A little less than two years after construction and relocation plans were announced, the Research and Academic Data Center (RADC, or “rad-see” as it is called by those in the know) has moved from its original location in the basement of Union Building West, where it had reached capacity, to the top of the sky bridge connecting the third floors of the Classroom and Engineering buildings.

Michelle Del Rio vividly remembers how she felt two years ago standing with Michelle Obama backstage in the East Room of the White House. Del Rio was a new student in UTEP’s Master of Public Health (MPH) Program and a role model for the young girls she mentored as president of the local chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) when she was picked by the White House to participate in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Family-Friendly Policy Rollout on Sept. 26, 201

A natural interest in politics and her community were instrumental in helping UTEP junior Elisa Tamayo earn a fall 2012 Archer Fellowship, and a position inside the White House. The University of Texas at El Paso student worked in the communications office of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She wrote press releases and used social media to promote events such as the creation of the Chimney Rock National Monument in Colorado and the 2012 GreenGov symposium in Washington, D.C.

The message of a national “contest” where 57 communities including El Paso are working to increase the number of adult residents with post-secondary degrees is simple: “You learn. You earn. And everyone wins.” Research shows that college degrees lead to more per capita income, according to organizers of the three-year Talent Dividend competition. They estimate that a 1 percent increase in adults with four-year degrees in the nation’s top 51 metro areas would mean an estimated $143 billion increase per year for the nation.

IBM Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor Romelia Flores’ advice to future engineers is to immerse themselves in The University of Texas at El Paso’s thriving environment and find the joy and comfort of contributing to society through the use of technology. “I see a lot of synergy. I see the excitement that you have here on campus. I see how you're striving to get into high-performance capacity computing and how you're doing a lot with research and … that’s kind of what I do at (IBM),” Flores said during the University’s first Centennial Lecture of the spring semester on Feb. 19. “Surround yourself in things that you feel are important in life and I think you will succeed.”

On Saturday, Feb. 16, UTEP went back in time for a creative and educational look at the past when students from all over the city hit campus for El Paso History Day. About 425 students offered 239 different group and individual entries including research papers, exhibits, documentary films, websites and live performances that told tales about events, people and places both well-known and virtually unknown.