New Mexico State University
Research, Creativity and Economic Development

The Graduate School will Now Report to the Provost

By Luis Cifuentes, Ph.D., Vice President for Research, Creativity and Strategic Initiatives

In the December 2019 issue of the Research and Graduate School Digest, I wrote “[i]t is uncommon for one person to serve both as Vice President for Research (VPR) and as Dean of the Graduate School, which President Floros asked me to do last year. But it sends a clear message that our success in research, scholarship, and creative activity is tied to our success in graduate programs.”

My tenure at New Mexico State University (NMSU) has been challenging, fluid, and chock full of opportunities. President Floros announced his resignation last week. Monday, Chancellor Arvizu, who will lead both the NMSU system and the main campus, discussed organizational changes at the 30,000-foot level. Included in these changes is moving the graduate school from the VPR’s responsibility back to the Office of the Provost. I will, therefore, no longer serve as your dean of the Graduate School, but am excited to lead the Office of Research, Creativity, and Strategic Initiatives.

I am proud of the progress made in the past three years, but admit to leaving outstanding tasks. In Fall 2018, we contracted with the Council of Graduate Schools to perform an external review of the Graduate School, which included on site visit by graduate deans from University of Memphis, University of North Carolina, and University of Rhode Island.  The majority of recommendations in the Strategic Consultation Report have been addressed. Next steps include (1) more strategic use of I&G funding for graduate assistants, (2) greater resourcing, both internal and external, of graduate student tuition and health care cost, and (3) strategic use of data for marketing and recruitment purposes. I am convinced that the key challenges moving forward are better handled under the direction of the Provost.

I thank President Floros for the privilege of being NMSU’s Dean of the Graduate School. I am deeply grateful to the staff of the Graduate School for their dedication to our graduate students and for their commitment to continuous improvement in the graduate school. Our accomplishments are testament to the hard work of retired associate vice president for research and graduate studies, Dr. Luis Vazquez, and associate dean, Dr. Denise Esquibel, who helped lead the graduate school during this period. Finally, the work and counsel of the chairs and members of the Graduate Council and the executive leadership and members of the Graduate Student Council contributed to our progress.

I am confident that acting Provost Renay Scott will ably handle the transition of the graduate school back to the Office of the Provost. My office will continue to work closely with them, ensuring continued focus on and prioritization of increased support of graduate students.

Things keep changing, but one thing remains the same: our success in research, scholarship, and creative activity and our trajectory to Carnegie R1 ranking remains tied to our success in graduate programs.

Happy New Year and Go Aggies!

Dr. JoAnne Dupre, Director of Compliance Administration

By Alisha Giron, Assistant Vice President for Research

I am delighted to announce that Dr. JoAnne Dupre, Manager, Biosafety/Export Control, has been selected as NMSU's Director of Compliance Administration and will lead the Research Integrity and Compliance unit within the Office of the Vice President for Research effective Monday, January 10, 2022. We are thrilled that JoAnne will now serve NMSU in this capacity; she began her NMSU research compliance career well over ten years ago and since that time, has amassed extensive experience in areas of research compliance involving biosafety, export controls, and animal and human subjects.

Dr. Dupre can be reached at jdupre@nmsu.edu. 

    
Dr. JoAnne Dupre, Director of
Compliance Administration, NMSU

Streamlyne Update: ARGIS Transition

By Phillip De Leon, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Research

The plan for transitioning from ARGIS to Streamlyne has been developed by the implementation team. This plan was presented to the Associate Deans of Research during the December 2021 CADRe meeting.  In order to migrate ARGIS data to the Streamlyne proposal module and maintain synchronization, on Thursday January 20, 2022 ARGIS users will no longer be able to create or revise records in ARGIS; OVPR staff will maintain their roles in ARGIS for necessary data changes.  All ARGIS users will be able to read records within their scope of access until ARGIS is decommissioned (TBD). OVPR will continue to enter proposals into ARGIS and in parallel, enter proposals into Streamlyne.  Once the Streamlyne award module is live (June 20, 2022), proposals will only be entered into Streamlyne. 

For information, please visit the News and Blogs (updated regularly), and the Streamlyne support page which will be live on Thursday, January 13 at 8:00am.

Streamlye Project Dashboard
[Click to enlarge] 

Recognizing NMSU's Large Proposal Submitter (December 2021)

By Hamid Mansouri Rad, Ph.D., Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

Congratulations to Dr. Diana V. Dugas for submitting a proposal exceeding a million dollars in December 2021. Dr. Dugas' $1.9 million proposal to Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Connecting Minority Communities Program aims to upgrade NMSU South Campus housing community’s access to broadband. This two-year proposal would also support NMSU’s precision agriculture by providing secure broadband internet to farmlands of NMSU’s Agricultural Experiment Station in Farmington, New Mexico. For more information please contact Dr. Dugas at dugasdvt@nmsu.edu.

Dr. Diana V. Dugas, Director, Enterprise IT, Information and Communication Technology, NMSU 

LEADS 2025 Goal 2: Elevating Research and Creativity  

By Allison Layfield, Ph.D., Development Officer, Corporate and Foundation Relations

Enriching and expanding NMSU’s corporate, industrial and philanthropic relationships is central to advancing NMSU’s research, scholarship and creativity, contributing to our goal of reaching R1 status. To enhance internal coordination and outreach, over 3000 potential and existing contacts at the NMSU Foundation, Arrowhead Center, and Office of Student Success have been analyzed. In 2022, a team will create an approach for building, sustaining and enhancing corporate partnerships to support research and creativity.

Growing R1 capacity includes fostering NMSU’s research and creativity in the humanities. In December 2021, the University Art Museum, with support from the NMSU Foundation, was awarded $300,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This is the first award to NMSU from one of the top arts funders in the nation. Building upon this success, the College of Arts and Sciences and the NMSU Foundation plan to collaborate on 2022 workshops for faculty and staff interested in funding from other private foundations.

For more information please contact Dr. Layfield at layfield@nmsufoundation.org. 

Dr. Allison Layfield, Development
Officer, Corporate and Foundation Relations, NMSU

NMSGC Scholarship and Fellowship Applications Open January 18, 2022

By Cristina Esquivel, Program Specialist, New Mexico Space Grant Consortium 

New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC) will open its application period for scholarships and fellowships for the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters. The application period will be open from January 18 to April 11, 2022.

NMSGC offers scholarships and fellowships to students enrolled in any community college or university in New Mexico. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must be majoring in a STEM field, with exception of the Pre-Service Teaching Undergraduate Studies Scholarship and the In-Service Teacher Graduate Studies Fellowship.

The Fall 2022 – Spring 2023 Scholarships and Fellowships offered are:

1. Graduate Research Scholarship – $10,000 for two academic semesters, up to four semesters.
2. Undergraduate Research Scholarship – $5,000 for two academic semesters, up to four semesters.
3. Community College Student Scholarship – $1,000 for one semester, up to two semesters.
4. In-Service Teacher Graduate Studies Fellowship – $2,500 for up to two academic semesters.
5. Pre-Service Teaching Undergraduate Studies Scholarship – $2,500 for only one semester.

Please visit www.nmspacegrant.com to apply or for more details. You may also email nmsgc@nmsu.edu or call (575) 646-6414 if you have any questions.

Limited Submission Funding Opportunities

By Hamid Mansouri Rad, Ph.D., Senior Proposal Development Specialist, 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.edu. 

Pivot Funding Opportunity Database

By Hamid Mansouri Rad, Ph.D., Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

This is a reminder that in order to assist NMSU faculty and staff in locating external funding opportunities, the OVPRCSI 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

1. Click on the Sign up link.
   1. On the next page, click on Use email address/create password.
   2. Enter your name.
   3. Enter your NMSU email address.
   4. Create a password.
   5. Choose New Mexico State University from the Affiliated Member Institution drop down menu.
   6. Check the consent checkbox.
   7. Check the reCaptcha check box.
   8. Press the Create my account button.

 To request a one-on-one or group Pivot training, send email to hamid@nmsu.edu. 

Graduate School

Graduate Student Well-being Project

By Carol Flinchbaugh, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Management and Interim Associate Dean, Graduate School

The Graduate School is making a targeted effort to develop supports to improve student well-being this semester. The importance of and focus on student well-being, while always important, has amplified amid the pandemic. Well-being is often defined as one’s sense of emotional, psychological, and physical health[1], and heightened well-being is associated with improved life satisfaction and performance gains[2]. As such, it is no surprise that many organizations are singling out improving well-being as a priority in 2022[3].

Adding to existing NMSU services that address student well-being (Dept of Student Life, Aggie Health and Wellness), the Graduate School is bringing together a team of graduate assistants to work on the graduate student well-being project. The students working on this project have academic homes in disciplines which focus on health-related issues, such as social work, counseling psychology, and public health. Drawing on their academic expertise, the students will research best practices and implement programming to be offered to their peers. The steps the team takes while self-driven, will likely include developing a needs assessment and soliciting feedback from their peers, coordinating their efforts with existing student organizations (i.e., Graduate Student Council, Diversity Programs, etc.), communicating new programs, scheduling a wide range of programs across various times/dates, evaluating program effectiveness, and sharing success stories with their peers. The programming will be inclusive to meet the needs of graduate students of all types, from international students new to Las Cruces to online students who never set foot on campus.

The Graduate School is excited about the support that the team of graduate assistants will provide to their peers, and the efforts that will signal NMSU as a graduate school of choice for new students. Stay tuned for more details about the well-being project in the early weeks of the Spring 2022 semester. Please reach out to Carol Flinchbaugh at cflinch@nmsu.edu for more information.     

[1] Deiner, E. (2009). Introduction - The science of well-being: Reviews and theoretical articles by Ed Diener. In The Science of Well-being (pp. 1-10), Springer, Dordrecht.

[2] Harter J.K., Schmidt, F.L., & Keyes, C.L. (2003). Well-being in the workplace and its relationship to business outcomes: A review of the Gallup studies.

[3] Harvard Business Review, Tip of the Day, December 2021.

Need Guidance on Securing External Funding? Contact Me!

If you are an NMSU graduate student or post-doctoral scholar needing guidance on securing external funding, please contact me at fee@nmsu.edu. Please also visit the list of current funding opportunities that I maintain on SharePoint and let me know if you have any questions.

Chong-Hwey Fee

Chong-Hwey Fee, Proposal
Development Specialist, RAS

Questions and comments regarding NMSU’s Research Digest should be directed to Hamid Mansouri Rad, Ph.D. at  hamid@nmsu.edu, (575) 646-6429.