Other NM universities announcements

Two teams of New Mexico State University students earned top honors at the 2026 Desert Dev Lab Hackathon, a statewide competition held in Albuquerque on April 18 and 19, that challenged participants to build artificial intelligence solutions for the food and agriculture sector. 

Hosted by NM Tech Talks, the hackathon brought together 27 teams from across New Mexico. Participants were given datasets and tasked with using machine learning and artificial intelligence models to develop a working minimum viable product addressing a real problem in food and agriculture. The Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship, housed within NMSU's Arrowhead Center, served as a sponsor of the event. 

Fresh off a powerhouse performance at the American College Dance Association Northwest Conference in Las Vegas, the New Mexico State University Dance Program will be celebrating its recent accomplishment at the spring dance concert "Fusión de Frontera."

The concert begins at 7 p.m. today with performances through Saturday, April 25, in Rentfrow Hall on the NMSU main campus.  The production serves as a homecoming showcase for the 10 Aggie dancers who represented the technical grit and creative soul of NMSU on the regional stage.

The depth and breadth of New Mexico State University's art students' talent will be on display this spring with the Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis exhibitions. The shows will open with a joint reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 1 at the University Art Museum Contemporary Art Gallery. 

The MFA thesis exhibition, titled "Where We Ended Up," features work by master's candidates Arch Jones and Ezekiel Martey. The two-person show is the culmination of their research and development during their program and spans a variety of media and processes.

Starting this summer, a grant from Intel will help establish a new eight-week undergraduate research and cleanroom training program.

The award will support six NMSU engineering students as they broaden their knowledge through early exposure to research experience, semiconductor-aligned skills, cleanroom training and career mentorship.

"This program is an exciting extension of Intel's ongoing investment in our students and the College of Engineering," said Sara Patricolo, interim director of Engineering Outreach. "Their support goes beyond a single initiative; it reflects an ongoing commitment to developing both our students and New Mexico's engineering workforce. By connecting students with real-world research and industry mentorship, we are strengthening the pipeline of talented engineers who will drive innovation in our region."

New Mexico State University Army and Air Force cadets will showcase their precision, dedication and unity at the 124th annual Presidential Pass-in-Review ceremony. Cadets will march in formation, and those who have gone above and beyond in their training and in the classroom will be awarded scholarships and honors.

NMSU U.S. Air Force and Army ROTC will present their cadets to university leadership, faculty, families and fellow cadets at the event. It is free and open to the public.

2 p.m. Thursday, April 23.

Aggie Pride Field on the NMSU Horseshoe.

A team of New Mexico State University students recently took the national stage at the 2026 Hult Prize West Nationals, hosted by the University of Arizona's W.A. Franke Honors College in Tucson, to present "Hormona", their innovative startup focused on accessible hormone health tracking.

After winning NMSU's local Hult Prize Pitch Competition in October 2025 as part of the Bold Idea Conference, Team Hormona advanced to the national round of this globally recognized social entrepreneurship challenge. Team members Sydnee Johnson, a business major, Alyssa Hernandez and Melissa Torres, both biology majors, pitched their venture – an at-home device that enables individuals to conveniently monitor and track key hormonal changes. Their solution empowers users to identify potential health concerns early, better understand their bodies, and make more informed decisions. It brings together biology-driven research with a clear market need.

Author, poet and non-profit founder Sheila Black will take the podium at an upcoming public reading at New Mexico State University, where she'll share her exploration of midlife, love, loss and recovery in her newest poetry collection "Cinnamon Fire." Her reading begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 24 at NMSU's CMI Theater in Milton Hall, Room 171.

Black's presentation is part of the Nelson-Boswell Reading Series hosted by La Sociedad para las Artes. The reading is free and open the public and copies of "Cinnamon Fire," along with another of her books "For the Loneliness of Walking Out," will be available for purchase.

The National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) is the NSF's most prestigious award. It recognizes the impact of junior faculty's success in research and education integration and will fund their quest for five years.

Last month, New Mexico State University astronomy assistant professor Juie Shetye received a 2026 CAREER Award, demonstrating her inspirational leadership for undergraduates and empowering them to become involved in research and pursue advanced degrees. This highly competitive award will run through 2031. Its title is "Hunting Magnetic Fingerprints on the Sun--A Tale of Flare-Jet Connections."

Shetye's research on space weather has come up with a prediction algorithm that can warn humans when a solar flare might occur.