University of Austin

An Innovative Approach to STEM

The Center of Inquiry for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (C-STEM) at the University of Austin is a community of exceptional scholars and purpose-driven students, deeply engaged with each other and cooperating partners to cultivate technically-informed thinking and doing. 

It is characterized by excellent teaching, a rigorous scientific curriculum, and robust engagement with the surrounding technical community in Austin and beyond. 

Our STEM curriculum combines best-in-practice academic content with applications and lessons learned from influential thinkers and doers in the private and public sectors. We leverage our geographic location and operate with an “Austin is our lab” mindset, engaging businesses in the city to give students gain hands-on experience from local experts and in local facilities engaged in STEM-related endeavors. 

Program
Before entering C-STEM, students complete a four-course “Center Foundations” sequence consisting of (i) Differential Calculus, (ii) Integral Calculus, (iii) Discrete Mathematics, and (iv) Differential Equations.

Upon joining the Center, students take an eight-course “Center Core” curriculum to master concepts fundamental to STEM inquiry: (i) Data Wrangling and Visualization, (ii) Linear Algebra, (iii) Linear Optimization, (iv) Probability, (v) Programming, (vi) Physics (Mechanics), (vii) Physics (Electricity and Magnetism), and (viii) Statistics.

C-STEM students will be able to choose courses that align with their particular study interests and will have the following opportunities:

• Computing and Data Science (CDS). The CDS concentration competitively positions students in this high-demand industry. Required courses include: (i) Programming II, (ii) Data Structures and Scalability, (iii) Data Storage, (iv) Machine Learning, and (v) two additional computing or data science electives.

• Immersive Onsite Learning (IOL). Through our IOL program, UATX partners with cutting-edge companies so that students can engage in learning and doing together with industry professionals, as a credit-earning part of their degree program.

In addition, a variety of elective course options are available, including: (i) Artificial Intelligence, (ii) Big Data Computing, (iii) Computer Algorithms, (iv) Decision Theory, (v) Dynamic and Stochastic Processes, (vi) Human Data Interaction, (vii) Nonparametric Statistics, and (viii) Statistical Learning.

Our People

David Ruth
Dean of the Center for STEM
Dr. David Ruth joined UATX from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he held several leadership positions as a Permanent Military Professor of Mathematics and was an award-winning teacher from 2009 until 2022. Prior to his academic career, he led and served as a naval officer with operational experience in submarine and surface warfare, nuclear power, oceanography, and meteorology.

Eliah Overbey
Assistant Professor of Bioastronautics
Eliah Overbey comes to UATX from her position as a research associate at Weill Cornell Medicine. She studies changes in astronaut health during spaceflight with an emphasis on genomic measurements. Her most recent project analyzed astronauts from the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission, and she is currently working on the Axiom-2 and Polaris Dawn missions. She also serves as Chief Scientific Officer at BioAstra, a nonprofit developing healthcare systems for astronauts.