Artist Evelyn Rosenberg (standing, in white) used a new technique called "detonography," by which art is created through the use of contained explosions, to craft the four panels of the sculpture outside NMSU's newest building -- Engineering Complex III. The kinetic sculpture explores four ideas dealing with the process of invention, Rosenberg said. "Engineering is the science of making dreams come true," she said. "One takes an idea and turns it into a reality."

Other students who assisted in the project are: Danny Montoya (standing, right), Brooks Danley (bending over, left) and kneeling, from left: Gomez, Jerry Ledesma, Gilbert Prince and Dean Lackey.

NMSU commissioned the sculpture through the New Mexico Art in Public Places Act. One percent of the state capital outlay for a building constructed with state appropriations must be used for art. Since the act passed a decade ago, the campus is alive with art, including a stained glass window at Engineering Complex II.

Jess Williams, '85, '97

The book presents Harris' essays on 88 houses from 40 New Mexico communities. The essays, Harris says, "thread together architecture, human interest stories, bits of history and a legend or two."

Accompanying the essays are black-and-white photographs of the houses by Pamela Porter, '92.

Houses in Time invites people to browse its pages, focusing on the houses that catch their eye, or read cover to cover "to get a feel for why people build houses like they do in New Mexico," Harris says.

As she traveled throughout the state, Harris learned that Artesians built houses from manufactured stone because trees were scarce and shipping was expensive, and that mining towns favored the Victorian look. The coming of the railroad created "new towns" in Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Las Cruces whose houses looked nothing like the familiar adobes in "old town" sections.

Every house presented a different photographic challenge, Porter says. From the outset, she decided to use only available light for both exteriors and interiors. For the interior shots, she sometimes asked owners to move lamps or light fireplaces "to get the sparkle I was after."

In the darkroom, Porter altered her printing and developing techniques until the results satisfied her artist's eye.

For the book's cover, she photographed the entrance to the Las Cruces home of NMSU alumnus Kent Jacobs, '60, and his wife, Sallie Ritter Jacobs.

Harris and Porter worked for three years on Houses in Time, their second collaboration. In 1993, they combined their talents to produce Las Cruces: An Illustrated History, winner of a Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association.

Harris, a former writer for NMSU's Water Resources Research Institute and Agricultural Communications Office, has lived in and written about New Mexico for the past 20 years. Porter has lived in New Mexico most of her life. A free-lance writer and photographer, she currently teaches a journalism class at NMSU.

Houses in Time sells for $34.95. Copies are available at the NMSU Bookstore or by calling Arroyo Press at (505) 522-2348 or (800) 795-2692.

Weld hit the books hard enough to get his history degree at NMSU in '75, but it was slide guitar music that really turned him on. When he returned home to Chicago after graduating, he took lessons from blues player J.B. Hutto, hooked up with Hound Dog Taylor's band for about a year and played for a while with Howling Wolf's band. Then he got together with Hutto's nephew, Ed Williams, to form Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials, a band that cooked for about 10 years.

Weld's current band, the Imperial Flames, plays what might be called eclectic house-rockin' blues. He still hooks up with Lil Ed on occasion, as evidenced by a recent CD the two did with the Flames for the Earwig label. It's called "Keep On Walkin'" and all of the songs on the CD were written by Williams or Weld except one, which was written by Weld's mentor Hutto.

"People say they like our music because it's fresh and original," says Weld.

"Students get to lay their hands on some of the latest communications equipment, and we benefit from having student workers," says Boss, seen here at the control center that continuously monitors transmissions from a constellation of orbiting satellites.

About 10 NMSU students work at the center, which provides tracking beacon, satellite communications monitoring, test and engineering support for C-band telecommunications transponders. Its customers include Columbia Communications Corp.

Boss, who has bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from NMSU, also is engineering manager for GTE's NASA TDRSS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System) contract at the White Sands Complex.