UTB-TSC research called key component

It’s a potent mix that is creating a situation requiring UTB-TSC to showcase and protect its growing research component, President Juliet V. Garcia said.

With a debilitating state budget shortfall, a key 20-year milestone for the school and a nationwide call from President Barack Obama for more science and math education, Garcia said now is the time to acknowledge research as a way to push Brownsville forward.

“It is a convergence of the state needing to focus on these issues, the Valley being ready to be the innovators in how to do this better and the nation recognizing the Hispanic population had better become an educated Hispanic population,” Garcia said.

She quoted figures that paint a grim picture of Texas’ progress in important areas. The statistics come from a 2010 report by the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research, part of the department of economics at Suffolk University in Boston.

Texas, she said, is behind.

Not enough adults are graduating from high school or enrolled in universities, and there are low levels of research and development as well as science and engineering degrees awarded, she said at a luncheon she hosted Tuesday for media to learn about current research at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

“That’s not much to be proud of,” Garcia said. “Texas likes to kind of pound its chest every once in awhile and say ‘Aren’t we great?’ That’s not great.”

Another factor, she said, is that as the Texas Hispanic population grows she saw concerns in Austin because Hispanics traditionally have low levels of educational attainment and significant problems with health.

“People are worried about the Hispanic population,” she said.

This worry, she said, should not translate into budget cuts of $500,000 in the research infrastructure used to obtain grants at a designated Hispanic Serving Institute like UTB-TSC. It signals a need to continue investing, she said.

“Universities can transform places,” Garcia said. “Our story is a good story, but it’s still a story of infancy. This university has a long way to go.”

Tuesday, five faculty members from some of the key areas of UTB-TSC research spoke on their respective work.

Areas of research discussed included UTB-TSC’s environmental work; research in epilepsy and traumatic brain injury; work in physics; research into health issues like diabetes through the nursing program; and research into the teaching and development of math and science teachers.

Also on campus, but not part of UTB-TSC, is the Brownsville branch of the UT Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. The school collaborates with UTB-TSC but also conducts its own research.Luis Colom, UTB-TSC vice president of research, spoke to the Brownsville Herald in January, describing research at the institution as a multi-faceted tool. He was present at Tuesday’s meeting.

Economic engine

“You look at the most developed communities, and research plays a part,” he said in his previous comments. “I don’t think you would have the economic boom in Austin if you didn’t have UT-Austin. You would not have, at this moment, the tremendous development of health in Houston, in San Antonio, if you didn’t have the Health Science Center in San Antonio and the Health Science Center in Houston.”

Research, he said, serves as an economic engine that brings millions of dollars to the community.

“The whole idea is we develop a research enterprise that will bring industry to the area (and) good-paying jobs.”

Documents provided by UTB-TSC show generally steady growth in the millions of dollars in grant money awarded. Starting with about $1.3 million in 1994, the school reports about $20 million in grants for the 2010 fiscal year.

Equally important, Colom said, is that research serves as a tool for retention for the hundreds of students that participate. Many of the students have risk factors for dropping out, one of which is coming from a low-income family.

As research grows, he said, it will reflect Brownsville’s own personality and needs.

“I would say I don’t want to be UT Austin when we grow up,” Colom said. “We want to be something different that serves our community.”

He said UTB-TSC should be a unique institution whose research influence expands to have an economic impact on the community.

At the meeting Tuesday, Provost Alan Artibise echoed Garcia’s stance.

“All this about the state cuts, the concerns at the federal level, what the president just said about the future of the state, it depends on what we do here in Brownsville,” he said. “If we don’t solve the problem here, Texas can dream all its wants and pound its chest all it wants, but it’s not going anywhere until this part of the state is going somewhere as well.”

Where Texas ranks among the 50 states

• Last in the percent of the adult population, age 25 or over, that graduated from high school
• 37th in the percent of population enrolled in degree-granting institutions
• 35th in academic research and development
• 41st in science and engineering degrees awarded

Source: Beacon Hill Institute 2010 State Competitiveness Report