New Mexico State University
Research, Creativity and Economic Development

We Must Help our Next President Lead for the Long Haul

By Dr. Luis Cifuentes, Vice President for Research, Creativity, and Economic Development

It is October—mid-semester—which brings changing colors, crisp cool mornings, and the anticipation of a new president at New Mexico State University (NMSU). 

I am thrilled that our new president is a humanist who champions student success, inclusion, and research. Dr. Valerio Ferme holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. 

I am not at all concerned that a non-STEM scholar will lead NMSU’s transition to Carnegie R1 university research designation. I am reminded that the president of Arizona State University (ASU), Dr. Michael Crow, has a Ph.D. in Public Administration and was previously provost at Columbia University, known for its strong humanities programs. In 2022, ASU’s research expenditures exceeded $700 million, a remarkable increase from around $120 million annually when Crow took office in 2002. 

I am optimistic about our future and the potential for growing, focusing, and amplifying the impact of NMSU’s research, creativity, and economic development enterprise. That optimism, however, is tempered by our recent, difficult past. After the presidential candidate interviews, I wrote to the regents, urging them to ask themselves which candidate is most likely to still be NMSU’s president seven years from their installation—a critical question for their most consequential decision yet. 

I now ask you to reflect on what we, as members of NMSU’s research, creativity, and economic development enterprise, can do to help Dr. Ferme succeed, maximizing the likelihood of a long and, for us, unusually stable presidential tenure. 

As the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri wrote, “The path to paradise begins in hell.” In the April Research and Creativity Digest, I noted that NMSU has experienced an overwhelming amount of change, leading to “change saturation” that has affected many of us individually and weakened our institution. Undoubtedly, we have been through hard times. 

But by confronting these challenges, understanding why our institution struggles with leadership transitions, and committing to fostering organizational growth, we may arrive at a better place. Growth and excellence in research, creativity, and economic development depend on strong leadership, strategic planning (both short- and long-term), and a compelling vision.  

Leadership is one of the five values outlined in our LEADS 2025 Strategic Plan. Perhaps it is time to emphasize sustained leadership. It is time for all of us to recognize the value of, and act in support of, consistent, long-term presidential leadership. 

Dr. Luis Cifuentes, NMSU

News from Research Administration: In-Kind RAS Commitments

By Ms. Alisha Giron, Associate Vice President for Research

News from Infrastructure and Partnerships: Research Computing Vision Team Drives Critical Proposals

By Drs. Tanner Schaub, Assistant Vice President for Research and Lizely Madrigal, Director of Instructional and Research Support

The NMSU Research Computing Vision Team continues significant efforts to secure computing infrastructure for faculty and student researchers. The team has recently submitted two major proposals aimed at transforming the university’s research computing landscape. 

Dr. Madrigal led a September proposal, a $12 million request to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), to acquire a new HPC cluster, upgrade campus broadband from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps, and establish a Digital Innovation Hub in southern New Mexico. This initiative brings together multiple campus partners: Doña Ana Community College (DACC); NMSU Global; the Office of Research, Creativity, and Economic Development; the Research Cores Program; Electrical and Computer Engineering; the STEM+ Education Research Institute; and the NMSU Innovative Media Research and Extension’s Learning Games Lab. The project aims to improve broadband accessibility, create significant education and employment pathways in the digital economy, and foster social and digital mobility across the state, particularly for rural, minority, and economically disadvantaged populations. The Vision Team has submitted a proposal for $1.4 million through the NSF Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program. If awarded, this project will bring a 25-petabyte data storage system to NMSU, significantly expanding the university’s research data storage and processing capacity. 

Vision Team members include Carlos Herrera (ACES), David Montoya (New Mexico Consortium), Strahinja Trecakov (IT), Lizely Madrigal (IT), Gaurav Panwar (Computer Science), Satyajayant Misra (College of Engineering), Hameed Badawy (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Henry Newman (NMSU Affiliate Scholar and owner of HSN Consulting, Mesilla, NM), and Tanner Schaub (RCED). 

In further exciting news, RCED is in the final stages of establishing a new Director of Research Computing position, which is expected to be posted this month. Faculty or staff interested in getting involved with the NMSU Research Computing Advisory Council or the Vision Team should contact Dr. Tanner Schaub at tschaub@nmsu.edu. 

News from Workforce and Strategic Engagements

By Dr. Patricia Sullivan, Director, Workforce and Strategic Engagements

The Office of Workforce and Strategic Engagement continues to foster collaborative partnerships with the state’s 19 rural electric cooperatives and faculty and staff at NMSU.  Recent collaborations are focused on leveraging NMSU’s expertise in power systems engineering and energy efficiency to support current and emerging issues involving advanced energy transition, renewable integration, grid reliability, energy efficiency, and energy justice. Currently, the state has 19 electric distribution cooperatives that serve over 434,700 New Mexicans with electric power, spanning an estimated 80 percent of the land mass of the state.  Of particular note are two partnerships with Kit Carson Rural Electric Cooperative and the Mora-San Miguel Rural Electric Cooperative to support a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to address urgent challenges of climate change on aging energy infrastructure.  The project, led by Dr. Di Shi in the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is focused on enhancing applied research in AI, digital twin technology and renewable integration for scale in New Mexico, Montana, Oklahoma, and Alabama.  The new NSF award also compliments two DOE awards totaling over $36 million to the respective rural cooperatives to expand grid infrastructure and resiliency. Efforts are also underway to identify opportunities to scale energy-related program engagement across the entire rural cooperative network to ensure rural, remote and Tribal communities are able to benefit from emerging advanced technologies. 

NMSU STEM+ Education Research Institute

By Dr. Susan Brown, Director STEM+ Education Research Institute 

The NMSU STEM+ Education Research Institute (SERI) is hosting a conference on October 30, 2024 at the Las Cruces Convention Center.  The theme is:  Translating Research into Practice:  Elevating STEM Education in New Mexico.  Speakers include:   Gwen Warniment (CEO and president of the LANL Foundation), Sara Brownell (Arizona State University), and Danielle Maxwell (University of Detroit). There will be poster and microbrew sharing sessions (15 minute presentation and then a discussion with the audience) in the afternoon.  Please mark your calendars and join us!  Due to the generous support from offices within NMSU, no conference fees will be charged. Registration and more details about the conference can be seen at:  seri.nmsu.edu 

News from the Arrowhead Center

By Ms. Dana Catron, Deputy Director, Arrowhead Center

Arrowhead Director and CEO Kathryn Hansen retired at the end of September, marking the close of an extraordinary chapter for Arrowhead Center at NMSU. As a founding member and Director/CEO, Kathy transformed Arrowhead from a university tech transfer office into a national leader in innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development. Her vision built a robust innovation ecosystem across New Mexico, empowering businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive. Under her leadership, Arrowhead Center fully embraced the land-grant mission of NMSU, ensuring that the knowledge and resources of the university benefit the broader community. Kathy was pivotal in creating nationally recognized innovation and commercialization support programs, and her work in this space enabled startups and researchers across the state to scale their innovations, spurring economic growth and creating jobs. 
  
Through these efforts, Kathy built a strong foundation for New Mexico’s innovation ecosystem, driving commercialization success and economic development. Her leadership has ensured that Arrowhead Center is not only a resource for NMSU but a powerful force for entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the state. As she transitions into retirement, the legacy she leaves behind—marked by her ability to inspire and empower countless entrepreneurs, innovators and students—will continue to shape New Mexico’s future for years to come​. Arrowhead Deputy Director Dana Catron will serve as interim Director and CEO until a new director is identified. 

Recognizing Recipients of Large Awards (September and October 2024)

By Ms. Cindy Ramirez, Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

Congratulations to Drs. Jessica Houston and Santiago Utsumi for each garnering external funding awards exceeding one million in the past month.

Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Houston on her 5-year NIH MIRA-Maximizing Investigators Research Award. The NIH goal of MIRA “is to increase the efficiency of NIGMS funding by providing investigators with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs. The program will also help distribute funding more widely among the nation's highly talented and promising investigators." This award focuses on addressing challenges in the general research field of quantitative single cell analysis. Many tools exist to study and characterize cells at a high-throughput for large-scale screening. Flow cytometry is the main technology available for such analyses. We have developed ‘time-resolved flow cytometry (TRFC), which adds the fluorescence lifetime as a parameter. This project will advance TRFC and use it to make predictive metabolic models of the dynamic changes in cellular respiration for cultured breast cancer cells treated with tamoxifen. Other goals will be to study viscoelastic microfluidic flow cytometry, possibly combining it with TRFC to assist in the quantification of exosomes and micro vesicles. Long-term goals will be to support high-throughput cell screening and support pre-clinical and biomedical experiments. 

For more information, please contact Dr. Jessica Houston at jph@nmsu.edu

Dr. Jessica Houston, NMSU

Congratulations to Dr. Santiago Utsumi on his USDA NRCS award. NMSU, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range and USDA-Southwestern Climate Hub will collaborate with ranchers of the Malpai Borderlands Group to apply grazing land conservation tools and technologies aiming to enhance climate-smart decision making at ranch scales. Dashboards for surveillance of livestock welfare coupled with virtual fencing technology, remote sensing tools, and systems to monitor weather and livestock drinking water will be implemented across ca 800,000 acres of arid rangeland participating in habitat conservation easements, ranch grass bank programs, and landscape restoration initiatives. On-farm trials will document ecological, economic, and management tradeoffs, climate-smart decision making, and ranchers’ confidence for meeting grazing land conservation goals.  

 For more information, please contact Dr. Santiago Utsumi at sutsumi@nmsu.edu

Dr. Santiago Utsumi, NMSU

Recognizing Submitters of Large Proposals (June and July 2024)

By Cindy Ramirez and Allison Layfield, Proposal Specialists, RAS

Congratulations to Anita Hernandez, Dana Catron, Jay Misra and Guarav Panwar for submitting a large proposal in the months of September and October.

Dr. Anita Hernandez submitted a $1.7 million proposal to the Institute of Education Science. The proposed study aims to explore the role of English-Spanish cognates in facilitating the acquisition of challenging language knowledge among third- through fifth-grade dual language students. By leveraging linguistic resources, we hypothesize that cognate knowledge will serve as a bridge for students to better understand and retain non-cognate language (i.e., phrasal verbs, compound words, and idioms).  

The NMSU-UTEP proposal team includes Drs. Anita Hernández, Michael Hout, Dominic Simon, José Montelongo, Francisco Serrano Wall, and UTEP professor Dr. Ana Schwartz.

For more information, please contact Dr. Anita Hernandez at achernan@nmsu.edu

Dr. Anita Hernandez, NMSU

Ms. Dana Catron of Arrowhead Center has applied for $1 million from the Department of Energy’s EPIC Prize Round 3 opportunity to address critical energy and water disparities through its Arrowhead RenewTech Incubator and Accelerator. The initiative targets underserved NM communities, where pilot projects will tackle local energy-water challenges. The project will focus on the energy-water nexus, addressing gaps in regional ecosystems. By partnering with Sandia National Laboratories and NMSU’s College of Engineering, the program leverages world-class research, technical expertise and engineering testbeds to accelerate the development and deployment of high-impact, scalable technologies. This collaboration ensures startups are equipped to meet market demands while delivering real-world solutions. With a strong emphasis on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), the program will support 75 startups, providing mentorship, technical resources, and market-readiness support to ensure long-term success and reduce disparities in energy-water access across New Mexico​​​​. 

For more information, please contact Ms. Dana Catron at dderego@nmsu.edu

Ms. Dana Catron, NMSU

Drs. Jay Misra and Gaurav Panwar have submitted a $1.5 million NSF proposal titled Data-Centric Ubiquitous Secure Training: A Privacy-Preserving Asynchronous Federated Learning Framework project. The growing demand for computationally intensive machine learning (ML) services has led to an increased need for efficient and secure solutions. Asynchronous federated learning (async-FL) offers a promising approach by distributing training and inferencing across edge devices. However, ensuring security, privacy, and scalability in async-FL systems is crucial for practical implementation. This project aims to innovate in these areas by incorporating attribute-based encryption, anonymous tokens, adversary-resistant async-FL, and trusted execution environments. By developing novel codebases and integrating them with commercial federated learning systems, the team aims to create a production-level system, DUST, for ubiquitous and secure data-centric learning at the edge. 

 For more information, please contact Dr. Jay Misra at misra@nmsu.edu

Drs. Jay Misra and Gaurav Panwar

Call for Applications: Arts & Humanities Seed Grant

By Dr. Allison Layfield, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

The Office of Research, Creativity and Economic Development (RCED) is requesting applications for the 2025 NMSU Arts and Humanities (A&H) Seed Funding Program. The program is designed to help faculty launch new projects for which they will seek external funding.  

RCED encourages tenure-track faculty across NMSU departments to apply for seed grant funding to support projects based in humanistic inquiry. For example, projects examining the impact of climate change or AI advancements on human culture or examining how belief systems shape human responses to natural disasters, medicine or technology could be eligible for seed funding. 

Read the full CFA for further information about project and faculty eligibility: https://research.nmsu.edu/funding/ArtsHumanitiesSeedFunding.html

Applications are due no later than 5:00pm on November 8, 2024 and must be electronically submitted. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted. Awards will be announced no later than January 31, 2025.  

For assistance with your application or to sign up as a reviewer, contact Allison Layfield: layfield@nmsu.edu. Grant writing resources are also available on the Arts & Humanities Funding Teams site. 

Research Integrity and Compliance: Update to Streamlyne IRB Questionnaire

By Dr. Michael Toje, Research Integrity Coordinator, RIC

At the end of September 2024, The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance along with the NMSU Institutional Review Board (IRB) updated the “New IRB Protocol” questionnaire in Streamlyne. These updates integrate several IRB forms and functions within the Streamlyne Questionnaire framework. First, the updated questionnaire eliminates the Maestro Transfer section, which is now obsolete. Second, the updated questionnaire adds separate branches for determinations of not human subjects research and acknowledgment of IRB reliance agreements (i.e., situations where another institution assumes the role of primary IRB). Third, the new research study section includes modifications and additional instructions for many current questions. Finally, the updated questionnaire retains branches for external researchers seeking to conduct research at NMSU and classroom project waivers. 
 
To highlight further that the “questionnaire” in Streamlyne serves these multiple functions, each with a separate root and branching structure, users will note the highlighted text for each root question that opens its respective branch/function. As users complete the questionnaire, please note that they must indicate “no” to root questions they are not using before submitting their protocol to avoid validation errors (i.e., the questionnaire is incomplete). A complete description of these changes is available here. 
 
Please note: Researchers who have started old questionnaires but have not submitted them yet will see a prompt informing them that a new version is available. They should select “Update” to keep their previous responses—clicking “Do not copy” will lose everything! The IRB hopes that these changes will enhance the review process. 
 
For any questions about these changes, please send email to ric_admin@nmsu.edu. 

Limited Submission Funding Opportunities

By Cindy Ramirez and Allison Layfield, Proposal Development Specialists, RAS

Research Administration Services maintains a list of limited submission funding opportunities for NMSU research community. The list is accessible through a link on the Research website, through the Research Administration tab. NMSU users can also access the list directly on SharePoint.  We encourage NMSU researchers to periodically visit the site and if they are interested in any of the opportunities to please inform us by sending email to ras@nmsu.edusubject line Limited Submission, and the name of the agency and the title of the funding opportunity in the body of the email.

Pivot Funding Opportunity Database

By Cindy Ramirez and Allison Layfield, Proposal Development Specialists, RAS

This is a reminder that in order to assist NMSU faculty and staff in locating external funding opportunities, the RCED has purchased a subscription to ProQuest’s Pivot available at https://pivot.proquest.com/session/login.  

To create an account with Pivot for the first time

Questions and comments regarding NMSU’s Research Digest should be directed to Dr. Allison Layfield at layfield@nmsu.edu, (575) 646-1590.