Dec. 1 -- NMSU to host welcome reception for new president
Community members from New Mexico State University and the greater Las Cruces community are invited to a public welcome reception for incoming President Valerio Ferme.
The reception will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the University Art Museum, 1308 E. University Ave. Refreshments will be served. Parking will be available near the museum, Kent Hall and at the NMSU bookstore.
"We are excited to host this opportunity for our community members to meet Dr. Ferme," said NMSU Board of Regents Chair Ammu Devasthali. "We are sure that under his leadership, NMSU will continue to be a positive community partner and make great achievements by working together."
Ferme, previously executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Cincinnati, officially began his employment at NMSU Nov. 18 and will assume the role of university president on Jan. 1.
In the meantime, Ferme is engaged in a transitionary period, wherein he is consulting with and meeting with stakeholders from the university's campuses, agricultural and science centers, and cooperative extension offices.
Mónica Torres will continue to serve as interim president through the end of 2024.
NMSA-Art Institute students to host Española play
New Mexico School for the Arts Art Institute's theater department will take the stage at the Nick Salazar Center for the Arts in Española for a free theater performance of Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic, a play about a group of "magical quirky misfits."
"Forget the chosen one; this story is about the rest of us, and it's filled with laughter, surprises and heartfelt moments," according to a news release.
The production is a collaboration between the NMSA-Art Institute and Northern New Mexico College, and is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc.
The play will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Nick Salazar Center at 921 N. Paseo de Oñate in Espanola. Tickets are free, but attendees can reserve seating at tinyurl.com/4wedektz.
New NASA, NSF grants for student research roles
New Mexico State University's Juie Shetye, assistant professor of astronomy, is using nearly $800,000 in grant funds to invite students to study secrets of the sun and causes of climate change.
The funds are set to go to toward hiring undergraduate and graduate students on two research projects: one related to the sun's corona holes, the other about the causes of weather changes in Las Cruces. It may in the future be expanded to other cities in Southern New Mexico.
It is the first time NMSU has received the two grants. The first is a two-year, $230,000 award from through NASA's SMD BRIDGE (now called MOSSAIC), an initiative to improve diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the NASA workforce and the broader U.S. science and engineering communities.
The second grant is from the National Science Foundation's Solar, Heliospheric and Interplanetary Environment program and provides $570,000 over three years to study corona holes.
"NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is sending something called Pandora spectrographs. These massive spectrographs measure the ozone layer and composition of different elements in the area above us in general," Shetye said in a statement. "The students will be studying atmospheric gravity waves, how they are generated and whether they're related to any weather phenomena in Las Cruces."
The NSF SHINE program grant allows Shetye to hire two Ph.D. students or as many as four undergraduate students over three years.