to maintain a data repository and backups in the event of catastrophic system failure.

Research Institute for Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (RIMES)

The Research Institute for Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (RIMES) is a research, academic, and service center dedicated to generate new knowledge in Systems Engineering through it research programs; disseminate new knowledge and best Systems Engineering practices through its academic programs, publications, workforce development, and industry extension; and promote and encourage multi-disciplinary research and collaboration in Engineering Systems. RIMES facilitates interactions among colleges and industry to foster total systems-level thinking and systems effectiveness, addressing applications-oriented research areas on large-scale systems and systems of systems. While accomplishing these goals, RIMES advances multi-disciplinary educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels and industry extensions through Training in MPT, Seminars, and Workforce development.

Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies

“The Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies is a companion structure to the Department of Communication at UTEP. Established in 2002, it provides outreach programs to high school students, media and communication professionals, and high school teachers, and academic enrichment programs for communication majors and other UTEP students. It fosters research collaborations with departments on campus, and with universities around the world.”

Structural and Printed Emerging Technologies Center

Researchers within the newly established Structural and Printed Emerging Technologies Center (SPEC) perform basic research in 3D structural electronics and electromagnetics through the use of micro-dispensing and additive manufacturing technologies. In contrast to 2D and 2.5D structures, 3D structures have more degrees of freedom to simultaneously optimize the mechanical, electrical, chemical, thermal, photonic and electromagnetic features of miniaturized and highly integrated systems. Devices can be made with greater strength, stability, performance and ruggedness with the ability to conform, bend or stretch based on application requirements. SPEC is focusing on a new paradigm in which Direct Printing and Additive Manufacturing are used to fabricate systems in a single monolithic 3D package of complex and arbitrary form.

University Library

Housing more than one million books and government publications and nearly a million microforms, the University Library strives to support the curriculum and research needs of the campus. The collection also includes access to more than 24,000 journals and newspapers more than 445 databases providing bibliographic information, as well as selected abstracts, full-text research articles, and reports. The Library is classified as a Federal Depository, meaning it collects more than 65% of all materials published by the Federal Government.

Housed in a six-story Bhutanese-style building with a coffee shop and both formal and casual seating for more than 1,500 users, the Library is open daily to serve students, faculty, and the community. The Collaborative Learning Center, located on the second floor of the Library, has 250 PC and Macintosh desktop computers and 35 laptops available for student use. Various software packages are available, and the computers have full Internet access. Group study rooms and individual graduate-study carrels are located conveniently throughout the library.

Books, journals, and audio-visual materials are easily found in Nugget, the Library's computerized catalog. The catalog is easily searched by author, title, subject, and key-word, and is accessible from computers located in the library, from any computer on campus, or from a user’s personal computer. Most materials can be taken out on loan by University students, faculty, and staff.

The professional staff of the Reference Department provides classroom instruction on Information Literacy, either in the Library’s three computer classrooms or in campus classrooms as requested by faculty. The Reference staff also provides assistance in locating and using the electronic resources of the Library, as well as the traditional hard-copy resources. Librarians are available to provide assistance with specialized collections in all subject matters.

Special Collections, located on the sixth floor of the Library, house rare books and other unique artifacts and collections. Chief among these holdings are collections in Art, Printing, Military History, Western Fiction, Chicano Studies, Border Studies, and Oral History. The Library's manuscript and archival materials are also located in the Special Collections Department.

The Access Services Department provides automated checkout services, makes reserve materials available, and provides inter-library loan and document delivery services. M&M (Media and Microforms) houses retrospective newspapers, microforms, DVDs and videotapes, and computers. Support for students and faculty who are involved in distance education is also provided by the Library. This support includes delivery of books and other materials by surface mail, subject consultation with librarians, and access to electronic resources via the Internet.

Self-service photocopying equipment is available on all floors of the Library, and a full-service Copy Center is located on the first floor.

W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation

The W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation (Keck Center), occupying over 6,100 square feet with more than $5 million in research infrastructure, represents a premier biomedical, engineering and advanced manufacturing facility focused on multi-disciplinary biomedical, materials and manufacturing research. The Keck Center’s researchers have access to combined facilities for advanced manufacturing; reverse engineering, metrology & inspection; materials characterization & testing; synthetic and analytical chemistry; experimental fluid mechanics; and tissue engineering (including scaffold fabrication, polymer synthesis and cell culture capabilities). Much of the research within the Keck Center relies on the development and creative use of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies for producing functional end user devices, and the Centers commercial and experimental additive manufacturing capabilities have grown from 1 machine in 2000 to 27 machines today, including two patented technologies developed by Keck Center researchers. This unique facility hosts more than 1000 visitors each year and showcases AM technologies to people ranging from artists, K-12 students, and various educators to high-level government and industrial scientists and engineers. Keck Center researchers are using AM technologies to manufacture functional products including structural and printed electronic devices and patient-specific anatomical shapes for use in pre-surgical planning, surgery, medical device development, cardiovascular flow research, and tissue engineering.