Resources
The RSRC 4033 course materials are made widely available here so all students can access and benefit from the research curriculum developed at UTEP CREATE. Browse the presentations and readings below.
Finding Your Own Research Pathway
RSRC 4033 helps undergraduates find their own research pathway rather than pointing everyone toward a single fixed topic. Students work across a wide variety of research areas — from technical engineering questions to human-centered studies of how students learn, engage, and succeed — with support from CREATE faculty and mentors along the way.
Presentations & Readings
Intro to Research: The Road to Research
Victor M. Garcia, PhD (US Army ERDC) walks through the full research lifecycle: identifying a research gap, designing a research plan, conducting a literature review, interpreting and visualizing data, and disseminating findings through papers and presentations.
View PDFLet's Talk About Data
Research, Evaluation, and Assessment Services (REAS) covers data types and formats, primary vs. secondary data collection (observation, interviews, questionnaires), selecting a data collection method, and ethical research practices for human subjects.
View PDFDeveloping a Literature Review
A guided conversation on how to approach and structure a literature review as part of the research process.
View PDFMiner Spark Symposium 2026
Student research showcase featuring three team presentations: a GIS-based soil corrosion risk analysis in NE El Paso, a thermal/mechanical study of 4D-printed shape memory polymers vs. PLA, and an experimental evaluation of wireless relay nodes for search-and-rescue robotics.
View PDF
