Rice University edtech startup adds new partners

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A edtech startup that is lowering the cost of textbooks for students has added nine new partners. Image via openstax.org

Rice University's educational technology initiative has added nine technology partners that will supply everything from business simulation software to test preparation tools.

The initiative's OpenStax Ally program enhances OpenStax textbook content with low-cost learning technology. The nine new OpenStax Ally partners are:

  • Mumbai, India-based Hurix, a provider of e-learning software.
  • San Francisco-based LiveCarta, which digitizes books and other content.
  • San Mateo, California-based Market Games, which gamifies the learning experience for business students.
  • New York City-based Method Test Prep, which offers courses to help students improve their ACT and SAT scores.
  • A Coruña, Spain-based Netex, whose tools help users create digital content.
  • Chicago-based PowerNotes, which provides a tool for organizing online academic research.
  • Chicago-based Red Flag Mania, whose game-based experience is designed to enhance users' critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based Sowiso, which offers a virtual teaching assistant for STEM education.
  • Farmington, Connecticut-based Stemify, whose technology helps boost the STEM capabilities of students and teachers.

These companies' platforms will be made available for global users of OpenStax — more than 36,000 instructors and 4 million students — in the spring 2022 semester.

Rice launched OpenStax in 2012. The initiative reported in August that it has saved students $1.2 billion through the publication of free, openly licensed textbooks. More than 60 percent of degree-granting schools in the U.S. use OpenStax textbooks.

"Expanding offerings through the OpenStax Ally program will allow us to provide our adopters and their students with a wide array of tools that can truly meet their unique needs," Daniel Williamson, managing director of OpenStax, says in a news release. "It's essential to provide educators with strong and vast technology options. They know their students and what will work best for them, and should have the ability to choose the right technology."

The nine new partners join 65 organizations that already offer OpenStax tools for purposes such as classroom engagement, content customization, simulations, and online homework.

"Working with OpenStax takes us closer to reimagining the business textbook," says Casey Nguyen, digital marketing manager at Market Games, whose business simulation technology is at aimed at first-year students. "We … can gamify the learning experience to make quality business education more accessible, realistic, and engaging."

Educational technology providers that want to sign up for the OpenStax Ally program can apply during one of two application periods each year. The next period will begin at the close of the spring 2022 semester.

Over 90 percent of students will work with a digital textbook at some point this year. Getty Images

Nearly 3 million students are using Rice University-published online textbooks this year

Uploading education

More and more students and educational institutions are opting out of physical textbooks each year. One company leading the digital textbook revolution is located right here in Houston.

OpenStax is a Rice University-based publisher of open educational resources. The company has been publishing its free resources since 2012, growing its presence to over 36 college and Advanced Placement courses, according to a news release from Rice.

This year, over 90 percent of students will log on to free textbooks digitally in some way — through a website, PDF, or on OpenStax, the release states, and OpenStax new app received almost 58,000 downloads in just a month.

"We are exceeding even our own expectations of growth and impact on a daily basis," says Daniel Williamson, managing director of OpenStax, in a release. "This tells us that people believe in what we've created and that we need to keep going."

The company, which focuses on access to textbooks for students, also provides print books at a lower cost, and OpenStax entered into a deal with Vretta Inc. to expand this print program to Canada earlier this year.

OpenStax itself is responsible for saving 9 million students over $830 million, per the release, not the mention the fact that digital resources is driving the cost of textbooks down in general.

"Until a few years ago the college textbook bubble had seen sustained growth — textbook prices had risen 800 percent over 50 years," says Mark Perry, a scholar at The American Enterprise Institute and professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan, in the release. "In 2017, there was a market-wide drop in textbook prices, and I believe that free alternatives like OpenStax books are central to that disruption."

OpenStax has plans to continue its growth with the launch of Rover by OpenStax, which is a low-cost online math tool that incorporates a step-by-step feedback technology called Stepwise.

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Italian aerospace company sets up first U.S. office at Houston Spaceport

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Como, Italy-based aerospace company Involve Space recently made the Houston Spaceport the site of its first U.S. office.

Involve Space develops high-altitude balloon platforms for Earth observation, scientific research and hardware testing. The balloons carry instruments into the stratosphere (a layer of the upper atmosphere) to collect images and data, conduct experiments and test technology.

The company plans to launch its first commercial missions from Houston by the end of this year, according to a news release.

“Houston is the global center of aerospace, and our presence at Houston Spaceport strengthens our international growth trajectory,” Jonathan Polotto, founder and CEO of Involve Space, said in the release.

Founded in 2021, Involve Space incorporates aerospace hardware, AI and geospatial tools into its offerings. Its proprietary CLEAR platform uses conversational AI to help customers interpret data and support decision-making.

Located at Ellington Airport, the Houston Spaceport provides a base for Involve Space’s North American operations, including business development and partnerships with aerospace companies and researchers.

Other tenants at the Houston Spaceport include NASA, Axiom Space, Venus Aerospace and Intuitive Machines.

Involve Space’s relationship with the Houston Spaceport began in January 2025, when it conducted its first U.S. pilot launch. During the five-hour mission, the balloon reached an altitude of about 85,000 feet and traveled about 250 miles across Texas.

One of Involve Space’s first U.S. customers is Houston-based Rhodium Scientific, a space biotech company. Polotto and Rhodium Scientific founder and CEO Olivia Gamez Holzhaus signed a deal to conduct biotech experiments aboard Involve Space’s stratospheric balloon platforms before planned missions to orbit.

“The presence of innovative platforms like those developed by Involve strengthens the Spaceport’s role as a site for testing, validating, and deploying advanced technologies between aeronautics and space,” Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for Houston Airports, added in the release.

UH lands $3M grant to expand opioid overdose training

Overdose Response

The University of Houston has received a $3 million federal grant to expand its potentially life-saving overdose response training program.

The grant will support the Houston Health Department’s FRONTLINES program that trains first responders in Harris and Fort Bend counties to recognize opioid overdoses and administer the drug naloxone, which can counter the effects of an opioid overdose. The four-year grant comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services, and it builds on eight years of work at UH, according to a release from the university.

As part of the expansion, UH medical, social work and psychology students will now also be able to take part in FRONTLINES’ overdose-response training. Some of the students will also be selected to help train community members, ultimately passing along the life-saving skills throughout Houston.

FRONTLINES is a collaboration with the City of Houston, the Fertitta College of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Recovery Center. It was co-founded by Dr. James Bray, chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Houston’s Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, in 2018.

“When someone experiencing an opioid overdose is reached in time, naloxone can save their life,” Bray said in a news release. “We’ve seen the impact this training can have in Houston, and now we have an opportunity to extend that reach across Harris and Fort Bend counties, putting lifesaving knowledge and tools into the hands of more first responders.”

In 2024, around 450 residents of Harris County died from opioid overdoses, according to a Texas Department of State Health Services report. The report found that fentanyl was involved in about three-quarters of the deaths.

In 2025, UH also received a $2.6 million gift from the estate of Dr. William A. Gibson to expand its opioid research and develop a vaccine to help block fentanyl's effectiveness in entering the brain. The vaccine research is part of the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program led by UH professor of psychology Therese Kosten and founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute Colin Haile. Read more about the grant and the vaccine’s development here.

Texas public libraries drive billions in economic impact, report finds

Beyond the Stacks

A new statewide study examining the economic impacts of public libraries has revealed they have generated over $3.8 billion in value to local communities — a return of $4.74 for every $1 invested.

The report, "Beyond the Stacks: Measuring the Economic and Community Value of Texas Public Libraries" was conducted by third-party consultancy JBK Economics Group in partnership with the Texas Library Association. About 300 of the total 513 public libraries in Texas participated in a survey for the report.

A major finding from the survey revealed that public libraries create billions in economic value for the communities they serve at a fraction of what it costs to pay employee wages and benefits, operating expenditures, and capital expenditures. About 11,200 jobs were directly and indirectly supported by public libraries, the report found.

The report found its $4.74 to $1 ratio by adding up the total value of the services provided by these institutions (an estimated $2.48 billion), and comparing it to total expenditures ($808.6 million).

"Public libraries had about the same economic footprint as the Texas motion picture and sound recording industry ($2.9 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024) or the Texas paper manufacturing industry ($4.0 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024)," the report said.

Many Houstonians are already familiar with Houston Public Library's expansive catalog and programming, but there are many more services the library provides that might fly under the radar. A few examples include access to subscription-based research databases and news outlets, and the Library of Things, a collection of cookware and bake ware, musical instruments, craft kits, and other tools or activity materials that are available for cardholders to borrow. Individual branches also provide free Wi-Fi, computer access, and meeting spaces.

Houston-area residents also have access to services at several other local libraries depending on their address, such as the Harris County Public Library, Montgomery County Memorial Library System, or Fort Bend County Libraries, just to name a few.

These are additional services and partnerships that Texas public libraries commonly provide, per the survey results:

  • 93 percent provide voter registration and/or serve as voting locations
  • 84 percent provide partnerships with local social services agencies
  • 82 percent provide job application assistance
  • 68 percent facilitate applications for government benefits
  • 38 percent provide on-site social services
  • 30 percent provide telehealth rooms and/or resources
"Public libraries are practical, welcoming and rooted in the communities they serve — they are unmistakably Texan," said Texas Library Association executive director Shirley Robinson in a press release. "This study puts a dollar value on the opportunities libraries create every day. Whether someone visits a library to apply for a job, access the internet, learn a new skill or simply find a new favorite book, those services create real value for Texans and their communities."

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This article first appeared on CultureMap.com.

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