NMSU Research Cuts Across Disciplines

Whether the task is monitoring cancer risk along the Rio Grande, working with schools to fight childhood obesity, designing jamming devices to protect U.S. soldiers in Iraq, or finding new ways to reach the outer limits of space travel, New Mexico State University scientists are at the forefront.

“Our scientists and students are developing research projects that will touch people’s lives here and across the country,” said NMSU President Michael Martin. “They work across disciplines, with other universities and with the national labs as well as the National Institutes of Health.”

They also work with the U.S. Department of Defense. Recently, NMSU researchers developed a device known as ICE, or IED Countermeasure Equipment. IEDs or improvised explosive devices are among the deadliest threats in the war in Iraq. Equipment that jams the signals of the explosives was developed at NMSU, is now in use and was recognized recently as one of the Army’s “Top Ten Greatest Inventions of 2004.”

NMSU scientists also are involved in humanitarian global issues. Concern about Avian flu has spurred discussions on how NMSU researchers can team with state health officials and other universities to monitor signs of the disease regionally in hopes of preventing a pandemic. Robert Foster, head of NMSU’s Southwest Technology Development Institute has been in Nicaragua helping to bring solar energy to various parts of the world.

Closer to home, New Mexico State University researchers also are working on environmental issues such as the declining numbers of grassland birds in the Chihuahuan Desert.

“These birds are showing population declines more so than any other group of birds in North America,” said NMSU’s Martha Desmond, associate professor in the Fishery and Wildlife Sciences Department. Desmond is studying their food supply – grass seeds – on Otero Mesa. Learning how precipitation patterns, grazing pressure, soil conditions and shrub encroachment affect seed production will help scientists understand more about the birds.

A ready-made lab in the forest near Cloudcroft helps in the study of forest-thinning’s effects on wildlife, plants, soil and watersheds. Scientists are piggybacking on the U.S. Forest Service’s Rio Peñasco II thinning project to reduce wildfire danger in overgrown forests. Jon Boren, a wildlife specialist for NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service, and Terrell T. (Red) Baker, an Extension riparian management specialist for NMSU’s Range Improvement Task Force, are leading a team of students, staff and faculty examining changes in wildlife, vegetation, soil and watersheds on plots that represent several thinning techniques.

NMSU also uses its research to develop programs benefiting residents of the Paso del Norte region. For instance, in response to the combined threat of obesity and diabetes in a growing number of residents, NMSU is developing outreach and public education programs to reach young children and families and make them aware of the dangers of a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. NMSU’s math department is helping middle school teachers gain certification and a better knowledge of mathematics by offering the Masters of Arts in Teaching Mathematics program, also known as MATM. MATM was created in 2003 to help middle school teachers across New Mexico achieve certification standards mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

“The breadth of these issues in which our faculty and students are involved shows the depth of expertise here at NMSU,” Martin said.

Associate Vice Provost for Research Wynn Egginton also pointed out that NMSU remains in the top 115 U.S. research universities, earning grants and awards from a number of scientifically focused federal agencies. For instance, the National Science Foundation has awarded NMSU’s Bioinformatics Center over $1 million. Another $463,421 was awarded recently to purchase a transmission electron microscope and other equipment for use across disciplines to enhance research and teaching at the university.

The university is also researching the frontiers of space. It hosted the X Prize symposium and is establishing an aerospace engineering program.

In this publication, readers will find stories about these and other NMSU achievements in science, research and service.

Mary Benanti