Established: 2016 as 501 (c) (3) Organization
Funding: National Institutes of Standards and Technology $500,000 Planning Grant | Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office $4.5 Million, Three-Year Award
Lead PI: Venkat Selvamanickam, Ph.D.
Department: Advanced Manufacturing Institute | Mechanical Engineering | Texas Center for Superconductivity's Applied Research Hub

Established: 2022
Funding: National Science Foundation $758,331
Lead PI: Jose Contreras-Vidal, Ph.D.
Department: Electrical Engineering

The Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnologies (BRAIN Center) develops safe, effective and affordable personalized neurotechnologies for diagnostics, restoration, enhancement, and rehabilitation of sensory, motor, affective and cognitive functions.

Established: 2015
Funding: U.S. Department of Homeland Security $3.4 Million, Five-Year Grant
Lead PI: Craig Glennie, Ph.D.
Department: College of Technology
Status: DHS Emeritus Center of Excellence, 2021

The Borders, Trade and Immigration Institute advances technology solutions, data-driven policy insights, and targed education and training programs focused on border security, trade, and immigration.

Established: 2019
Funding: Department of Energy $750,000 | Industry Funding $1.6 Million
Lead PI:  Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Ph.D.
Department: UH Energy

The Center for Carbon Management in Energy (CCME) is a UH Energy initiative that brings together experts across engineering, business, law, and policy to tackle low-carbon energy challenges. In partnership with an industry advisory board, CCME conducts collaborative research and education focused on carbon management in the oil and gas, petrochemical, and power sectors.

Established: 2020
Funding: National Science Foundation $1.8 Million
Lead PI: Loi Doi, Ph.D.
Department: Chemistry

The Center for Integrated Catalysis (CIC) develops the fundamental chemistry needed to prepare synthetic plastics from pools of abundant feedstocks in a single reactor using spatially separated and temporally switchable catalysts.

Established: 2020 
Funding: Institute of Education Sciences $9.9 Million
Lead PI: David Francis, Ph.D.
Department: Psychology

The National Research and Development Center for English Language Learners conducts research to improve school tracking. The center also designs and tests interventions using transdisciplinary approaches to science and social studies instruction for English Learners in Grades 6 and 9.

Established: 2024
Funding: National Center for Advancing Translational Research $44.2 million
Lead PI: Christopher Amos (BCM), Fasiha Kanwal (BCM), Bettina M. Beech (UH)

The Consortium for Translational and Precision Health (CTPH) helps accelerate the translation of new technologies and discoveries into clinical care and broader population-level impact by providing funding and resources to research initiatives.

Established: 2020
Funding: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities $11.9 Million
Lead PI: Bettina M. Beech, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.
Department: HEALTH Research Institute | Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences (PHLS) | College of Education

The HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention advances community-engaged research that can be rapidly disseminated and implemented into the targeted community.

Established: 2024 
Funding: National Aeronotics and Space Administration $5 Million 
Lead PI: Karolos Grigoriadis, Ph.D. 
Department: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The NASA MIRO Inflatable Deployable Environments and Adaptive Space Systems (IDEAS²) Center supports NASA’s mission to extend human presence on the moon and Mars for long-term space exploration.

Established: 2003 (Transitioned to UH in 2010)
Funding: National Science Foundation $2.4 Million Continuing Grant (>$10 Million Total)
Lead PI: Craig Glennie, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

The National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) is a collaborative effort between the University of Houston and the University of California, Berkeley. NCALM provides research-grade LiDAR data to NSF-funded investigators. The center operates a state-of-the-art LiDAR system, capable of collecting up to 900 kHz data covering terrain and bathymetry up to 10 m deep. 

Established: 2015
Funding: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality via the RESTORE Act $4.1 Million
Lead PI: Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Ph.D.
Department: UH Energy

Led by the University of Houston in collaboration with Rice University and NASA, the Subsea Systems Institute (SSI) advances the sustainable and safe development of energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico. The focuses on developing engineering, science and policy standards to identify and validate the best available and safest technologies and practices for hydrocarbon exploration in ultra-deep and extreme environments.

Established: 2006
Funding: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development $9 Million, Five-Year Grant, 2001-2016 (>$16 Million Total)
Lead PI: Jack M. Fletcher, Ph.D.
Department: Psychology | Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics (TIMES)

The Texas Center for Learning Disabilities (TCLD), one of four NICHD-funded Learning Disabilities Research Centers in the nation, is a collaboration between the University of Houston, UT Austin, and UTHealth Houston. The center conducts multidisciplinary research on defining and measuring learning disabilities, the role of executive function in reading comprehension, effective interventions for struggling readers, and the functional and structural correlates of learning disabilities and intervention response.

Established: 2023
Funding: U.S. Department of Transportation $2 million Tier 1 Center Grant
Lead PI: Dr. Yunpeng (Jack) Zhang
Department: Information and Logistics Technology

The Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE) aims to strengthen the resilience of critical transportation systems against cyber threats. The center conducts advanced research in areas such as supply chain coordination; systems integration and reliability of communication technologies; Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT); Automated and Connected Vehicles simulation; and Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring.