Research Centers and Facilities
The UTEP College of Engineering is home to several cutting-edge research centers and institutes that address some of the most pressing regional, national, and global challenges. Our centers drive innovation across vital sectors, from developing sustainable water treatment solutions and advancing environmental health and ecology, to pioneering the future of transportation infrastructure. We are also national leaders in next-generation manufacturing, focusing on Engineering Systems and housing extensive facilities for Additive Manufacturing. Further propelling our mission are specialized groups dedicated to aerospace breakthroughs, which are focused on areas like hypersonic vehicles, lunar robotics, and enhancing the safety and reliability of human spaceflight, ensuring our diverse students become the next generation of industry pioneers.
Aerospace Center
The Aerospace Center expanding vision is powered by partnerships with local and federal government agencies, national laboratories, industry leaders and community organizations, to drive aerospace breakthroughs in space systems, hypersonic vehicles, AI-driven materials research, and more.
Our mission extends beyond labs. Through this ecosystem, we empower our students to become aerospace pioneers. We push the boundaries of discovery through hands-on research, and a design build test cycle. undergraduates and graduate students alike gain real-world experience while working on lunar robotics, propulsion, satellite design, unmanned systems, and energy solutions. Half of our Aerospace Center researchers are undergraduates—empowering early career talent and shaping diverse leaders in aerospace.
Center for the Advancement of Space Safety and Mission Assurance Research (CASSMAR)
The CASSMAR mission is to enable human spaceflight through interdisciplinary research to identify, characterize, and mitigate the leading risks to safety and mission assurance. By forging partnerships with government and commercial spaceflight organizations, CASSMAR serves as an example for interdisciplinary, cross-functional and sustainable research at UTEP with a focus on the enhancement of the safety and reliability for human spaceflight. CASSMAR directly contributes to the education of UTEP’s 21st century demographic into the next generation of competent, diverse, and enthusiastic space engineers and scientists specializing in risk assessment and mitigation.
Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM)
The Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) provides university-wide leadership and coordination for environmental research, education, and outreach activities. The center addresses a broad scope of issues, spanning from the local community to international levels, with priority areas including Environmental Health, Water Resources, Desert and Wetland Ecology, Air Quality, and Environmental Education. CERM is recognized for its work in promoting rainwater harvesting and also supports and manages the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, a valuable 372-acre ecosystem in El Paso. The center's mission is to advance understanding and sustainable practices related to environmental resources.
Center for Inland Desalination Systems (CIDS)
The Center for Inland Desalination Systems (CIDS) at UTEP is focused on developing sustainable water treatment solutions through research, technology, and global service. The CIDS mission is to empower students and advance the science of desalination by integrating them into research projects for publications, patents, and theses. The center specifically addresses critical inland desalination challenges, concentrating on high-recovery desalination processes and recovering useful products from waste streams. CIDS provides technology to maximize groundwater utilization, enhance the commercialization of brackish water desalination, and contribute to the goal of ensuring that every person in the world has clean water.
Center for Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CTIS)
The Center for Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CTIS) is dedicated to advancing transportation knowledge, serving as a regional and national hub for competitive, cutting-edge research and the preparation of new professionals in complex transportation systems. CTIS focuses on three core areas: Transportation Materials/Design, Infrastructure Evaluation and Management, and Planning, Operation and Logistics. The center houses state-of-the-art laboratory facilities for asphalt, concrete, soils, and non-destructive field testing, ensuring it produces technically competent engineers and addresses the need for both basic and applied research related to infrastructure.
Research Institute for Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (RIMES)
The Research Institute for Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (RIMES) focuses on the research of new knowledge of systems and its applications to Manufacturing and Engineering Systems. Originally created in 1995 as the Institute for Manufacturing and Materials Management, RIMES maintains this core focus while evolving to lead in systems-based research. The Institute is committed to education, with staff teaching classes and sponsoring research. RIMES also has a long history of collaboration with private industry, utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that considers platforms, systems, operators, and support to fashion solutions for customer needs and today's business problems.
W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation
The W. M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation, a unique multidisciplinary research facility that occupies more than 36,820 square feet at UTEP, houses more than $8 million in research infrastructure, including over 100 advanced manufacturing systems. The center focuses on additive manufacturing technology development, engineered and structured materials, and advanced AM applications, with combined facilities for advanced manufacturing, metrology and reverse engineering, and materials characterization and testing.
Center of Excellence for Sharing resources for the Advancement of Research and Education through Cyberinfrastructure (Cyber-ShARE)
The Center concentrates specifically on the aspects of CI that deal with software and middleware services and tools, with the focus on the development of scientific CI applications and on training the next generation of scientists who can effectively use CI to perform leading-edge science.
The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce
The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce sponsors, conducts and promotes three main avenues of research: research in innovation and commerce, research for commercialization of innovation, and research in entrepreneurship education. The Center was founded in 2012 through generous contributions from UTEP alumnus Mike Loya. The Center connects the College of Business Administration and the College of Engineering. The Center is part of a UTEP and El Paso ecosystem to support innovation and commerce.
Micro and Nanofabrication Facility
The Nanofabrication Facility is equipped with 6,000 square feet of class-100 clean room space which is used for enabling research in micro- and nanotechnology. It comprises of more than 25 pieces of major research instrumentation for the deposition of thin films, lithographic fabrication and the characterization of materials and devices for areas such as photovoltaics, memristors and silicon microelectronic processing.
