Other NM universities announcements

From greater roadrunners and Gambel's quail to black-throated sparrows and vermillion flycatchers, New Mexico is home to a wide variety of beautiful birds. New Mexico State University's Avian Migration Program prepares undergraduate and graduate students to become leaders in avian conservation and resource management, helping protect these birds and the environments we all call home.

The program is funded by a grant from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, with additional support from NMSU's College of Arts and Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Division of Student Success, Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate School.

Determination must be in Owaissa Crites Heimann's DNA. Not only did Heimann have a 39-year career with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service, but she also began a three-generation legacy with Union County Extension. 

Heimann has lived in Clayton, New Mexico, since 1948 when she accepted the home economics agent position with Union County Extension. She started her career when few women worked outside the home.

A true trailblazer, Heimann was the first county Extension home economics agent appointed as a county director in the state. In 1968, she became the first New Mexican to serve as president of the National Association of Extension Home Economists, which is now known as the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. 

New Mexico State University Global Campus has partnered with the Albuquerque Convention Center and Associated Venues to expand educational and professional development opportunities for employees across one of New Mexico's largest hospitality and event management organizations.

The partnership adds the Albuquerque Convention Center to NMSU Global Campus' growing network of workforce and education partners, creating new pathways for employees to pursue degree programs, professional certificates and workforce-focused training designed to support career advancement.

The Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship at New Mexico State University's Arrowhead Center is accepting applications for its fall AI Sprint, a six-week program designed to help founders and startup teams use modern AI tools as practical co-workers within their businesses. The sprint, titled AI Co-Workers for Startup Teams, will run from October 27 through December 1, 2026. 

Designed for early-stage entrepreneurs and small teams, the program goes beyond basic prompting to focus on building reliable, repeatable AI-powered systems. Participants will learn how to create reusable AI skills, establish quality assurance processes, connect AI tools to their existing workflows and develop systems that extend the capacity of lean teams. By the end of the sprint, each participant will have built a portfolio of AI-enabled workflows tailored to their own business. 

New Mexico State University is moving forward with a major expansion of its Biomedical Research Building, a project designed to significantly enhance the university's research capabilities in areas critical to public health.

Supported through a combination of funding from the National Institutes of Health and State of New Mexico capital appropriations, the project represents a strategic investment in advancing biomedical innovation and education in the region. In October, the New Mexico Board of Finance and Administration approved $16.3 million in capital expenditures to double the size of the building, which was initially funded by a general obligation bond approved by voters in 2020 as well as an NIH grant.

New Mexico State University Library is partnering with the Las Cruces Public Libraries and the Las Cruces Police Department to launch a professional development initiative focused on information literacy and artificial intelligence, equipping law enforcement personnel with skills to evaluate information, interpret data and navigate emerging technologies in their daily work. 

The partnership brings together higher education, public libraries and law enforcement in a collaborative effort designed to strengthen critical thinking and informed decision-making. Over the coming year, NMSU librarians Erin Wahl and Leslie Ross will lead a series of educational sessions exploring information literacy, data interpretation and the responsible use of artificial intelligence for LCPD leadership. 

New Mexico State University has always been at the forefront of green chile research and innovation. An NMSU researcher is continuing that legacy with a grant to develop a disease-resistant variety of green chile.

Stephanie Walker, NMSU professor and Extension vegetable specialist, is the director of a project to develop a green chile that is not only mechanically harvestable but also resistant to Phytophthora capsici, a disease that significantly impacts chile production. This spring, the project received a $759,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to fund the project over the next four years.

Walker is collaborating with Michael Mazourek, an associate professor and vegetable breeder at Cornell University, to combine resources from their respective programs to incorporate Phytophthora capsici to the new green chile type. The goal, Walker said, is to develop a crop that can be mechanically harvestable, which saves on labor costs, as well as resistant to a disease that can wipe out entire fields.

A New Mexico State University researcher was part of an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, paleontologists, paleoecologists, archivists and tribal cultural heritage leaders who collaborated on a new study suggesting moose inhabited Colorado's southern Rocky Mountains centuries before state wildlife reintroductions began in the late 1970s.

The study, published in the Journal of Biogeography and led by the University of Colorado Boulder, included researchers from NMSU, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Northern Arapaho Tribe, University of Utah, History Colorado, University of New Mexico, and University of Cincinnati. NMSU's contributions came from John Wendt, assistant professor of rangeland ecology and paleoecology in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.