CC* CIRA: Building Research Innovations in Community Colleges in TX In Collaboration with Universities (BRICCs-TX)

Building Research Innovations in Community Colleges in TX (BRICCs-TX) is designed to help Texas community colleges prepare their students for the research and data analytics that is required to be successful both in the workplace as well as in the attainment of higher degrees. It is more efficient and effective if educational institutions at all levels collaborate to share tools and resources for the common good. With the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), BRICCS-TX is providing an online platform for sharing ideas, tools and resources, all institutions of higher education have access to the same information. The goals of BRICCs-TX are to: 1) encourage research at all levels and in both technical and academic areas at community colleges, 2) encourage collaboration between community colleges and universities in research opportunities, 3) share computing power and cyberinfrastructure solutions and opportunities for collaboration in the cloud and in hardware across the state, 4) host workshops around the state and virtually with research, computing power and cyberinfrastructure as the focus, and 5) work with the THECB to establish a hub on their OERTX website that will serve as a repository of information on research collaboration and cyberinfrastructure supporting research. The project is working with community colleges in various regions in the state, including South Plains College, Houston Community College and Lone Star, as well as universities Texas A&M and Texas Southern University. San Jacinto College leads a team that exemplifies collaboration and communication to empower students from diverse demographics as better prepared individuals for problem solving using the latest technology available. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.