Center for Coupled Urban & Rural Environmental Sustainability (CURES)

CURES is addressing the problems of underserved communities in rural and small urban areas through a multidisciplinary approach that unites sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities.

Lubbock has long served as the economic, educational, and healthcare hub for rural communities in the South Plains region of the Texas Panhandle. Our location gives Texas Tech researchers a unique perspective on the ways secondary or mid-sized cities are connected culturally, economically, and environmentally to our rural neighbors.

Learn More About CURES

 

Education

The West Texas Rural Education Partnership develops high-quality pathways for aspiring educators to earn education degrees and begin teaching careers in rural West Texas. "Grow your own" programs develop local talent by allowing residents of rural communities to stay where they live while completing a high-quality, university-based educator preparation program. School districts often work in collaboration with universities and community colleges to recruit and prepare the candidates.

The partnership, led by Texas Tech, consists of 3 universities, 9 community colleges and 45 rural districts all focused on addressing teacher-talent needs of rural schools.

Mental Health

Rural communities face some of the highest suicide rates in the country, as well as limited mental health services. Rural areas need access to care to reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms or other mental health concerns.

Telemedicine allows rural school districts with counseling vacancies to refer students for mental health evaluations, interventions, and treatment planning with a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Virtual visits bring a psychiatrist to a patient immediately and help tailor a child's treatment to the resources available in their region.

Water

Agriculture is responsible for 70 percent of fresh water consumption. Rural areas are particularly sensitive to the increasing demands on our nation's water supply.

Aquifers like the Ogalalla have seen severe water declines and will never reach their previous levels again. Many places also lack good quality water. 

Texas Tech researchers are looking for solutions in several ways, including:

• Finding new sources of water and managing ground water for agriculture;
• Looking at the water quality of deeper aquifers, like the one under the Ogalalla, and determining the best ways to extract, treat, and use that water;
• Developing treatment technologies that desalinate brackish water; and
• Developing technologies that remove contaminants and provide good quality drinking water to rural communities.