2007 BRIAN O'NEIL MEMORIAL LECTURE IN PHILSOPHY:
“Fear Thy Neighbor as Thyself” by Dr. SlavojŽižek

Dr. Slavoj Žižek, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, presents a lecture, “Fear Thy Neighbor as Thyself.” Dr. Žižek is one of Europe's preeminent thinkers in postmodern philosophy, sociology, and cultural studies.

Sociologist Explores New Mexican Culture and Place in New Anthology

Four UNM professors contribute essays

Phillip B. Gonzales, professor of sociology and associate dean for faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, edited a new anthology, “Expressing New Mexico: Nuevomexicano Creativity, Ritual, and Memory,” a 2007 University of Arizona Press publication. The anthology presents a fresh examination of New Mexico's varied, deeply historical and highly contested Hispanic culture.
[more]    Sociology Web Site

Temporal Grammar: Picturing Time in the Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
A lecture by Ellen Wiener

Tuesday, November 20 12:00–1:15 p.m. History Department Commons, Mesa Vista 1104
Refreshments Served [more]

Physics and Astronomy Department to Host Lecture by Rev. George Coyne, S.J.    Former director of Vatican Observatory to talk about the Universe

Dr. George Coyne, S.J., a Jesuit priest and astronomer, and a former director of the Vatican Observatory, will present a talk titled “The Dance of the Fertile Universe,” Thursday, Nov. 15, at 4 p.m. in Northrup Hall rm. 122, the Earth and Planetary Sciences lecture hall.

The talk, in part an exploration of the necessity for intelligent design, is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and is hosted by the Department of Physics and Astronomy. It is free and open to the public. [more]    Physics and Astronomy Web Site

A grant of more than $750,000 from the National Science Foundation will allow the purchase and installation of a new focused ion beam system for nanofabrication and nanomachining of materials in the Electron Microbeam Analysis Facility in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences on the UNM main campus.

The new instrument will vastly aid research and allow for the development of new courses.

[more]    Earth and Planetary Sciences Web Site

Auger Observatory Closes in on Long-Standing Mystery; Links Highest-Energy Cosmic Rays with Violent Black Holes

UNM scientists play active role in research [more]

Scientists of the Pierre Auger Collaboration, which includes researchers in the University of New Mexico's Physics and Astronomy Department in the College of Arts and Sciences, announced today that Active Galactic Nuclei or AGNs, are the most likely candidate for the source of the highest-energy cosmic rays that hit Earth. The results will appear in the Nov. 9 issue of the journal Science.

Melendez and Manuel Garcia y Griego, director, Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, are co-chairs of the Title V faculty steering committee. Their charge is to help UNM faculty better understand the mindset, mentality, vitality and potential of UNM's largely Hispanic, homegrown student body.

A workshop, “Responding to Diversity: Alternatives to blaming the students,” is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 7, 9 a.m.-noon and again at 2-5 p.m. in the Student Union Building Santa Ana room. Registration is required. Online visit: OSET or call OSET at 277-2229. [more]

Professor Explores the Cultural and Environmental Politics of Federal Forest Policy

Assistant Professor of American Studies, Jake Kosek hadn't been in Truchas, New Mexico more than a couple of hours when one of his new neighbors fired a rifle at him. Kosek was cutting across the neighbor's empty field to reach his rental house since the road was blocked by an overflowing irrigation ditch.

That introduced him to the tension underlying the battle over forest management in northern New Mexico.

[More]   American Studies Web Site

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Program in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies present a lecture, "France 1957 Responses to a Legacy of Torture" by Professor Philip Watts of Columbia University on Thursday, November 8 from 2-3 p.m. in the Reading Room of Ortega Hall 335. 

The lecture will explore responses to the use of torture by the French military during the Algerian war, from sources as diverse as popular film and philosophical essays.  The event is free and open to the public.  For more information, visit http://www.unm.edu/~isi/Upcoming_Events.htm or contact ( email)isi@unm.edu or (phone) 505-277-3833.

The Department of English presents “Science, Technology, and Aesthetics in the Nineteenth Century,” a lecture series that explores the enchantment of Darwin, the excitement of early flash photography and the telegraph's rewiring of the human mind.

The free lectures are on Thursdays, Oct. 18, Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. in Dane Smith Hall, Rm. 125 on the UNM campus. [More]   English Web Site

Maxwell Museum Goes Alaskan in Art, Music, Dance and Cuisine

Maxwell Museum continues to feature an array of exhibits, performances and celebrations in honor of its 75th anniversary during the month of October. The museum's Artisans of the World presents “Eskimo Drawings,” a discussion of various drawings done by Inupiat, Yup'ik and Siberian on Thursday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.

Yupik Eskimo artists from the late 19th to mid 20th century show various aspects of Native life along the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The evening also includes a lecture by Walter Van Horn. Free and open to the public. [More]     Maxwell Museum Web Site

Darfur Refugees to Bring Stories of Survival to UNM
On Saturday, Oct. 20, survivors of the ongoing atrocities occurring in Sudan's western region of Darfur will share their stories of survival with University of New Mexico staff, students and faculty, as well as members of the local community. The event will start at 2:30 p.m. in the Anthropology Lecture Hall, room 163.

[More]     Peace Studies Web Site

Chaco Collection to Open at UNM

NPS and UNM Partnership Celebrate 100 Years of Chaco

The University of New Mexico and the National Park Service celebrate the opening of the Chaco Collection at UNM's Hibben Center on Friday, Oct. 12, from 1-4:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Opening remarks from NPS and UNM officials will be followed by tours by Wendy Bustard, curator. Light refreshments will be served.

[More]     Anthropology Web Site

UNM Center Co-Sponsors Lecture Series on ‘Safety in a Nuclear World'

UNM's Center for Science, Technology, and Policy is co-sponsoring the Santa Fe Council on International Relations' Fall 2007 International Lecture Series “Safety in a Nuclear World: Fears, Hopes, and Realities.” The series kicks off on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. with Richard Rhodes presenting, "Where Have All the Secrets Gone? A Layman's Guide to Nukes." This event will take place at The Forum, College of Santa Fe. [More]

UNM Earth and Planetary Sciences Emeritus Professor Wolf Elston will present a lecture Friday, Sept. 28 about the "Giant Volcanoes of Southwestern New Mexico." The talk will be held in the Kudo Lecture Room (rm. 122) in Northrop Hall at 2 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the department museum. [More]


Earth & Planetary Sciences Web Site

Felicha Candelaria

The National Science Foundation is interested in Felicha Candelaria's research. The three-year fellowship she was awarded will allow her to focus on her research into memory and how drugs affect the brain's mechanism for encoding and retrieving long-term memories. Specifically, her research focuses on the consolidation and reconsolidation of spatial memory.

Candelaria, a doctoral student in psychology, believed she might go to medical school back when she was attending Los Lunas High School. But as she worked with researchers in the Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity (IMSD) program at UNM, she slowly realized she was most interested in research. [More]    Psychology Web Site

Linda B. Hall Promoted to Distinguished Professor
Professor Linda Hall, History Department, College of Arts and Sciences, is an internationally distinguished scholar in her research on the Mexican Revolution and on relations between the U.S. and Latin America in the 20th century. Recently, her scope has broadened to embrace large-scale cultural studies such as the topic of the cult of the Virgin Mary in Spain and Latin America.

She has served as head of the History Department's Latin American section and director of UNM's Latin American Studies Program. She is currently president of the American Historical Association's Pacific Coast Branch. She is a two-time recipient of Fulbright Fellowships and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Hall has been a Visiting Fellow at the Huntington Library and at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego and also at UCLA.

Hall, who earned her Ph.D. in Latin American History at Columbia University in 1976, joined UNM as full professor in 1986.   History Department Web Site

Professor Writes the Book on Study of Medieval Manuscripts

Timothy Graham, the director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at UNM, and his collaborator Raymond Clemens, associate professor of History at Illinois State University, have literally written the book on medieval manuscript studies. Their volume, “Introduction to Manuscript Studies,” will be released during the fall by Cornell University Press.

Kara Peterson (left) and her advisor, Deborah Sulsky reviewing Ms Peterson's work on the computer

The fellowship includes a stipend of $11,000 plus tuition, fringe and health insurance. Kara's PhD advisor is Deborah Sulsky.

Since starting in the Mathematics and Statistics department at UNM, Kara has been involved with a research group developing a new dynamical model of sea ice. This work is being done with Professor Deborah Sulsky of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Professor Howard Schreyer of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. [More]   Mathematics & Statistics Web Site

UNM History Professor Receives National Award for Book

Jason Scott Smith, assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico recently received the American Public Works Association Abel Wolman Award, presented annually to recognize the best new book published in the field of public works history. The title of Smith's award-winning book is “Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933-1956” (Cambridge University Press, 2006). It covers the history of New Deal public policy regarding construction of public works projects.

Smith said, “The book deals with a side of the New Deal often neglected by historians. I hope the book will raise awareness about how the authority of the federal government can be used to transform the nation's landscape, economy and politics.”  [MORE]       History Web Site

UNM Scientists Discover Unique, New T Cell Receptor in Marsupial Research

Opossums are soft and furry, cute and cuddly looking and they could open up a new way in which critical cell types in the immune system called T cells, may be seeing pathogens based on new genome sequencing research involving scientists in the University of New Mexico's Biology department. The research, which is funded largely by the National Science Foundation, is set to be released in the June issue of the magazine PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The scientists include lead author and UNM Ph.D. student Zuly Parra, Michelle Baker, research assistant Professor, Ryan Schwarz, Ph.D. student and Professor Robert Miller, in collaboration with researchers from the Australian National University and the Broad Institute, have discovered a fifth such chain, designated “mu,” (for marsupial) that has been discovered in opossums.  [MORE]       Biology Web Site

UNM Scientists Help to Create “Trail of Time” at Grand Canyon National Park

An interpretive walking timeline trail that focuses on Grand Canyon vistas and rocks is being created with the help of scientists at the University of New Mexico, the National Park Service and a $2.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. This “Trail of Time” will help visitors explore, ponder and understand the magnitude of geologic time and its stories encoded by Grand Canyon rock layers and landscapes.

Professors Karl Karlstrom and Laura Crossey in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department in the College of Arts and Sciences are working on the planning and installation of the exhibit along the South rim of the Grand Canyon. The trail would be the world's largest geo-science education exhibit at one of the world's grandest geologic landscapes.  [MORE]       Earth and Planetary Sciences Web Site

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Reed Dasenbrock has announced the 2007 Outstanding Staff Award winners. They are: - Amy Jameson, Shirley Rey Lovato and Sandra Ortiz. A reception to honor the winners was held in the Fiesta Room in the Student Union Building Friday, April 27.

Sandra Ortiz, office manager, physics and astronomy
Ortiz supervises all aspects of the front office operation. As supervisor, she deals with a broad spectrum of internal and external customers -- from students at all levels to other staff, as well as diverse faculty members including many foreign visitors -- on a regular basis. Ortiz is friendly, organized and very professional -- all positive characteristics which have been a trademark in various positions she has held in the department for approximately 20 years.

Amy Jameson, department administrator, English
Jameson has contributed to the success of the English Department in every possible way. Jameson manages the entire departmental office including budgets, departmental procedures and records. She supervises a staff that is highly varied from student employees to program coordinators to graduate and undergraduate advisors.

Jameson constantly strives for excellence. Her exceptional talents and capabilities as well as her initiative and creativity have had a significant impact on students, faculty and staff. Jameson is a model of integrity and professionalism. Her administrative talents and interpersonal skills have provided a model for harmonious interrelationships among staff and faculty alike.

Shirley Rey Lovato, department administrator, communication and journalism
Lovato is the department administrator in Communication and Journalism. Her duties include managing daily administrative operations of the department. She has been instrumental in helping the department accomplish its goals throughout the year.

Lovato is a leader and team player that will do whatever the department needs. She is the consummate professional and plays a critical role to the mission and daily function of the department.

Outstanding Teaching Awards Announced

The Office of Support for Effective Teaching and the Faculty Senate Teaching Enhancement Committee announce UNMs Outstanding Teachers for 2006-07.

The College of Arts and Sciences swept this years awards. All recipients will be honored at a presentation and reception in Student Union Building Ballroom C on Wednesday, May 2 at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The recipient of the Presidential Teaching Fellow is Jane Ellen Smith, Psychology.

Outstanding Teacher of the Year goes to Mary Domski, Philosophy; and Jane Selverstone, Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Adriana Aceves, Mathematics and Statistics, is the years Outstanding Adjunct Teacher/Lecturer of the Year.

Individuals receiving the Susan Deese-Roberts Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year Awards are:

• Alvaro Nosedal-Sanchez, Mathematics and Statistics;
• Christopher Brown, Communication and Journalism;
• Dana Reinhardt,Foreign Languages and Literatures;
• Dennis Newell and Jennifer New, Earth and Planetary Sciences;
• Erin Wilkinson, Linguistics; and
• Robin Runia, English.
     

UNM's Hutton Presents Calvin Horn Lecture

Legend clashes with reality on the American Frontier as Professor Paul Hutton presents “Kit Carson's Ride,” the 2007 C. Ruth and Calvin P. Horn Lecture in Western History and Culture, on Thursday, April 19 at 5:30 p.m., Ballroom B in the University of New Mexico Student Union Building.

The lecture, followed by a book signing and reception, is sponsored by the Center for the Southwest, the Department of History and UNM Press. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information call, 277-7688.  [MORE]

Physics and Astronomy Professor Named Optical Society of America Fellow

Physics and Astronomy and Regents' Professor Wolfgang Rudolph has been named as one of 58 new fellows of the Optical Society of America (OSA). Rudolph was recognized for pioneering contributions to ultrashort pulse physics and groundbreaking research in femtosecond pulse microscopy and spectroscopy. Fellows are selected on a variety of criteria such as record of publications related to optics, service to OSA, achievements in optics or management ability.

[More]

('63) CHEMISTRY ALUMNUS JOHN SOLENBERGER ADDRESSES UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

A personal take on the surprises, challenges, and joys of a career on the cutting edge of research was offered to more than eighty undergraduate researchers by distinguished College of Arts and Sciences alumnus John Solenberger (Chemistry, '63) at the Third Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research Symposium in May 2006. 

Student researchers from the sciences, humanities, and social sciences joined the daylong symposium to present their own research projects, which ranged from the investigation of a galaxy hidden by the Milky Way to the impact of Jane Austen's novels in popular culture. 

The symposium was sponsored by the Program of Research Opportunities For Undergraduates (PROFOUND), a College of Arts and Sciences-coordinated program that connects undergraduates with job opportunities in faculty research programs university-wide.

Solenberger, retired in 2004 from DuPont Company as development planning manager in high performance plastics, used his own career in research and development work to urge students to take up the research and development challenges of their own time.

You can read Dr. Solenberger's complete address here.

UNM Promotes 6 from Arts and Sciences to Distinguished Professor [more]

Keith H. Basso
Keith H. Basso, anthropology, studies language and culture. He has done fieldwork in Australia and the American Southwest. Basso's fieldwork includes a long- term relationship with the Western Apache community of Cibecue, which began in 1959 and is still exists today. He received his bachelor's magna cum laude from Harvard University and his Ph. D. from Stanford University.

Carlton Caves
Carlton Caves, physics and astronomy, received his Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology. His areas of expertise include physics of information, quantum information theory, quantum chaos, quantum optics, theory of nonclassical light, theory of quantum noise and quantum theory measurement.

Steven Gangestad
Steven Gangestad, psychology, conducts interdisciplinary research in evolutionary psychology. He works to understand sexual and romantic relationships within an evolutionary psychological framework. He also examines individual differences from an evolutionary genetic standpoint, causes of variation in brain development and function, hormones and behavior and meta-theory in psychology. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed to his name and is currently president-elect of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. Gangestad earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota and was a Regents' Lecturer in 1999.

Paul Andrew Hutton
Paul Andrew Hutton, history, has received numerous awards for his writing including the Billington Prize from the Organization of American Historians, the Evans Biography Award and the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, for whom he served as president. His article on Roosevelt's Rough Riders won Hutton one of his many Western Heritage Awards. He has written scripts for the History Channel and a dozen television documentaries. He has appeared on more than 150 television programs. He co-wrote and co-produced five episodes of the History Channel series Investigating History.

Tey Diana Rebolledo
Tey Diana Rebolledo, Regents Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, received her master's in Latin American Studies at UNM and a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Arizona. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Scholarship in Chicana Literature from the Multi-Ethnic Society of the U.S., the Critica Nueva Award for Chicano/a Literature, Distinguished Professor from the Modern Language Association, a Fellow in the Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanities, among other awards.

Howard Waitzkin
Howard Waitzkin, sociology, Family and Community Medicine and Internal Medicine, earned his doctorate in sociology as well as his medical degree from Harvard with clinical training as resident and fellow at Stanford and Massachusetts General Hospital. His work focuses on health policy in comparative international perspective and on psychosocial issues in primary care. He co-authored the proposal for a single-payer national health program.
   

The Office for Policy, Security, and Technology, a collaborative venture of the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories, will award up to five $5,000 grants to support the development of new jointly taught interdisciplinary undergraduate and/or graduate courses that highlight the relationship between public policy and science and technology (S&T). [MORE]

The History of Science Society Awards Geography Professor with 2006 Price Webster Award

Geography Adjunct Assistant Professor K. Maria D. Lane was recently named the recipient of the Derek Price/Rod Webster Award for her article titled, “Geographers of Mars: Cartographic Inscription and Exploration Narrative in Late Victorian Representations of the Red Planet.” The award, given annually by the History of Science Society since 1979, recognizes the best work published in the Society's journal Isis . [MORE]

The University of New Mexico's Maxwell Museum of Anthropology presents, “Celebrate El Río,” Saturday, Nov. 18, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Life ways of communities living along the Río Grande will be presented in an interactive afternoon of demonstrations, performances and food.

The event is free and open to the public with activities for all ages and interests.
Free goody bags will be distributed to the first 50 children ages 3-12. [MORE]

      IRISH LECTURE SERIES: SAMUEL BECKETT

The UNM Department of English presents this year's Irish Lecture Series, devoted to the life and works of Samuel Beckett, one of the most influential writers of the second half of the 20 th century

The series kicks off with Professor Stan Gontarski of Florida State University speaking about “Performing Beckett After Beckett.”

Thursday, November 2 Dane Smith Hall 125 7 pm Introduced by Provost Reed Dasenbrock

A reception follows at the Jonson Gallery.

Stan Gontarski is the Sarah Herndon Professor of English at FSU, a widely published scholar on the works of Samuel Beckett, and current editor of the Journal of Beckett Studies. He is also General Editor for a book series entitled “Crosscurrents: Comparative Studies in European Literature and Philosophy” published by the University Press of Florida.

Lectures follow on November 9 and 16, same time, same place.
Sponsored by numerous campus units, the New Mexico Humanities Council, and Peter Eller.

Dr. Christine Hice receives the first Robert E. Shope, M.D. Fellowship in Infectious Diseases

Dr. Hice (Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology) has been selected to receive the first Robert E. Shope, M.D. Fellowship in Infectious Diseases.She will be recognized as the award recipient during the awards ceremony at the next American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting, to be held November 12-16, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia.

This award has been established in the memory of Bob Shope, a great human being and great scientist.

'Asteroid 6816 Barbcohen,' in its orbit as of Sept. 6, 2006.

Once every three years, the International Astronomical Union honors scientists from the Meteoritical Society for their achievements in the field with a unique award that's simply out of this world – they bestow names of scientists on asteroids.

This year, at the 69th Annual Meteoritical Society meeting held in Zurich, Switzerland, University of New Mexico Research Assistant Professor Barbara Cohen was recognized for her achievements with “Asteroid 6816 Barbcohen.” More   Institute of Meteoritics Web Site

UNM's German Summer School Featured in National Magazine

The August/September issue of “German Life” features an article on total immersion German programs in the United States. UNM's German Summer School, or Deutsche Sommerschule von New Mexico, is among the programs featured alongside those from the University of Rhode Island, Portland State and Middlebury College in Vermont.

The school's director, Susanne Baackmann, said that the total immersion approach aims to make the language “come alive” for learners.  

UNM's Lamadrid Explores Pilgrimage, Commerce on Camino Real

Folklorist, author and cultural historian Enrique R. Lamadrid, professor of Spanish, and director of the Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies Program, says it's time to consider the Camino Real as a corridor of culture, where pilgrimage, ritual, dance and music link north and south, past and future, in one of the greatest intercultural legacies of humanity in North America.

Jim Brown has been elected as Honoraria Member of the American Society of Mammalogists

Distinguished Professor Jim Brown has been elected as Honoraria Member of the American Society of Mammalogists, the highest honor conferred by the oldest and largest professional society devoted to the study and preservation of mammals in the world.

Among the many contributions noted in the announcement letter, just received from the Society, was the impressive mentoring Jim has done over the years, 50 PhD students and 23 postdocs, many of whom have gone on to become luminaries in their own right.

Scharnhorst Receives Sixth Fulbright to Germany

Gary Scharnhorst, professor of English, was recently notified that he is the recipient of his sixth Fulbright award to study and teach in Germany next spring.

He will teach at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, located in the former East Germany near Weimar.Scharnhorst goes on sabbatical in January and will travel to Europe to teach at Jena from April to July. “Their semesters do not coincide with ours,” he explained. He will teach an American Literature lecture course as well as an undergraduate/graduate seminar.
English Department Web Site     

UNM and UNM-Gallup Collaborate to Keep Students on the Math Track

Recognizing that many students who transfer to the University of New Mexico main campus from UNM Gallup struggle to finish their degrees, math department faculty at the two campuses have signed agreements to better prepare students for a mathematics or statistics major.

Articulation agreements were signed April 26 by Samir A. Wahid, professor and chair of math and sciences at UNM-Gallup and Alejandro Aceves, professor and chair of mathematics and statistics at UNM. [MORE]

UNM Professor Selected as Recipient of Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award

The U.S. Chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) recently selected University of New Mexico Professor Bruce T. Milne as the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award, the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Chapter.

The honor is given to recognize distinguished scientific contributions to the field of landscape ecology, which is the study of plants and animals in relation to land and water over vast regions such as mountain ranges, drainage basins, parks and urban areas. [MORE]

The building that has been the home for communication and journalism students at the University of New Mexico for the past six decades is undergoing a complete interior renovation. MORE

2006 Biology Research Day Winners Announced

The Biology Department recently held its 15th annual Research Day where undergraduate and graduate students displayed their original research in oral and poster presentations in a celebration of discovery and education in the biological sciences. MORE

Physicist Jean-Claude Diels to deliver UNM's Annual Research Lecture

Jean-Claude Diels, professor of Physics and Astronomy and Electrical and Computer Engineering, will deliver the University's 51st Annual Research Lecture on Friday, April 28 at 7 p.m. in Ballroom A of the Student Union Building.

The title of the lecture is, “Laser Light: Sensing nano changes with the lightest touch, and creating power threads in light tunnels — a Prometheus' destiny.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

  Physics and Astronomy Web Site

UNM's Maxwell Museum exhibit features life along the Rio Grande

The University of New Mexico's Maxwell Museum of Anthropology will present El Río, a Smithsonian traveling exhibit highlighting traditional cultures along the Río Grande/Río Bravo watershed. Its opening will be on Saturday, April 8, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“The exhibits' primary goal is to contribute to the preservation and renewal of New Mexico's local cultural heritage and local knowledge,” said Enrique Lamadrid, director of Chicano/Hispano/Mexicano Studies at UNM, an exhibit co-sponsor.

    Maxwell Museum Web Site

Biology Department sponsors 15th Annual Research Day
The Biology Department will celebrate the scientific achievements of its students at the 15th annual research day, Friday, April 7, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Undergraduate and graduate students will display their original research through oral and poster presentations in a celebration of discovery and education in the biological sciences.
    Biology Web Site

University of New Mexico Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor John W. Geissman was one of 45 new Fellows elected recently to the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Fellows of AGU are members who have attained acknowledged eminence in the Earth and space sciences. Geissman, along with the other elected Fellows, will be recognized in Baltimore, Md. in May as part of the 2006 Joint Assembly.

UNM's Rebolledo receives lifetime achievement award

Regents' Professor Tey Diana Rebolledo, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, recently received a lifetime achievement award for scholarship in the field of American Ethnic Literatures. The award was presented by MELUS, the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association.

    Spanish and Portuguese Web Site

UNM Physics and Astronomy Professors Ivan Deutsch and Rob Duncan were recently elected Fellows of the American Physical Society. With their election, Deutsch and Duncan become the sixth and seventh current APS Fellows in the Physics and Astronomy Department.

    Physics and Astronomy Web Site

The American Folklore Society recently presented Enrique Lamadrid, University of New Mexico professor of Spanish and director of Chicano / Hispano / Mexicano Studies, with the Américo Paredes Prize, a national award given in recognition of his work as a cultural activist in research, community service and teaching.

Photo: Enrique Lamadrid

Lamadrid is known for organizing expeditions and engaging students in his field work projects, in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the pilgrims' roads of Spain, and in the ports of the Caribbean, “wherever Nuevo Mexicanos and Latinos have their roots,” he said.

Over the years he has led several student expeditions south to Zacatecas, Durango and Chihuahua to research the cultural roots and routes of New Mexico. Grads and undergrads were involved in developing and testing the exhibit scripts, and a student photography in the Camino Real International Heritage Center permanent exhibit, slated for its grand opening in November, is also included.

            Spanish and Portuguese Web Site

History professor receives dissertation award
Thomas Sizgorich, newly appointed assistant professor of history at UNM, is the recipient of a Council of Graduate Schools/University Microfilms International Prestigious Dissertation Award for 2004-05 for his dissertation, “Monks, Martyrs and Mujahidun: Militant Piety in Late Antiquity and Early Islam.”

Sizgorich completed this work at the University of California at Santa Barbara. An award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 8 in Palm Springs, Calif. He began graduate school with an interest in the causes of inter-communal violence in the later Roman world. Then developed interest on the theory and practice of jihad in early Islam.

            History Web Site

University of New Mexico Professors Nitant Kenkre and Maggie Werner-Washburne were recently elected to the rank of AAAS Fellow. The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world's largest general scientific society. Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Researchers to Study Stretching of Rio Grande Rift

A team of researchers from UNM and the University of Colorado at Boulder have been awarded a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Earth Scope program to precisely measure ground movement in the Rio Grande Rift in their home states. The project is part of the NSF’s Earth Scope initiative, a partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA to study the structure of North America, its geologic evolution, earthquakes and volcanic activity. The goal of the project is to understand stretching rates in the rift, including the implications of rates measured at the surface in regard to stretching of the North American plate at deeper levels.

Using state of- the-art global positioning system (GPS) instruments at 24 sites from Colorado through southern New Mexico, the research team will track the rift’s movement with millimeter accuracy over the course of the next five years. The study will provide unprecedented data about the volcanically active and earthquake-prone region of the Rio Grande Rift. “Our goal is to try to understand the rates of motion today,” said UNM Assistant Professor Mousumi Roy of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. “The information we gather will tell us about how the North American plate is breaking apart at the Rio Grande Rift and about the earthquake hazards posed by the rift.”

            Earth and Planetary Sciences Web Site

Six professors from Arts and Sciences have been promoted to the rank of University of New Mexico distinguished professor, the highest rank bestowed on faculty. Distinguished professors are individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievements and are nationally and internationally renowned as scholars.

The 2005-2006 Arts and Sciences inductees are:

Joan Bybee - Linguistics
F. Chris Garcia - Political Science
Nitant Kenkre - Physics and Astronomy
Robert T. Paine, Jr. - Chemistry
Gary Scharnhorst - English
Lawrence Guy Straus - Anthropology

Political Science Professor Andrew L. Ross has been named the new director of the University of New Mexico's Office for Policy, Security, and Technology. He assumed the position Sept. 1. Ross was selected to head OPST after a national search by a committee chaired by Bert Useem, director of the Institute for Social Policy and professor of sociology.

OBST is a collaboration between UNM and Sandia National Laboratories that focuses on promoting and facilitating interdisciplinary policy-relevant work at the intersection of security and technology.

Ross succeeds Roger L. Hagengruber, who has served as director of OPST since its was established in 2003.

University of New Mexico Political Science Associate Professor Lonna Atkeson is the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant to study public perception of the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina.

Atkeson and colleague Cherie Maestas of Florida State University will assess public opinion data gathered during a national telephone survey of 1,000 individuals.

National news media documented and presented to the public the pain and loss resulting from the natural disaster on the Gulf Coast, the researchers contend. Those hard hitting images, words and contexts resulted in mass quantities of “causal stories” to explain the absence of government assistance in the early days following the hurricane.

The study will look at how consumers attribute blame and how it will shape preferences for future policies, such as funding and autonomy for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the role of government in disaster response as well as policies viewed as punitive toward government officials, victims and minority groups. Researchers will also measure the degree to which respondents believe they were directly or indirectly harmed.

“Our research speaks to the larger question of citizens' views of the capacity and effectiveness of government to deal with crisis,” Atkeson said. “It also contributes to our understanding of how causal framing and blame attribution affect public policy.”

NSF awarded $69,000 for the study, which begins this week. The grant includes an education component for UNM and Florida State graduate students who will develop the survey instrument, manage and analyze data and assist in the development of research papers.

UNM assists in developing master of science degree at University in Kazakhstan

Four UNM faculty, including Bruce Thomson and Tim J. Ward of Civil Engineering; Gregory Gleason of Political Science; and Michael E. Campana of the Water Resources Program and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, are spearheading the effort to establish the program.

ENU, located in the capital Astana, will enroll its first candidates in September 2005 and expects to graduate its first cohort in 2007. ENU hopes to graduate 20 students per year once the program is established.