Tag Archives: NMSU

In celebration of November as Native American Heritage Month, the University Museum at New Mexico State University will host a symposium bringing together Indigenous water protectors to share their perspectives and their work protecting water in a growing international water crisis.

The events surrounding ‘Indigenous Symposium: Water Protection,’ will be held Nov.14-15 and will give an opportunity for the indigenous leaders to share stories and solutions to protect water resources. All events are free and open to the public. They are also bilingual.

The symposium will feature Jose Gomez, a Maya Mam Indigenous Water Defender from Guatemala currently on tour in the western United States to meet with other indigenous leaders and activists fighting to protect their waters.

“As Indigenous people, creating international links with communities from other countries strengthens our struggle for the protection and stewardship of our common resources,” Gómez said. “Solidarity helps us acquire information about, and intervene in, the capitalist system’s plans against our people.”

Gómez is also the co-coordinator of the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources (ACODET) which is a coalition of Indigenous communities in Guatemala’s rural Ixcán region that has used grassroots organizing to halt construction on the Xalalá project – a mega-dam that, if built, would flood multiple communities and have a devastating impact on life in the region.

The opening ceremony will be held on Wednesday Nov, 14th from 9-10 a.m. outdoors near the Corbett Center and will feature NMSU anthropology professor Don Pepion and the Piro Dancers. That evening, Gómez will give a presentation from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the Branigan Cultural Center.

Multiple events are scheduled for Thursday, November 15. The first is an unveiling of the Water Protector Mural at 4:00 p.m. with Barricade Culture Shop and Murals of Las Cruces at 1305 East University Avenue.

The Indigenous Water Protector Panel will follow from 5:30 – 7 p.m. in the College of Health and Social Services Auditorium, Room 101A. This event features six Indigenous water protectors who will discuss their work and experiences.

The celebration will continue at the University Museum with the ‘Water is Life Celebration’ from 7-9 p.m. with music, dance, Indian tacos and more. It will feature performances by the dance group Danza Omecoatl, Artson, Native American Music Award winner, and a local band Papayas con Chile

There will also be a silent auction of art by Ome, Francella, and Saba, with proceeds benefitting ACODET, as well as two Indigenous art installations on view in the museum: ‘Pictograff: The Art of War Prayer’ and ‘Live Long and Prosper: Sci-fi Images in Contemporary Indigenous Art.”

Author:  Victoria Balderrama – NMSU

UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry, along with his revamped roster will experience their first Battle of I-10 on Friday (Nov. 9) as UTEP will face NM State for the first time this season.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in the Pan American Center.

“It’s obviously a great rivalry, one that we have tremendous respect for and respect for their program and what they’ve been able to do,” Terry said. “There’s obvious respect for coach (Chris) Jans and how he gets his guys prepared to compete at a very high level. I think it’s great for both of us to compete at a high level and continue to get better.”

The Miners and Aggies will face each other for the 216th time on Friday night, while the two will square off for a second time this season on Wednesday, November 28 in the Don Haskins Center.

The November 9 date is the earliest that the two programs will meet in the history of the rivalry, while it’s the second time since the 2014-15 season that UTEP will take on NM State in its second game of the season.

The Miners (1-0) are coming off a 90-63 victory over UT Permian Basin on Nov. 6, while Terry chalked up his first win as UTEP’s head coach. Terry started two freshmen in Efe Odigie and Jordan Lathon, while Kaosi Ezeagu played significant minutes off the bench. The trio combined for 39 points, the second-most combined points ever by UTEP freshmen in a season opener.

Odigie impressed in his UTEP debut, scoring 23 points and pulling down nine rebounds in 19 minutes of action. Odigie’s tied the most points ever by a UTEP freshman in a season opener. Terry’s other big man, Ezeagu, made a positive impression, scoring 10 points, tallying nine rebounds and blocking a pair of shots. Lathon led the Miners with 10 rebounds, dished out four assists, blocked two shots and chipped in with six points. Lathon was the first UTEP freshman with 10-plus boards in a season opener since 1978.

As far as UTEP’s returning letterwinners, Paul Thomas energized the Miner faithful and his teammates with a thunderous dunk over a UT Permian Basin defender during the second half. The senior scored 10 points, blocked a shot, tallied a pair of dimes and three rebounds.

Evan Gilyard led the Miners with 24 points on 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. The sophomore sensation scored 16 of his points during the second half, while connecting on 5-of-7 three-point buckets. Gilyard tied for the team lead with fellow sophomore Kobe Magee as each dished out five assists. Magee was the first Miner to play the full 40 minutes in season opener since Nov. 21, 2000.

After heading to the locker room up four points (38-34), Terry’s squad came out with more intensity during the second half and outscored the Falcons, 52-29, after hitting on more than 65 percent of their field goals. Overall, UTEP connected on over 52 percent of its field goals, while going 11-for-23 from three-point range. The Miners also dished out 19 assists, combined for six blocks and outrebounded their opponent, 42-40. UTEP’s 42 free throw attempts were its third-most in a season opener.

The Aggies (1-0) also won on opening night, defeating North Dakota State, 73-56. Redshirt senior JoJo Zamora led the team with 16 points in 19 minutes, while junior Terrell Brown scored 13 points off the bench. Junior Clayton Henry led NM State with seven rebounds and chipped in with eight points. The Aggies recorded eight assists and outrebounded NDSU 47-31.

UTEP and NM State is the longest-running series in school history, as the Aggies lead the series 112-103.

Last season during the first meeting on Nov. 25 in Las Cruces, Thomas (30 minutes) and Gilyard (33 minutes) tied for the team lead with 14 points each and registered five rebounds apiece.

During the second meeting in El Paso, Thomas recorded nine points and three rebounds, while Magee, after only playing one minute in the first meeting, upped his minutes to eight in the second game.

New Mexico State University’s Honors College and Graduate School are giving top students the chance to take Graduate School for a test drive while still pursuing their undergrad degree through the Master’s Accelerated Program.

Select students will be permitted to enroll in graduate-level classes and if they remain at NMSU for graduate studies their credits will roll over into their graduate degree.

Not every department is able to participate and it is up to the departments to determine a student’s eligibility. The minimum GPA needed to apply for a Master’s Accelerated degree program is a 3.0, the same requirement for admission to grad programs, but departments can choose to use more rigorous criteria.

Students who have completed 60 credit hours of classes may apply for the MAP and once accepted, students must submit to Graduate School their approved course list for the classes each semester. Students completing the graduate level course with a B or better can have that count toward a graduate degree.

Dean of the Honors College Miriam Chaiken said she sees many students beginning their undergraduate studies with college credits earned while in high school.

“For those students entering college with credits they have accumulated through AP or dual credit classes, they have the flexibility to include some graduate-level classes in their undergraduate program,” Chaiken said.

Students will be able to take a maximum of 12 graduate credits while pursuing their undergrad degree and 6 of those credits can be counted as honors credits to go toward graduation with the University Honors recognition. The MAP option allows students to triple dip, earning credits that count toward their undergraduate degree, Honors and graduate program.

“From the point of view of the student, this is a great opportunity, they show prospective graduate programs that they are capable of graduate level work, and they get these credits to count toward graduating with University Honors,” Chaiken said.

Daniel Estupinan, a business major, is currently taking graduate classes through MAP and said it has provided him with many opportunities, including being able to gain admission to the Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship Program at the University of California – Berkeley.

“The Master’s Accelerated Program gave me an opportunity to explore my interests in educational leadership using the unique skills and perspectives I have acquired while studying Finance. This experience proved highly valuable during my participation in the Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship at UC Berkeley, where I explored the role of public finance in promoting greater equity in public education,” Estupinan said.

Estupinan was also recently invited by the Harvard Graduate School of Education to visit Harvard and meet with some of their faculty members and graduate students. Harvard University is paying for the whole experience and Estupinan said he believes his participation in the MAP is what helped set him on this journey.

MAP is currently available through some departments and Chaiken suggests that interested students should meet with their department heads to discuss this possibility.

The Honors College will also host a workshop for interested students about the Master’s Accelerated Program on Nov. 7 at 3:30 p.m. in the Commons Room. Chaiken said they hope to significantly grow the number of participants in the MAP in the coming year, as it opens up many opportunities for students.

Author: Melissa R. Rutter – NMSU

The University Museum at New Mexico State University is hosting the exhibition “Live Long & Prosper: Sci-Fi Images in Contemporary Indigenous Art.”

The works are on exhibition in Kent Hall located at 1280 East University Avenue, and will be on display until spring 2019.

“The indigenous artists represented in this exhibition are engaging with issues of cultural (mis)appropriation, indigenous space, contemporary narratives and the surviving/continuum of Indigenous culture through mixed media works,” said University Museum Curator Anna Strackman.

“This exhibition represents an acknowledgment of indigenous space – past, present and future.”

The exhibition features more than 40 works of art by contemporary indigenous artists including Debra Yepa-Pappan, Will Wilson, Suzanne Kite, Frank Buffalo Hyde, Sarah Sense, Neal Ambrose Smith, Hoka Skenadore, Nicholas Galanin, Andy Everson, Ryan Singer, Jamison Chas Banks, Sonny Assu, Skawennati and others.

Various paintings, video and photography are also featured.

Author: Faith Schifani – NMSU

A new Ph.D. program being developed at New Mexico State University will give students the opportunity to earn a doctoral degree in food science and human nutrition, and will benefit New Mexico-based food processors and human nutrition organizations through innovative research.

The program will be the first of its kind in New Mexico and one of a few in the United States that combine food science and human nutrition into a single Ph.D. program, said Efren Delgado, assistant professor in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department in NMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

“Our dream with this program is to make it a leading program for food safety, innovation in research, and teaching and outreach in food science and human nutrition,” said Delgado, who has been spearheading efforts to develop the new program over the past year.

“It will be a strong program with an emphasis on innovative research that will contribute to the economic and social development in the region,” Delgado added. “Our research within the program will directly impact the citizens of New Mexico through direct cooperation with food-processing companies and human nutrition organizations.”

According to Delgado, companies in the food industry expressed support for a Ph.D. program in the Southwest region that focused on food science and human nutrition.

“In our talks with private food-processing companies, there was a strong need for specialists in food science technology, as well as a need to bring people from other states to work for the companies,” he said.

Currently, Delgado said, there are only six Ph.D. programs in the nation that combine food science and human nutrition.

At NMSU, student interest in a such a doctoral program also has been increasing, Delgado said. While NMSU offers master’s programs in both fields of study, the university lacks Ph.D. programs in those areas, meaning students interested in pursuing a doctoral degree in either field took part in programs in other departments but had to be co-advised by the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, or they left NMSU for other universities.

“This program will increase our number of graduate students in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department,” he said.

This fall, the program will go to the university for approval, then it will go to the New Mexico Higher Education Department for final approval, Delgado said. While the approval process can vary in length, Delgado remains optimistic that the program’s first cohort of students could begin their coursework as soon as the fall 2019 semester.

Delgado anticipates that the program will take about three years to complete.

As part of the program, students will work directly with NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service, the research-based outreach arm of the College of ACES that has a presence in all 33 counties in New Mexico, and take classes taught by Extension agents.

“These classes will allow students to go out into the communities, to the producers, and see what their needs are,” Delgado said. “We want the students to see that their research can help others.”

Delgado also sees additional benefits in having the program based along the U.S.-Mexico border, considering the newly revamped trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

“This will likely intensify the import of food products from Mexico, and the Ph.D. program will support the trade,” he said.

The program also will benefit from three proposed projects by the College of ACES that will be funded through general obligation bonds totaling $25 million, Delgado said.

If approved by voters in November, the funds will be used to construct three new facilities at NMSU’s Las Cruces campus: food science security and safety facility, animal nutrition and feed manufacturing facility and biomedical research center.

The new facilities, Delgado said, will offer a state-of-the-art working and research environment for the new Ph.D. program. For detailed information about the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, visit the FCS website.

Author: Carlos Andres Lopez – NMSU

On Monday, community members can bring any legal plant to be examined by NMSU students who will use what they learned in class to diagnose the plant.

New Mexico State University students enrolled in this year’s diagnosing plant disorders class will be holding an outreach event for the community from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday, October 15, at the Fabian Garcia Science Center on the main campus.

Students will also address questions pertaining to plant health such as pests (insects and weeds), diseases and nutritional disorders.

They will be assisted by various professors in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences including course instructor and Professor of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science Soumaila ‘Soum’ Sanogo, who said community involvement is important in the learning process.

Sanogo said if plant samples cannot be collected, community members can bring pictures of their plants with problems or just stop by to visit and ask questions about their plant problems.

For more information on the outreach event contact Sanogo at 575-646-3577

Author: Melissa R. Rutter – NMSU

The 63rd annual New Mexico Water Conference, presented by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, will take place October 17-18

The annual event, held at the Las Cruces Convention Center (680 E. University Avenue) is expected to draw more than 250 participants this year.

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘At the Tipping Point: Water Scarcity, Science and Policy.’ A diverse group of water experts will address a host of important and timely water issues such as agriculture and groundwater use, climate change, drought, fire, economics, adjudications and settlements, alternative water supplies, and regional and state water planning.

A pre-conference field trip to Hatch and Mesilla Valley will take place October 16.

The Wednesday luncheon will feature the 2018 Albert E. Utton Memorial Water Lecture given by Jim Dunlap, former chair of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission. Dunlap will address water rights adjudications in the 21st century. Thursday’s luncheon presentation will be given by award-winning journalist Lauren Villagran, who will talk about the binational Mesilla Bolson.

A poster session Thursday morning will highlight more than 60 water-related research projects, many presented by university students from across New Mexico.

For registration fees and links to the preliminary program, go online, or call 575-646-4337 for more information.

The New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute is a nonprofit organization that funds water-related research projects at all of New Mexico’s universities, including New Mexico State University.

Author: Carlos Andres Lopez – NMSU

An independent report examining the work of New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences calls the college, its Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service systems “a unique and valuable resource for New Mexico.”

The report, produced by consultants from TEConomy Partners of Columbus, Ohio, notes that “together, ACES, the Experiment Station System, Extension and academic programs represent a uniquely pragmatic system, designed to meet very real needs across the state for knowledge and actionable information and dedicated to imparting the skills required to put knowledge into action for the betterment of New Mexico’s economy and society.”

“This study quantifies the impacts of ACES in New Mexico, a very important step in the understanding of the value that NMSU brings to New Mexico’s agriculture and consumer well-being,” said Rolando A. Flores, dean of the College of ACES. “In times when budgets are tight due to strong economic pressures, the importance of educating students and all New Mexicans on the value of agriculture for the present and future is extremely critical, this study brings more light on the effectiveness of ACES in teaching, research and Extension as part of the land-grant role.”

The ACES system was found to be generating substantial economic benefits for New Mexico and New Mexicans. The report summarizes more than 70 programs and initiatives at ACES having strong impacts on the state.

Just six examples of work in advancing New Mexico’s important agricultural economy were found to generate positive impacts exceeding $190 million annually in the state. Overall, it is estimated that the full range of work by the college, Experiment Station and Extension Systems, just in terms of benefits to the state’s agricultural economy, probably exceeds $266 million in economic impact annually, supporting over 2,650 jobs with labor income of almost $76 million.

Similarly, work by ACES focused on improving the health of New Mexicans, and positive outcomes for youth, are illustrated in the report, with impacts upwards of $41.7 million annually highlighted. The report notes that “it is clear that the diverse work of NMSU ACES in research and the focused work to deploy research findings into action across New Mexico undertaken by Extension is having large-scale and wide-ranging economic and societal benefits across the state.”

“The mission of the Cooperative Extension Service is to provide the citizens of New Mexico with practical, research-based knowledge and programs that improve their quality of life,” said Jon C. Boren, associate dean and director of the Cooperative Extension Service. “The Cooperative Extension Service reaches about a third of New Mexico’s nearly 2 million residents through non-formal education programs in each of the state’s 33 counties. These programs not only improve the quality of life of New Mexicans but also improve community development across the state.”

The report highlights the benefits of gaining higher education through the college’s degree programs. It notes that recent bachelor’s degree graduates are expected to earn $11,761 above the median state wage and that the most recent graduating class from ACES (comprising 333 students with bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees) are anticipated collectively to earn over $171 million more over the course of their working lives versus those with lower levels of educational credentials.

The report measures the impact of the expenditures of ACES, the Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension system in New Mexico, noting that these operations generated a total expenditure impact in New Mexico of $132.3 million for FY2016/17 and supported 1,204 jobs with a labor income of $65.4 million. NMSU Cooperative Extension expenditures account for 451 jobs and $49.9 million of the economic output, while the Experiment Station system accounts for 551 jobs and $62.7 million in output.

Given the importance to demonstrate the economic impact of the College of ACES, TEConomy was commissioned to provide an outside review of the economic and functional impact to New Mexico. TEConomy has a proven track record in advanced economic and functional impact assessments.

TEConomy has evaluated the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and conducted impact assessments for multiple colleges of agriculture, experiment station systems, and/or Extension services in the U.S. including those at Ohio State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Nebraska and University of Missouri.

In the report, TEConomy points out that “knowledge, and its twin, innovation, are at the heart of modern economic and societal progress. Knowledge underpins both individual and collective prospects for success in an increasingly complex and competitive global economy.”

The report highlights that the NMSU ACES system “forms a knowledge production and education system that not only serves the academic community and students enrolled at NMSU, but also one that rather uniquely applies its knowledge to benefit the broader economy, society, communities, families and individuals across New Mexico through the proactive work of Cooperative Extension.”

Every New Mexican can access NMSU ACES through Extension, gaining insight into diverse topics in farming, ranching, value-added industrial activity, natural resources, environmental sciences, community development, economic development, family and consumer science, youth development and a variety of additional fields of importance.

The report comes to the following conclusions:

While NMSU, as a Land-Grant University, has its origins in legislation originally written in 1862 (and the Agricultural Experiment Station in 1887, and Extension legislation in 1914), the Land-Grant vision embodied in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), its Experiment Station System and Cooperative Extension Service is as relevant today as it has ever been. Research, education, and the ability to put knowledge into action to enhance the economy is absolutely key to economic success in a highly competitive global economy. As this study illustrates, the three-component ACES system at NMSU is on the frontlines in these arenas, working to secure New Mexico”s current and future economic position, resiliency and success. At the same time, ACES is doing much more – undertaking work to protect New Mexico’s water and natural resources, to help families and individuals reach their full potential, and build healthy and productive communities across the state. It is found that the ACES system, while headquartered at NMSU in Las Cruces, is truly a statewide asset- providing benefits to all in the state and great promise for many more benefits into the future. By supporting the College, the Experiment Station System and Extension Service, governments at the federal, state and county levels are investing in the future sustainability, health and prosperity of New Mexico and New Mexicans, and this investment clearly demonstrates strong returns.

The full report is available for download via this link.

Author: Darrell J. Pehr – NMSU

Zooey Sophia Pook, director for LGBT+ Programs at NMSU, said OUTober is important because it celebrates the diversity that can be found on campus.

“OUTober lets us celebrate cultures that intersect and make up the NMSU community. It is important to include and appreciate every identity and culture at NMSU,” Pook said.

The first event will be held from to 1 to 3 p.m. on October 11 in Corbett Center. A table will be set up with activities, resources and information on the LGBT+ Program. Between 2 and 5 p.m. the Alianza of New Mexico will be providing free and confidential HIV testings in the Otero room located on the first floor of Corbett Center.

To wrap up the day of events a coming out day pizza party will be held at 5 p.m. in the Garcia Center followed by their AgGays meeting at 6:30 p.m.

On October 17 a screening of the Chilean film ‘A Fantastic Woman’ will be shown in the CMI theater at 7 p.m. The movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film last year and follows the life of a transgender woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer.

“The Director of CMI and I both felt very strongly about the movie’s value as a cultural piece of art. It is one of the few films that I feel, as a transgender woman, really speaks to the experiences of transgender women. It really moved me,” Pook said. “It is also one of the few films that showcases a transgender person in a role as a transgender character. It will be our first time collaborating with International and Border Programs on an event and we are happy to celebrate our intersectionalities.”

OUTober will conclude with a drag show at 7 p.m. on October 29 in the Corbett Auditorium. The drag show will feature Miss Latin Sun City 2018 Anahi Norell, national talent Dice Santana, Rumor and more.

All events are free. OUTober is sponsored by the International and Border Programs, the Creative Media Institute, Alianza of New Mexico, the Residence Hall Association and the English department.

For more information, call LGBT+ Programs at 575-646-7031 or email lgbt@nmsu.edu

Author : Melissa R. Rutter- NMSU

New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences’ Ag Day Degree program is expanding this year to include a sheep and goat symposium.

“The sheep and goat symposium is new this year,” said Marcy Ward, NMSU Extension livestock specialist. “We will be covering topics such as nutrition, animal health, reproduction, marketing and predation management.”

The sheep and goat symposium will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday, October 18, and continue the morning of Friday, October 19. The Ag Day Degree program will begin at 1 p.m. Friday, October 19, and conclude Saturday, October 20.

There will be a panel discussion with speakers during dinner Thursday evening.

A certification program in sheep and goat health will be offered Friday morning along with a wool lab.

At 10 a.m. Friday, participants will have an opportunity to become Beef Quality Assurance certified prior to the Ag Day Degree program beginning.

“If people who attend the sheep and goat symposium are interested, they can stay on for this year’s Ag Day Degree program that begins Friday afternoon,” Ward said. “As in years past, we will be getting back into the classroom to learn about animal science and natural resource management.”

Saturday, participants will get hands-on experience during labs focusing on grass and weed identification, calving problems and how to fix them, and reproductive techniques.

“After the Saturday labs, people are invited to stay and enjoy the festivities at the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Ag Day, prior to the NMSU Aggie football game against Georgia Southern University at 4 p.m.,” Ward said.

Both programs will be held in Knox Hall on the NMSU Las Cruces Campus.

Registration for the sheep and goat symposium is $20 and the Ag Day Degree program is $40. If a participant attends both programs the total cost is $50. Online registration is available via the website.

For more information, contact Ward at 575-646-5947 or visit the website

Author: : Jane Moorman – NMSU

The National Science Foundation recently announced the five-year grant for New Mexico’s SMART Grid Center under its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

The research program seeks to transform existing electricity distribution feeders into interconnected microgrids and will utilize multiple testbeds across New Mexico.

NMSU will receive $7.3 million of the EPSCoR grant.  The grant will expand this research to include scientists across the state.

“I’m super excited about this,” said Enrico Pontelli, NMSU Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who partnered with the College of Engineering to initiate smart grid research at NMSU in 2014 with a $5 million award from the NSF’s Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST). “We are very passionate about research in this area. Five years of funding to expand this research at the state level is fantastic.”

The NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track 1 grant will link researchers and students from NMSU, the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech and Santa Fe Community College with researchers and scientists at Sandia Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, as well as other organizations in New Mexico such as the Microgrid Systems Laboratory and Explora Museum.

“The NM SMART Grid Center is a novel, interdisciplinary research center that will address pressing design, operational, data and security challenges of next-generation electric power management,” said William Michener, principal investigator for the award and state director of New Mexico EPSCoR. “Through this grant, we will not only advance research areas of national importance, but train a cadre of undergraduate and graduate students in New Mexico to join the STEM workforce.”

New Mexico is one of seven jurisdictions to receive one of these awards this year.

“We are very proud because this award is the result of a nice collaboration that involved the three research institutions in the state,” said Pontelli. “We worked together with the state director of the EPSCoR office and we built the proposal as a collaboration where we all come together and everything is integrated.”

EPSCoR is a program designed to fulfill the NSF’s mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. Through this program NSF establishes regional partnerships with government, higher education and industry to develop research and development capacity.

“Our goal is to work together to build the research basis for the technology for the future electric grid,” Pontelli said. “New Mexico is the perfect state for this because we have access to any kind of energy source you can think of. We have access to oil and gas, we have access to wind, we have access to sun. We have everything in the entire spectrum and at the same time we have very diverse land configuration – we have mountains, we have desert. We have different types and sizes of communities. We need to cover all the aspects and meet the needs of the state.”

Part of the research includes cyber security along with research about the directional relationship between power plants and customers to predict when customers need electricity to create cheaper, sustainable energy use.

While training students and developing research will build up the infrastructure for smart grid technology, ultimately, the objective would be to work with New Mexico’s electric suppliers to translate the research into practice and take the technology statewide.

For Pontelli, the strength of the project is its integrated collaboration.

“Every university provides expertise for this project,” Pontelli said. “We organized the research in four objectives and for each one, we have researchers from the entire state. There was no single institution that could achieve the objectives alone. We come together, work together and we strengthen the state.

“My goal is if anyone wants to talk about research in smart grids they come to us,” Pontelli said. “We want to be the national leaders in smart grid technology.”

Author: Minerva Baumann – NMSU

The UTEP Soccer (6-4-1) team beat rival team NM State Aggies (1-9) 4-1 to win the Battle of I-10 Sunday night at University Field.

Natalie Valentine, Anna Jimmerson, Vic Bohdan and Hayley Vaughan all contributed to Sunday night’s win with a goal each. The sole goal for the Aggies came from a penalty kick taken by Katie Martinez.

“It was good response after a tough loss on Thursday,” said UTEP head coach Kevin Cross. “This was a big win for us especially for it being a rivalry game. The crowd was phenomenal, the American Outlaws came out banging their drums giving the team motivation tonight.”

The Miners wasted no time with Valentine scoring the 10th-fastest goal in program history at the 1:58 minute mark.

The first half was action packed with both teams playing hard and strong. The Miners outshot the Aggies 11-9, but it was a battle between the teams with a total of 14 fouls in the first half. The Miner defense blocked many of the shots taken by NM State.

Bohdan scored her fourth goal (39’) of the season by dribbling past the defenders into the box and putting the ball away.

Shortly after, a hand ball was called inside the Miner box that resulted in a penalty kick for the Aggies.

The third goal for the Miners came just seconds before the end of the first half. Jojo Ngongo chased a ball to the end line. She then passed it back into the box for Vaughan (45’) to tap it into the goal.

The second half was another hard-fought half. The Miners took 10 shots to the Aggies’ six. The UTEP defense was not letting anything get by them. In the 75th minute, Kori Lewis chased down an Aggie forward and made a big tackle inside the box.

Late into the second half, in the 80th minute there was a thrilling moment when Valentine put the ball in the back of the net and the crowd went wild. Unfortunately, the goal was disallowed when the play was called offside. Moments later she was hungry to get that goal back but shot the ball over the net.

Jimmerson put the icing on the cake with a goal of her own in the 88th minute. A UTEP defender cleared the ball over the Aggie defense for Jimmerson to chase down and put it past the keeper.
The Orange and Blue will continue Conference USA play at home against UAB on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at University Field. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for kids and may be purchased by calling 915-747-5234.

Royce Caldwell scored the go-ahead touchdown on a long pass play late in the third quarter, and NM State held on for a 27-20 victory over UTEP on Saturday in the Sun Bowl.

On a third-and-five play near midfield, Aggie quarterback Josh Adkins hooked up with Caldwell for the 53-yard score with 2:46 remaining in the period, breaking a 17-17 deadlock.

The Miners (0-4) closed the gap to 24-20 on a 34-yard field goal by Jason Filley with 8:20 to go in the final period.

UTEP held the Aggies (1-4) to a field goal and got the ball back with 3:24 remaining, but Kai Locksley’s desperation pass on fourth and long was intercepted by NMSU’s Austin Perkins to seal the outcome.

“A lot of positives,” UTEP coach Dana Dimel said.  “You look at the game and how it played out.  The way we ran the football, the way we controlled the line of scrimmage, the way we executed statistically, if you looked at the game we won the statistics but that doesn’t mean anything.  You’ve got to win points, and that’s the thing we didn’t do.”

UTEP racked up 64 rushing attempts, its most in a game since 1997, as Quardraiz Wadley picked up his second career 100-yard night with 111 yards on 20 carries.

Locksley added 27 carries for 64 yards as UTEP gained 235 yards on the ground.  But the Miners were caught running backwards a little too often, as the Aggies registered eight sacks.

The game got off to a rough start for the Miners as Mitchell Crawford’s punt on the first possession of the game was blocked by the Aggies’ Christian Gibson and returned 19 yards for a TD by Izaiah Lottie.

UTEP responded nicely with a nine-play, 75-yard drive, as Locksley ran into the end zone from one yard out to knot the game at 7.

After the teams exchanged field goals, things took a turn for the worse for UTEP late in the second half.  First, driving for the go-ahead score, the Miners coughed up the football inside the red zone.  Then, after UTEP’s A.J. Hotchkins sacked Adkins and Jamar Smith recovered his fumble near midfield, Locksley was sacked himself by Cedric Wilcots II, fumbled and Malik Demby returned the miscue 55 yards for a 17-10 NMSU lead.

“Too many mistakes,” Dimel said.  “It starts off with a blocked punt to start a game.  When you get a punt blocked, I think the percentage of winning, they’ve done surveys on that, I think the chance of winning is 18 percent.  We get a punt blocked, and then we had the turnover there in the second quarter, and then the turnover late in the second quarter, that was big too.  It took points off the board and gave them points.  We gave them 14 points with the blocked punt and the turnover, and took some off the board with the fumble going in.  So those obviously were costly mistakes for us.”

The second half began on a high note for the Miners as they forced a three-and-out, the Aggies punted and Locksley connected with Terry Juniel for a 76-yard touchdown pass to tie it up once again at 17.

“I thought the fight was there, and I saw some really positive body language when we tied it up at 17-17,” Dimel said.  “I saw that spark that I’d like for our team to continue to develop and have throughout the games, where we can really get to that point where we’re learning how to win football games when they’re close.”

The Miners missed a chance to take their first lead when Filley’s 44-yard field goal was wide right with 4:07 left in the third quarter.  A minute and a half later, the Aggies got the lead back for good.

Making his first career start, redshirt freshman Adkins completed 9-of-18 passes for 156 yards for the Aggies.  Gibson rushed for 103 yards on 10 carries.

Locksley threw for 194 yards for the Miners, completing 10-of-16 passes.

UTEP piled up 429 yards of offense to NMSU’s 311 and dominated the time of possession line (40:48 to 19:12), but the Miners had three turnovers to the Aggies’ one.

Javahn Fergurson turned in a dominating performance on defense for NMSU with 17 tackles.  He was one of three Aggies with double-figure stops as Leon McQuaker and Ron LaForce had 11 and 10 tackles, respectively.

Hotchkins led the Miners in tackles for the third time in four games with eight stops.

“I said every week you’ll find improvement in this football team, and tonight they [NMSU] had one of their starters back who has been out all year at the defensive end position,” Dimel said.  “They’ve got a good defensive football team and we played pretty well against them offensively.  We just need to finish better.”

UTEP will kick off Conference USA play at UTSA next Saturday (Sept. 29) at 5 p.m. MT.  The game can be seen on ESPN+.

Gallery by Andres ‘Ace’ Acosta, Chief Photographer, El Paso Herald-Post

Christine Eber spent the last 35 years opening her mind to the suffering of people of Chiapas, Mexico, first as a volunteer, then as a graduate student and finally as an anthropology professor at New Mexico State University.

Now a retired professor emerita, she continues the work today.

After spending decades writing scholarly works about the Tsotsil-Maya people of Chiapas, Eber, wrote her first novel about their struggles and their faith titled ‘When A Woman Rises.’

“I believe that my novel is more likely to lead people to want to visit Chiapas than my academic books or articles ever did,” Eber said. “And I really do want people to go to Chiapas, to make friends there, perhaps to get involved in some kind of project or at least go back home inspired to do something to make the world a more egalitarian and just place.”

The novel, published by Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, will have a book launch from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, September 28 at Casa Camino Real Book Store in Las Cruces.

In the forward to Eber’s book, author Diane Rus describes Eber as practicing love in the Mayan sense of the word as described by a character in the book – listening deeply, not giving up on each other, helping each other, respecting each other and feeling each other’s pain.

“It was clear to me that there were things I couldn’t say in my ethnographic writings and the novel was an effort to help push myself to understand their lives better and help others understand the Maya people better,” Eber said. “The novel really liberated me to say a lot of things I wanted to say in my writing in an engaging way.”

In the novel, Magdalena from Chenalhó, Chiapas tells the story of her daughter’s best friend Lucia who has been missing for ten years. Magdalena recounts the girls’ dreams of becoming teachers.

They both join the Zapatista movement, supporting democracy, land reform and the rights of indigenous people. The women’s stories

reveal how culture, poverty and rigid gender roles impact their lives.

“My novel shows how Maya people live in different conditions from those of most readers but aren’t necessarily any less intelligent or capable of taking leadership roles or anything else,” Eber said. “They just haven’t had the opportunities.”

Eber is a founder of the nonprofit ‘Weaving for Justice,’ a volunteer group in Las Cruces helping three Maya women’s cooperatives. “We’re involved in trying to find fair trade markets in the U.S. and to help raise funds for scholarships for Maya youth to go on to high school, college and post graduate studies.”

For more information about “Weaving for Justice,” visit www.weaving-for-justice.org

Author: Minerva Baumann – NMSU

New Mexico State University has been awarded a $3.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to prepare students for careers in computing and provide scholarships for academically talented community college students in the computer science field who need financial help.

NMSU is the lead institution in partnership with New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and four community colleges to fund NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program.

Huiping Cao, NMSU associate professor of computer science is the principal investigator for the project and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Enrico Pontelli, Dongwan Shin, associate professor and department chair of computer science at New Mexico Tech, and Sara Hug, a research associate with the Alliance for Technology, are co-principal investigators.

“The goal of the grant is to help the students not just with financial support but develop professional skills, particularly in the area of cyber security,” Pontelli said. “This is one of the most competitive and fastest growing fields in the area of computer science.”

NMSU has partnered with Doña Ana Community College, the NMSU Alamogordo campus, and the NMSU Grants campus, while Tech has partnered with Eastern New Mexico University’s campus in Ruidoso.

“An important aspect of this grant is to help students transition from community college to a four-year program,” Pontelli said. “So a lot of the scholarships are reserved for community college students with the understanding that, after one year in community college, they will transfer to a four-year program at either the NMSU main campus or the Tech main campus.”

Pontelli said he hopes the grant will make the students who apply for the scholarships more competitive in the job market.

“There will be a rubric by which the applicants will be scored and the top students will be selected to receive scholarships,” Pontelli said.

Students who are either heading into a community college program or who are heading for a four-year program are welcome to apply.

The grant is for five years and success will be based on how many scholarship recipients have completed their computer-science degrees and are entering the workforce in a related field.

Pontelli said he expects to award around 22 scholarships a year for three cohorts of students.

“So it’s not just a one-time thing,” Pontelli said. “Once they are selected, they won’t have to worry about getting a job while they work on their degrees.”

Pontelli said he hopes the results of the five-year grant will give evidence that the program works, encouraging companies in the computer science industry to fund more scholarships for computer science students and that other industries will do the same for students in different fields.

“I see this as creating an infrastructure that will grow over time once it is proven,” Pontelli said. “The good thing is NMSU has been investing a lot of effort in the area of cyber security, we have a lot of initiatives in place. A degree program in cyber security is going through the approval process now, which means people see the value of this degree program.”

Pontelli sees the NSF award as a major step in positioning NMSU as a leader in the state in the area of cyber security training and research.

“We have a track record of success and we have good people, Pontelli said. “All these initiatives together demonstrate that the NSF believes in NMSU, that this is an institution where we can make these initiatives successful.”

Author: Billy Huntsman – NMSU