Faculty Fanfare

Engineering professor aims to improve high-tech manufacturing with NSF CAREER AwardA UNM mechanical engineering professor will use an NSF CAREER Award to explore how ultrafast lasers can be used for more precise engineering of polymer-derived ceramics and ceramic composite materials for applications in aerospace, energy, biomedical and semiconductor technologies.Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering Heng Zuo, […] Read More

Engineering professor will study fire-resistant construction with NSF CAREER AwardA UNM engineering professor has received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award to support her work developing fire-resistant materials for use in areas prone to wildfires such as New Mexico.Maryam Hojati, an assistant professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, said she is honored by the opportunity.“It […] Read More

New textbook by management professor shines light on structures that present challenges for women leaders A new textbook edited by UNM associate professor of management Lisa Marchiondo brings together key scholars to share evidence-based best practices around gender and leadership. The book, Gender and Leadership: Shattering the Status Quo, was published in March by Routledge. […] Read More

  UNM librarians and faculty publish article outlining promise of ChatGPT to reduce cataloging backlog   Three UNM librarians have published an article in the latest edition of Technical Services Quarterly exploring how a popular large language model can be used to get more books entered into the library system.   The co-authors on the […] Read More

Geography professor joins prestigious association UNM Geography Professor Maria Lane has been named as a fellow of the American Association of Geographers.   Lane called it a special honor and said she had not expected to be selected.   “It was a huge honor just to be nominated, and I’m humbled to receive this recognition […] Read More

UNM engineering professor explores ways to tailor medicine delivery based on biology   An assistant professor in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at UNM is studying how biological differences affect the efficacy of medicines including cancer treatment.   The work by Olivia Lanier is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and could […] Read More

UNM Distinguished Professor Lisa Broidy has been selected as a fellow of the American Society of Criminology. Broidy, chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology was chosen in April for the prestigious award. “I am honored to be selected as a fellow of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), which puts me in the company of […] Read More

UNM Associate Professor of Computational Mathematics Mohammad Motamed is co-leading two federal grants that he hopes will see quantum computing revolutionize fields like cryptography, optimization, and materials science.   The grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy bring $500,000 to UNM, and are part of a larger interdisciplinary project involving collaborators […] Read More

UNM Engineering Professor José Cerrato will lead a $3.83 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research to understand and mitigate the challenges that climate change poses to the health of New Mexicans.   The grant funds the Climate and Health Allied Network for Geospatial and Environmental Science (CHANGES) Exploratory […] Read More

  We are sad to share that Mala passed away Jan. 25, 2025.   UNM Political Science Professor Mala Htun has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary society and research center founded in 1780.   “I’ve known of the Academy for a long time, because I lived across […] Read More

UNM Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Meeko Oishi gave a keynote speech at the 2024 NSF Cyber-Physical Systems Principal Investigators’ Meeting at Vanderbilt University in March.   The speech, which focused on the importance of designing for human heterogeneity in cyber-physical systems, was at a meeting of principal investigators of NSF awards that are part of […] Read More

UNM Assistant Professor of Computer Science Amanda Bienz has received an NSF CAREER Award to explore ways to enhance the performance of parallel applications on emerging supercomputers.   With the award, Bienz hopes to find the best ways to solve problems using supercomputers whose software capabilities need to evolve as quickly as the powerful hardware […] Read More

UNM Assistant Professor Melvatha Chee has received the Mary R. Haas Award from the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas for her work on the Diné language.   The award is presented to “a junior scholar for an unpublished manuscript that makes a significant, substantive contribution about Indigenous languages of […] Read More

UNM biology adjunct associate professor Martina Laidemitt is the lead author on a journal article that reveals the presence of compatible snail hosts to the pathogenic parasitic flatworm, Heterobilharzia americana in New Mexico – outside its normal habitat and on a new host.   The parasite, H. americana, regularly infects dogs, horses, and raccoons, and […] Read More

UNM University Libraries Open Educational Research (OER) Librarian Jennifer Jordan is the principal investigator for a $2.125 million federal Open Textbook Grant recently awarded to the university by the U.S. Department of Education. The money will go towards the creation of the New Mexico Open Educational Resources (NMOER) Consortium to help faculty in the state adopt, […] Read More

Two UNM economics professors are co-authors on a recently published journal article urging water economics to be taught as part of the larger economics curriculum. Alok K. Bohara, a professor and the founding director of the Nepal Study Center at UNM, and Jingjing Wang, an associate professor and the associate director of the Water Resources Program […] Read More

UNM Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou has been awarded a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant for work that could reshape public disaster response systems. Tsiropoulou’s work explores the challenges with public safety systems that occur during and after disasters, where victims, first responders, and emergency control centers must coordinate efforts for […] Read More

UNM Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies Xi Gong is a co-convener of the UNM Grand Challenges Level 2 team Child Health Team. The group’s work aims to develop and operationalize the systematic, data-driven approach needed to empower child maltreatment prevention in New Mexico.  “Child maltreatment is a multi-faceted issue, with health, public health, economic, […] Read More

UNM Institute of Meteoritics Senior Research Scientist Chip Shearer is a co-lead of the UNM Grand Challenges Level 2 Sustainable Space Research team, which aims to develop a hub of space science exploration at the university. The center of excellence will bring together existing and upcoming work at UNM, including on space exploration research and technology, […] Read More

UNM Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies Melinda Morgan is leading a network of researchers looking at water, food and energy and systems from interdisciplinary and community-based perspectives.   The Transformation Network is a National Science Foundation Sustainable Regional Systems Network program that is a partnership between eight Western U.S. universities with over 50 partner […] Read More

UNM Professor of Math Matt Blair received a Frontiers of Science Award at the inaugural International Congress on Basic Science in Beijing. The award stems from his co-authorship on a paper that appeared in Inventiones Mathematicae  and is entitled “Logarithmic improvements in Lp bounds for eigenfunctions of the critical exponent in the presence of nonpositive curvature.” […] Read More

UNM Associate Professor of History Tiffany Florvil has been selected as a 2023 – 2024 Radcliffe Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. She will continue her research on the life and legacy of Black German May Ayim.   Ayim was a spoken-word poet, an essayist, an intellectual, an activist, and an educator who co-founded the […] Read More

UNM Assistant Professor of Anthropology Kari Schleher was awarded a $349,999 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a pottery storage project that will safeguard important cultural objects. The NEH Sustaining Cultural Heritage grant will allow the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at UNM to better care for archaeological and ethnographic collections with new compact […] Read More

UNM Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Diana Dragomir has received a $750,000 NASA grant to continue her work studying exoplanets. Dragomir leads 60 astronomers to use the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) telescope, which surveys the sky for exoplanets orbiting stars in the Solar neighborhood. NASA launched TESS in 2018, and the work funded by […] Read More