RELLIS has recently become the most advanced technology and research facility introduced to the Brazos Valley. RELLIS is an acronym for the six core values of Texas A&M University — respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and selfless service — and works hard to demonstrate these same values with every step it takes. With the site’s new research practices combined with its already long history in the Bryan College Station area, RELLIS’s connection to Brazos Valley is not new at all.
The RELLIS site was initially the Bryan Army Air Field in World War II, and after the war, the site was deactivated and used to house Texas A&M freshmen. The site was then reactivated for the Korean War and also used as a jet pilot training site. After the Korean War, the site sat idle until it was chartered to Texas A&M in 1962.
In 1982, Texas A&M received full ownership of the site and then gave it to the Texas A&M University System.
Although many people may have just discovered RELLIS through their 2019 open house, RELLIS has been a leading research facility in Brazos Valley for a long time.
“RELLIS has been a research and testing location for 57 years, open since 1962, but it has recently been renamed and transformed into something more,” says Kelly Templin, director at RELLIS for the past two years. “It is the rebirth of a research campus with a heavy emphasis on academics.”
With its relatively new industry partnerships, RELLIS is sure to have both short-term and long-term benefits to both the Brazos Valley area and the research business as a whole.
“I am confident that RELLIS will change the economy of Brazos County,” says Templin. “We have had many agencies come and view our campus. Some of them will definitely do research here and some of them will definitely send people here though it is difficult to guess how many of [the agencies] will be here permanently, but the industries on campus are hiring people which will of course help the economy in Brazos County.”
Within its campus, RELLIS forms a sort of academic alliance between all ten regional universities in the Texas A&M University System along with the Blinn College District.
Dr. Nancy Jordan, provost of the RELLIS Academic Alliance since August 2019, says she has been amazed at the sort of innovation shown by the academic departments at RELLIS since she has started.
The academic alliance provides students at RELLIS, who are possibly taking courses from more than one of the 11 colleges available, with a much more integrated and smooth experience. With the new student academic portal in place at RELLIS, students can now look at courses across all 11 colleges, easily send transcripts between colleges, look at grades across all different colleges, and identify the different financial aid agreements made with the different colleges.
“RELLIS also allows students and their families to lower the cost of a college education since enrollment at RELLIS is much more affordable and approximately costs $2,200 to $3,400 less per semester than those enrolled in degree plans at universities like the University of Houston or Texas State University,” says Dr. Jordan.
With classrooms, laboratories, and simulation suites equipped with new and advanced technology, RELLIS allows STEM students to get an incredible hands-on education in their respective fields so they are best prepared for their future careers.
“In our master plan, we plan on building four more academic buildings that, along with our current academic complex building, will form our academic center,” says Dr. Jordan.
With the incredible amount of progress RELLIS made in such a relatively short amount of time, it can seem like RELLIS just erupted straight out of the ground.
“The transformation of this campus has been phenomenal, and we have a very busy year ahead of us,” says Templin.
From far away, RELLIS can just seem like an incredibly complex and intense concept but with just a hint of understanding the impact this site will have on all the industries it touches, one can’t help but feel excited too.
