Join the UNM Parent Relations Office for the first fall Parent Talk Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 6 p.m. Learn how students and families can make the most of UNM athletics, recreation activities and intramurals. Students have free transportation options, are admitted to some sporting events free and can get involved in a variety of ways to make the most of their “Go Lobos!” experience.
UNM Recreational Services staff will be on hand to discuss benefits available at UNM’s main campus recreational hub, Johnson Center, which includes exciting “Getaway Adventures” and a vast array of intramurals.
Parent Talk is held the first Wednesday of each month from 6 – 7 p.m. in the Student Services Center (SSC), Dean of Students Conference Room (rm. 260), 2nd floor. The series is sponsored by UNM’s Dean of Students’ Family Connection Program, Parent Relations Office and Parent Association and Extended University.
Students and extended family are welcome. Check-in begins at 5:30 p.m. Parent Association members are on hand to visit with you about their experiences.
Parking is free in the “patient parking” on the north side of Mesa Vista Hall after 5 p.m. or for $1.75 per hour in the Cornell Parking Struture near Central and Cornell NE. To get to the Student Services Center (SSC) from the Cornell Parking Structure walk north on Cornell Mall. Pass by Popejoy Hall and the Student Union (SUB). At the SUB’s north end, go east to the SSC.
UNM President David Schmidly and Mind Research Network President and CEO John Rasure recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement to enhance cooperative research and development of neuroscience technology. The UNM-MRN Intellectual Property Agreement also creates a new academic title, the UNM-MRN professor.
Photo: UNM President David J. Schmidly and Mind Research Network President and CEO John Rasure.
The position is intended to help MRN recruit outstanding neuroscientists who also benefit from the academic environment UNM provides. The position facilitates the relationship between MRN and UNM scientists, faculty and administration. MRN will also provide financial support to the college and department of each MRN professor, allowing UNM to reinvest those resources into growing university research efforts.
“This will enhance UNM’s ability to recruit nationally recognized faculty,” said Schmidly. “It will also offer support to our academic departments as the MRN professors will be teaching classes.”
The position facilitates the relationship between MRN and UNM scientists, faculty and administration. MRN will also provide financial support to the college and department of each MRN professor, allowing UNM to reinvest those resources into growing university research efforts.
“As MRN grows, our partnership with UNM becomes more important,” said MRN President and CEO John Rasure. “This agreement will facilitate commercializing diagnostic technology related to brain disease and mental illness, and help UNM and MRN attract some of the best research talent in the country.”
Both Schmidly and Rasure acknowledged that former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici has been a guiding force and strong supporter of UNM and MRN and his support played a major role in being able to reach the agreement.
MRN researchers are working with imaging and biogenetics tools to find earlier and better ways to diagnose and treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, epilepsy, addiction, traumatic brain injury, and many other brain disorders.
MRN scientists work in collaboration UNM, Harvard, Yale, MIT, the University of Minnesota, and other universities, national laboratories, and research centers across the nation.
Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; kwent2@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Parking and Transportation Services (PATS) is accepting applications from university departments interested in participating in the Lobo Bikes program, a bike-share opportunity in which selected departments receive a bicycle, necessary equipment, safety training and maintenance for a year completely cost-free.
The program is intended to reduce traffic and congestion on campus and increase wellness opportunities for participating staff and faculty. Last year, UNM department participants put over 900 carbon emissions-free miles on the Lobo Bikes bike fleet.
Program Planning Manager. “The program promotes both the use of environmentally responsible transportation and wellness-at-work by providing a clean and fun way to get around campus.”
Now in its second year, the Lobo Bikes program was originally funded by a UNM World-Of-Wellness mini-grant. There are 11 Lobo Bikes available and each bike is equipped with a helmet, U-lock, basket, seasonal maintenance and safe“The Lobo Bikes program has been a great success here on campus,” said Cynthia Martin, PATS ty training. Lobo Bikes can be used to attend meetings, run errands, or for exercise during breaks.
“Our shipping and receiving staff used the Lobo Bike and were happy to have it and sad when they had to return it,” said Patricia Campbell, communications specialist for University Libraries.
Shortly after returning their Lobo Bike, University Libraries supplied their staff with their own department bicycle.
To learn more about the program and download an application visit: Lobo Bikes. The application needs to be mailed back to PATS by Aug. 7.
Media contact: Benson Hendrix (505) 277-1816;bhendrix@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Parking and Transportation Services Department, in conjunction with the City of Albuquerque Transportation Department, is continuing the free LoboRide Bus Pass sticker program for the upcoming academic year for UNM students, staff and faculty.
The program, launched for UNM students in 2007 and expanded for staff and faculty the following year, provides free bus travel on any City of Albuquerque bus, including the Rapid Ride, excluding certain special events. The program allows the pass-holder to use as much of the city's bus transit system as they choose, as often as they like.
It is expected that this program will continue to reduce the university’s carbon footprint by allowing more members of the UNM community to take the bus to class or work, and then take advantage of the FlexCar rental program provided by the UNM Parking and Transportation Services Department.
"Sustainability is one of our Department's, and the University's, core values," says PATS Director Clovis Acosta. "Free public transportation for UNM is one way that we can all show commitment to both University success and environmental sustainability."
All UNM staff and faculty members as well as students are eligible to benefit from this program. Staff and faculty members – including HSC and UNM Hospital staff – will need to present a printout of their UNM Directory personnel history in order to validate their identity. The sticker is then placed on their respective ID card. In order to prove student status, students need to bring a copy of their Fall 09 schedule, and their student LOBO ID card, to any of the following locations:
• UNM Student Union Building Welcome Desk
• UNM Bookstore
• UNM Medical/Legal Bookstore (North Campus)
• UNM Parking and Transportation Offices
• UNM LoboCard Office (not available until Sept. 14)
The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and UNM Hospital will be issuing stickers to their own personnel. If you have a sticker for the 2008-2009 academic year, it will need to be updated with a new sticker.
For further information, please contact Brian Kilburn at bkilburn@parking.unm.edu/a>
Media contact: Benson Hendrix (505) 277-1816; email bhendrix@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico Residence Life and Student Housing is busy making positive changes to student housing before student return to campus for the fall semester.
“We are continuing our efforts to make visible changes in our residence halls to better serve our students,” said Patrick Call, Director of Residence Life and Student Housing.
Residence Life is spending $4.8 million to expand the quality and visual appeal of various residence hall facilities for students living on campus. In the fall of 2008, a small number of student residents surveyed (13%) reported that that they were dissatisfied with their overall UNM housing experience.
“While survey results show that the majority of student residents are satisfied, we want to insure that we surpass all student’s expectations,” Call explained.
This summer the department is focusing on building renovations, upgrades, and landscaping initiatives specifically selected to enhance life-safety and increase student satisfaction.
Residence Life and Student Housing will spend an estimated $3 million to replace and repair outdated water lines and to install over 220 heating and air-conditioning units and ventilation systems in the Student Residence Center (SRC) apartments.
In addition, another $1.8 million is planned for various remodeling projects this summer, including a goal to modernize 36 SRC apartments, by updating kitchen and bath interiors and installing new carpet.
Aside from significant renovations to the SRC apartments, an estimated $100,000 will be spent to update Hokona Hall bathroom fixtures, faucets, counter-tops and sinks.
“A second laundry facility is also being added to Hokona Hall to maximize convenience for students,” Call said, “Nearly $100,000 will also be spent for carpet installation, in a number of common areas and many hallways, in Redondo Village apartments and inside study lounges in Alvarado, Santa Ana and Santa Clara Halls.”
Another $400,000 is slated to upgrade fire protection and alarm systems in Santa Ana and Santa Clara residence halls. Attention is not only being given to the residence halls on main campus, but an estimated $125,000 will be used to re-pave and re-stripe Buena Vista Village (formerly Student Family Housing) parking lots and to repair the basketball courts on UNM’s south campus.
Finally, an additional Residence Life and Student Housing furniture project will be completed by spring 2010. Based on a fall 2008 Residence Life survey, 90% of Coronado Hall residents were satisfied or very satisfied, with their new bedroom furniture, first installed last summer.
Based on the high satisfaction rate, the department projects it will spend another $220,000 in updating furnishings for use in common areas and study rooms throughout the residence hall system.
“We want to increase student’s academic achievement and retention to the university. We want our residents to be excited about living on campus.” Call says, “By improving the quality of our facilities and by making them more visually appealing, we are actively serving and promoting student comfort and satisfaction in our on campus residential community.”
Media Contact: Bobby Childers (505) 277-8588. email: childers@unm.edu
New Mexico's economy has long been powered by energy, thanks to the state’s abundant natural and renewable energy resources. But how will New Mexico make the most of its energy potential in the future? That was the question posed at New Mexico First's recent statewide town hall.
This week, “New Mexico in Focus” will take a closer look at some of the recommendations to come out of the event. New Mexico in Focus” will air on KNME-TV, channel 5.1 in Albuquerque on Friday, July 31 at 7 p.m.
(Note: due to the upcoming pledge drive, there will be no Sunday repeat of “New Mexico in Focus”)
Co-host David Alire Garcia will talk about New Mexico’s energy future with Heather Balas, the president and executive director of New Mexico First, Bob Gallagher, the president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, and former secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Jennifer Salisbury.
Then co-host Gene Grant and “The Line” panel will debate the new state revenue forecasts and if that will trigger a special session of the legislature, some good news regarding New Mexico’s kids, and how race has once again become a issue for President Obama. Grant will be joined by regular “The Line” panelists Teresa Cordova and Jim Scarantino, and guest panelists attorney Marco Gonzales and blogger Jon Knudsen.
“New Mexico in Focus” is produced by Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer and closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
In New Mexico asphalt pavement is subjected to tremendous changes in temperature, sometimes as much as forty degrees in the course of a 24 hour cycle. Those temperature changes, combined with the constantly varying traffic loads the pavement must support, are very hard on materials. That is why the NM Department of Transportation is constantly searching for ways to prolong the life of pavement.
UNM Professor of Civil Engineering Rafiqul Tarefder has a contract with the NMDOT to find the best option for a perpetual pavement. The NMDOT defines that as asphalt pavement designed and built to last longer than 50 years without requiring major structural rehabilitation or reconstruction.
Tarefder’s project involves the materials and mechanics of pavement - looking at the layers of asphalt pavement and learning how the aggregate interacts with the asphalt binders, and experimenting with the ways the layers of pavement react to various stresses.
He works with a team at UNM that includes Civil Engineering professors John Stormont and Percy Ng, and Ph.D. student Damien Bateman to understand the kind of stresses that cause the asphalt to crack and deform.
Tarefder believes he can take the information he gets from examining the molecules at the nano scale and model it so that it will work at the micro and macro scale. He hopes to understand how tiny cracks in the pavement begin and grow into big cracks. And he plans to try to find a way to counteract the weakness between atoms that may be at the heart of pavement problems.
Tarefder has another 3-year contract with NMDOT for development and local calibration of advanced materials and distress models and plans to use them in the design of roadway pavements more efficient.
Today NMDOT tries to make pavement last longer by using extremely thick layers of asphalt, but that costs millions of dollars annually. Tarefder says if he can find a way to allow the transportation department to use thinner layers of pavement that can still withstand the constantly changing strains; it will save money for taxpayers. He says building pavement that can stand up to 50 years of traffic, with only minor resurfacing is one of the great infrastructure challenges of the 21st century.
Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; kwent2@unm.edu
The Mind Research Network (MRN) is sponsoring a presentation on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 11:45 AM in MRN’s Large Conference Room. The title of the presentation is “Working memory in schizophrenia: regions, circuits, and genetic network” by Jessica A. Turner, Ph.D. Project Scientist, Dept of Psychiatry and Human Behavior,University of California, Irvine; Project Manager, Functional Imaging Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN)
She will discuss ways functional neuroimaging studies in health and disease have moved beyond the simplest questions (such as which regions are activated by which tasks) and into problems focused on whole brain patterns (i.e. which circuits correlate with each other across the entire brain.)
To address these types of questions, much larger data sets are required which make multi-site studies increasingly important. She will review the methods developed by the Functional Imaging Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN) for calibrating, collecting, processing, and databasing functional neuroimaging data from across multiple collection sites.
The methods and tools developed by FBIRN are now available to the community so large data sets can be systematically produced that are amenable to more sophisticated data analyses. She will present a series of increasingly complex analyses of a single data set: the working memory task used in the FBIRN multi-site schizophrenia study.
The event is free and the public is welcome. For more information about the work of the MRN, http://www.mrn.org/25.html
Students across the United State filled out rankings for their schools in a wide variety of areas for the non-affiliated online survey, The Princeton Review. UNM students cited “research-oriented staff” and “research opportunities available” along with affordability and scholarships as academic indicators. Students also say research can be done with top of the line equipment at nearby Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Labs and other well-known research institutes.
UNM students noted say that “professors are helpful and genuinely interested in your personal success.” Students also agreed that professors are approachable both in class and out and “talk to you and with you and not just at you.”
The students list the “hundreds of great student organizations that provide opportunities for students to know each other.” One student noted that “everyone seems to find their niche.”
The students also underscored diversity as the greatest strength of the student body. One student noted, “no one will ever feel ethnically alone since there are so many different kinds of people.”
The Princeton Review does not do academic rankings. Instead it focuses on other areas of student interest. It is also not affiliated with Princeton University.
The Princeton Review scored UNM low in two areas of “Dorms like Dungeons” and “Long Lines and Red Tape.”
Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627;kwent2@unm.edu
UNM Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics and Astronomy Steve Brueck has been named as a member of the NM Business Weekly’s 2009 Who’s Who in Technology in the category of Technologists. This is the first time the NM Business Weekly has organized a Who's Who in Technology event.
Photo: Steve Brueck
The categories are Entrepreneurs, who create technology companies; Facilitators, who help create connections that lead teach companies to success; Investors, who provide the money to fund innovation; Technologists, who create the innovations; and Corporate, leaders of entities that have created tech jobs on a large scale in New Mexico.
Brueck has been associated with UNM and the Center for High Technology Materials since 1986. He heads a team that is preparing the celebrate the 25th anniversary of CHTM. Brueck holds a number of patents in the area of optical lithography.
Cheryl Willman, director and CEO of the UNM Cancer Center was also named in the category of Technologists. Willman’s research is in the area of childhood leukemia. She has led development of the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center.
Also named by the NM Business Weekly are UNM alumni; Lem Hunter, founder of Mechtronics and Vibrant, Inc. who was named in the Entrepreneur category and Jim McNally of Applied Technology Associates who was named in the Technologists category. Both graduated from the UNM School of Engineering.
Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627;kwent2@unm.edu
Students, staff and faculty can learn to overcome tobacco addiction by participating in the UNM Freedom From Smoking Program, which will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Aug. 4 - 27 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Johnson Center, rm. 120. Cost for the program is $10, which includes a four-week supply of a nicotine patch or gum.
This program was developed by the American Lung Association and features a small group setting; a fun, interactive learning environment; and participant workbook and other informative materials. The program is sponsored by Student Health & Counseling (SHAC), Employee Health Promotion Program (EHPP), and the Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP).
For more information or to register call Jessica at (505) 277-7947. Freedom from Smoking.
Tournament to benefit Mexican students
The University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course will be the site of the Mezquite Scholarship Golf Tournament on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. Tournament registration begins at 11:30 a.m., while the tournament is set to tee off at 1 p.m. The UNM Office of Student Affairs, the Mexican Consulate and the Mezquite Market are sponsoring the tournament.
The first-year tournament is designed to create a special fund at the UNM Foundation that will award scholarships to Mexican students that do not have access to financial aid or other scholarships. The scholarship will be awarded to students with economic needs and high academic achievement. The goal is to support students every year with their studies and to make the scholarship available yearly.
Registration fee for the 18-hole tournament is $500 per team $125 per player, which includes green fees, cart, lunch, beverages, gift bag and a special recognition of appreciation from tournament organizers. Mulligans are also available at $5 each (limit two per player).
Skill prizes include: longest drive, putting contest, closest to the pin, straightest drive, 2nd best shot and longest putt. A hole-in-one contest will also be held on Hole No. 16.
Sponsorship opportunities are currently available at various levels including: Hole sponsor ($250); Silver sponsor ($750); Gold sponsor ($2,000); and Platinum sponsor ($5,000).
For more information on sponsorship opportunities and or registration information, call (505) 277-0952.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
FY ’09 accelerates biomedical research resources and dollars
The HSC Office of Research amassed more than $137.5 million in federal research dollars in FY ’09, its highest research grant funding year ever, despite the overall decrease in federal research dollars since 2006. The $137.5 million represents a 15-percent increase over 2005’s $120 million in research, and a nearly six-fold jump from 1995’s $25 million.
Last year’s research awards supported nearly $60 million in high-tech New Mexico salaries with federal money, according to HSC Vice President for Translational Research Richard Larson, M.D., Ph.D. “As part of our research mission, we are bringing significant new monies, jobs and salaries into New Mexico – rather than tapping state coffers – to resolve local, regional and global health challenges,” Larson points out. “These dollars multiply several times over as they are infused into our local economy.”
Improved grant search and application processes, and stronger and more diverse relationships within the HSC, UNM and outside research communities have led to increased research funding. Approximately half of the $137.5 million was federal money, while the other half came from private organizations, foundations and companies.
“The Health Sciences Center’s research programs are creating high-paying jobs locally that continue to fuel Albuquerque’s and New Mexico’s economic engines,” Larson adds. “More importantly, our research directly addresses New Mexicans coping with debilitating chronic diseases, life-changing catastrophic accidents, and effective preventive health measures.”
Media Contact: Luke Frank, (505) 272-3679; e-mail: lfrank@salud.unm.edu
The Latin America Data Base (LADB) is the longest running, exclusively on-line English language analytical news digest about Latin America. LADB produces three weekly electronic publications (Sourcemex, NotiCen and NotiSur) and maintains a searchable on-line data base, with over 24,000 articles as well as Latin American journals.
LADB was established at UNM as a unit of the Latin American and Iberian Institute in 1986 and it has been on the Web since 1996. LADB's highly experienced professional journalists collect source material from Latin America in Spanish and write weekly bulletins in English, placing events in context and highlighting key developments.
UNM faculty, staff, and students may subscribe to LADB at no cost.
To subscribe visit: Latin America Data Base.
The last time the city of Albuquerque had a new mayor, Bill Clinton was in the White House, and Gary Johnson was walking the halls of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Martin Chavez has run city hall for the last 12 years, but he says the job is far from finished. On this week’s “New Mexico in Focus” co-host David Alire Garcia and Mayor Chavez will have a candid conversation about Chavez’s unprecedented run for a fourth term in office, plus what his top priorities would be if he is re-elected.
Garcia will also referee a debate on health care between two New Mexico experts from opposite sides of the debate. Joining Garcia will be health care expert Carol Miller and Paul Gessing, the president of the Rio Grande Foundation.
“New Mexico in Focus” will air on KNME-TV, channel 5.1 in Albuquerque on Friday, July 24 at 7 p.m. and repeat on Sunday, July 26 at 6:30 am.
Then co-host Gene Grant and “The Line” panel will weigh in on other top news stories this week. Grant will be joined by Whitney Waite Cheshire, Jim Scarantino, University of New Mexico Professor Teresa Cordova and UNM Professor Margaret Montoya.
“New Mexico in Focus” is produced by Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer and closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
For UNM faculty, staff and students, it’s no secret that Web sites are the go-to communication hubs for those wanting and needing instant information. Most of the UNM community can be found in front of a computer, e-mailing, searching the internet or catching up on current events.
Written articles, calendar events, blogs and photo galleries seem to be the common Web site staples, but with popular sites, like YouTube, online video consumption is on the rise.
To keep up with this demand, the UNM Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC) has introduced HSC-TV, an online video program that focuses on the research and healthcare currently happening at the HSC.
“In this age of marketing and communication, interactive media is not a luxury, but a necessity,” said Melissa Romine, marketing and outreach officer at the HSC. “It’s important that our audience feel like they are right there experiencing the story. Having HSC-TV allows us to not only tell our stories, but visually communicate the emotional side of all the very important things that are going on here in the HSC community.”
John Arnold, multimedia development specialist at the HSC, is the eye behind the camera. A former TV news reporter, Arnold has an extensive background in camera operation and editing.
“Online video can be such an effective communications tool for large and complex institutions like the HSC,” said Arnold. “Compelling video and sound can add dimension to stories and Web sites that can’t always be conveyed in a still photo or the printed word.”
Arnold just finished a piece on a UNM Center for Development and Disability autism program called Camp Rising Sun. The camp, set in the East Mountains and the only summer camp in New Mexico for children with autism, not only gave Arnold a scenic backdrop, but also gave him plenty of compelling interviews with campers, counselors and several other support staff.
“When first approached for a HSC-TV feature, I immediately thought it would be a great idea,” said Laura White, founder and director of Camp Rising Sun. “We are new to the UNM Center for Development and Disability and to UNM in general. I thought this would be a great way to introduce our program to those at UNM who have never heard of the camp.”
“That is the goal of HSC-TV, to open windows for the UNM community to certain worlds that they may not be aware are here on campus,” said Romine. “With so much information coming from every direction, the HSC-TV program aims to package interesting stories and important information that are easily accessible. It’s been a nice addition and we hope to keep building upon this program.”
To view the current HSC-TV feature and past features visit: HSC-TV.
Media Contact: Lauren Cruse, (505) 272-3690; e-mail: lcruse@salud.unm.edu
The University of New Mexico’s Alumni Association and Parent Association are partnering to host “Summer Sendoffs” Saturday, Aug. 1, in six New Mexico cities and towns and at one location in Colorado.
Designed to celebrate freshman acceptance to UNM for the fall semester, Summer Sendoffs will be held in Las Cruces, Roswell, Clovis, Farmington, Santa Fe, Gallup and Colorado Springs.
New UNM students and parents will have an opportunity to meet families in their area and mingle with experienced UNM representatives, alumni, parents and students who can serve as a support network back home and on campus. Each student receives a gift. Door prizes and refreshments are also part of the festivities.
Registration by Monday, July 27, is required for the free event. To RSVP and for more information on the event time and location visit: UNM Alumni.
This is the first year UNM is hosting a sendoff outside of the state. Colorado and New Mexico have maintained a Tuition Reciprocity Agreement since 1985. The purpose of the agreement is to allow eligible students from New Mexico to enroll at designated Colorado institutions of higher education at in-state tuition rates and an equal number of eligible students from Colorado to do the same at New Mexico institutions.
Associate Professors Trish Henning and Rhian Jones, Physics & Astronomy and Earth & Planetary Sciences respectively, are two of the many female scientists participating in “She is an Astronomer," a free public astronomy event for girls aged 8 to 18. The event will take place on Sunday, Aug. 9, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Open Space Visitor Center on Albuquerque's west side. No pre-registration is required.
"She is an Astronomer" will feature a variety of hands-on science activities and demonstrations, planetarium shows every half hour, and, weather permitting, safe telescope viewing of the Sun. Some of New Mexico's top female astronomers and scientists, including Henning and Jones, will staff activity stations and interact with the girls.
Henning is Director of UNM’s Institute for Astrophysics. Her research areas include extragalactic astronomy, radio astronomy, galaxy clusters and superclusters, and material content of cosmic voids. Jones is an expert on chrondrites, meteorites containing material dating to the origin of the solar system. She is the former curator of UNM's Institute of Meteoritics, which includes the Meteorite Museum.
To underscore the event theme, "Astronomy is Women's Work," activities will include: "Doing Dishes" (radio astronomy); "Looking in the Mirror" (optical astronomy); "Cooking Light" (astrophotography, the spectrum); "Applying Mineral Make-up" (planetary geology, meteoritics, astrobiology); and "Sweeping the Universe" (sky surveys, building models of the universe). Girls who visit all of these activity stations will receive an astronomy-related keepsake.
Event sponsors are the National Radio Astronomy Observatory-Very Large Array and The Albuquerque Astronomical Society, working in partnership with the City of Albuquerque’s Open Space Division and the Explora Science Center.
"She is an Astronomer" is a global project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA). Initiated by the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations, IYA is the quadricentennial celebration of Galileo's first use of a telescope for astronomy.
For event information and directions visit: Astronomy Workshops or call (505) 261-0040.
For more information visit: 2009 International Year of Astronomy.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
This summer, the University of New Mexico is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Center of High Technology Materials, and pausing to think about what happened when the New Mexico legislature chose to gamble on an investment in New Mexico’s future. In 1983, lawmakers chose of gamble on setting up five Centers for Technical Excellence. As part of that initiative they appropriated $1.65 million to UNM to set up the Center for High Technology Materials at UNM.
In the beginning, the objectives of the center were to do research in electrical and optical devices, enhance interactions between UNM, the federal laboratories and industry, and promote economic development within New Mexico. CHTM is set up to function as a laboratory for students who receive degrees from various departments, but who work with faculty whose research is carried out at the center.
Steve Brueck has been the director of CHTM since 1986. Highly regarded in his field, Brueck is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Optical Society of America.
But it is the students he works with who interest him the most. “I am most proud of the students that we have turned out. We’ve had somewhere between 350 and 400 students that have gotten advanced degrees,” he says. “And that’s a pretty significant accomplishment.” Brueck says about 200 former students still live in the Albuquerque area, working at local companies, or Sandia National Laboratories or Intel.
The Center is located in the university’s research park on the south campus and occupies two buildings. It is completely occupied now and Brueck is looking for ways to expand. Fifteen faculty members currently work with the center, along with another fifteen research faculty members. Staff and post-docs are also based there along with ten technical staff members, sixty graduate students and six undergraduate students.
Through the years CHTM has expanded its research portfolio and strengthened its support of the educational mission of the university. A well rounded research center, such as CHTM, often serves as a catalyst to bring in change to what is taught at how it is taught at a university.
Today CHTM works with interdisciplinary programs such as Optical Science and Engineering (OSE) and Nano Science and Micro Systems (NSMS). This allows students to draw from the expertise of different faculty members and provide a wide breadth to their training undergraduate students.
Research at the center is basic science, making the fundamental discoveries needed to support the development of technologies. Since the founding of the Center, researchers at CHTM have been awarded 65 patents, and research done there has spun off into 8 companies, many of which have been absorbed by larger companies.
The primary focus is still in the areas of electrical and optical research, but that has expanded and researchers now spend their days exploring the outer edge of known science in areas such as quantum dots and quantum wells. Quantum dots are small three-dimensional groups of atoms that have molecule-like optical properties. Quantum wells confine particles to two dimensions and are used in diode lasers and infrared imaging.
Another major new direction is the application of the nonoscale fabrication technologies, originally developed for the semiconductor industry, to biological science. The small scale of the structures made at CHTM provides new physics, and enables new biology. For example, proteins or enzymes in blood behave differently when they are pushed to flow through channels whose width is measured in nanometers, and researchers have opportunities to use those changes in physical behavior of the particles to improve diagnostic tools.
Optics Research
CHTM work forms the hardware layer of information technology. Companies searching for ways to make computers smaller and more powerful use the research done by CHTM and others. Brueck says computer chip makers once strongly resisted putting water into their products during the lithographic process that defines the ever small transistor structures even though research at the Center showed that was one of the few options they had to improve the performance of computer chips. Now all the newer computers use the technology.
Brueck himself has been at the forefront of this research, and is internationally recognized as one of the few researchers who understand how to stretch silicon based technology to increase the manufacturing life cycle for silicon based computer chips.
He specializes in improving lithography techniques and his work with SEMATECH has provided the cutting edge research that allows computer companies to continue building smaller and more powerful computers. Brueck’s work on double patterning is leading the way to the manufacturing technique used for the coming generation of computer chips.
Another Brueck project in collaboration with scientists at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories has led to a very high speed optical modulator that’s 10-thousand times faster than the ones currently in use in the telecommunications industry. That may have major implications for simplifying the transmission of information.
Nanofluidics
Brueck’s research in nanofluidics also has great potential. CHTM can now build channels on a scale of tens of nanometers, a size that changes the dynamics of screening for specific things in fluids and could have implications for the way DNA analysis is done.
Directed Self Assembly
Remember the children’s game with a clown’s face that you tilted to roll small metal spheres into the eyes and mouth? Brueck and his team can do that with millions and billions of 50 nanometer balls that he can maneuver into channels and stack the balls on top of each other into porous walls. The walls could then filter bits of material. This technique is so new they’ve just begun to explore possible ways it can be used.
Infrared Detectors
The military has always been interested in using infrared detectors, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research has just given CHTM about a million dollars for a new molecular beam epitaxy machine. Researchers at CHTM use it to precisely grow crystals atom by atom to prove the technology for sensitive detectors.
Current research at CHTM by Electrical and Computing Engineering Professors Sanjay Krishna and Majeed Hayat allows a camera to photograph thermal photons emitted from objects. The military uses the technology to identify people and objects in the dark. Civilian use includes machines that can detect heat coming from homes for energy audits.
Nanowires
Electrical and Computing Engineering Professor Steve Hersee is growing nanowires, by setting up masks and allowing the wires to grow through them. Hersee is excited about that because the technique eliminates many defects that are common in nanowires. The nanowires may eventually be used to make efficiency improvements in LED lighting.
Microscopy
Hersee is also working on a project with the Wadsworth institute in New York State. He is developing a more controllable light source for microscopes that may allow automation in reading routine health test results, freeing technicians to concentrate on unusual results that need more attention. The idea is to make diagnosis quicker and more consistent for patients.
In another project, Brueck is extending some of the ideas developed for lithography to microscopy and has demonstrated a resolution beyond the classical diffraction limit.
Most research now underway at CHTM involves more than one discipline. Brueck says, “It comes out of being an active research group with different people contributing different ideas, which is what science is all about. That’s what makes the center so exciting is that you have this multiplicity of different inputs.”
Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Aggressive recruiting, support programs for underserved areas finding success
Twice as many Native Americans were accepted into UNM’s School of Medicine (SOM) in 2009 than in any previous class. Although most are from the Southwest, including the Navajo Nation and Santa Domingo Pueblo, there also are students who are Lakota Sioux and Choctaw. Five of the nine accepted students graduated from New Mexico high schools; three attended UNM as undergraduates; and two have accepted full School of Medicine tuition scholarships. More than half of the new SOM students had received offers from other medical schools.
“We have nine Native American students prepared to matriculate into the School of Medicine this summer,” reports David Bear, Ph.D., SOM assistant dean for admissions. “That’s more than double the number for any other year, and exceeds all UNM SOM Native American enrollment in the previous four years.”
Over the past four years, the SOM has aggressively developed programs to attract minority students from medically underserved areas of New Mexico. Students in rural areas are more likely to return and practice medicine in their communities, thus creating new points of health care access where most needed in the state. Special UNM scholarships for students in underserved areas, programs to prepare for and elevate MCAT scores, and overall support for academic success were cited as reasons for this year’s increase in Native American enrollment.
“Our recruiting of underserved-area minority students through culturally sensitive outreach and strong academic support appears to be succeeding,” Bear adds. “Under (SOM Dean) Dr. Paul Roth’s vision, and the vital work of Dr. Valerie Romero-Leggott, vice president for Diversity, and Dr. Gayle Dine’ Chacon, vice president for Native American Health, we are better able to recruit and develop students who historically might not have had access to advanced mathematics or sophisticated academic laboratories in their student careers.”
For more information on SOM admissions and special programs, please visit HSC Admissions.
Media Contact: Luke Frank, (505) 272-3679; e-mail: lfrank@salud.unm.edu
The annual APS/UNM School Supplies Drive will culminate in a distribution event held at University Stadium on Saturday, July 25 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. UNM alumni volunteers and student athletes will be on hand to help distribute thousands of packs filled with school supplies, as well as meet and greet the students and their families.
The UNM Alumni Association thanks those alumni who participated in raising funds for this year’s annual APS/UNM School Supplies Drive. Thanks to the many generous donations, the Alumni Association raised $3,200. The Alumni Association felt this cause not only fit into its core values of giving back to the community, but was deeply moved by the needs of families during these tough economic times. Each contribution will significantly impact the success of our Albuquerque area students.
Look for more opportunities for continued support of UNM and the Alumni Association’s civic engagement programs in the weeks to come. The Alumni Association will be placing bins around campus to collect supplies to continue aiding in the success of our “future LOBOS.”
For more information call Roberta Ricci in the Alumni Relations Office at, (505) 277-9085 or via e-mail, abqricci@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
For kids, summer means a break from school, a chance to play with friends and maybe get into a little trouble. But for parents, summer break is everything but a relaxing, long vacation. Many parents have to scramble for safe, affordable, accessible childcare every summer. The University of New Mexico offers a slate of summer activities to parents for children with a variety of talents.
Active children enjoyed the Recreational Activities Day Camp, or RAD Camp, a two-week activity camp hosted by UNM Recreational Services for kids 7-13. Activities include volleyball, arts and crafts, field trips, scavenger hunts, badminton, softball and more.
“The camp was started so that UNM students, faculty and staff with children could have a place for their children to go during the summer months,” said Lisa Romero, RAD Camp coordinator. “It’s a great way for a child to spend his or her summer. These campers build friendships that are long lasting.”
Parents who want their children to continue their education during the summer signed them up for the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology Children’s Summer Camp. Children ages 8-12 can enjoy a variety of educational programs offered by the museum, such as “Music from Around the World,” “Skulls and Skills,” “Making a Living the Ancient Way,” “Spanish Colonial Life and Arts” and “Archaeology.”
“This program has been going on for seven years or more to address a need in the community,” said Amy Grochowski, camp director. “Parents are looking for an opportunity that allows their kids to learn during the summer.”
She said the program is a great opportunity for kids to be exposed to cultures they may not be familiar with.
Parents who wished to explore their children’s music talents participated in the UNM Music Prep School Opera Camp. Programs for children ages 5-7 or 8 and up included singing time, theater and movement games.
“We first started this program in the fall of 1993, when the music program was [virtually] eliminated from the public elementary schools in the area,” said Diane Bonnell, director of the Music Prep School.
Bonnell said with the high cost of private music lessons, many children miss out on the joys of music. The Music Prep School offers a solid music foundation at a lower price.
Children with special needs joined the Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation’s Beyond Limits Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp, open to youth ages 7-18 who have physical disabilities.
“We started the camp in 2001 to give youth with physical disabilities opportunities to try sports that they usually don’t have much access to,” said Mary Beth Schubauer, Beyond Limits sports coordinator. “There are no other programs like this available in New Mexico for youth with physical disabilities. It offers young people an opportunity not only to learn the rules of competitive and recreational sports, but also to meet other people like themselves.”
UNM also offered a free educational sports program for disadvantaged youth ages 9-14 called the Summer Youth Sports Program. SYSP activities include swimming, tennis, basketball and soccer, as well as nutrition and personal health education.
“The SYSP program first came to UNM over 35 years ago as a federally funded program,” said Gloria Napper-Owen, project administrator for UNM SYSP. “We continue to be committed to this summer program because of our goal to provide a safe, well-designed instructional and physical activity program for children who may not be able to afford other opportunities.”
Children’s summer programs at UNM are announced each spring at UNM Today.
Story by Jazmen Bradford
UNM computer science doctoral student Hairong Lei recently served as software session chair for the 2009 International Conference on New Trends in Information and Service Science. He also presented “Software’s Eight Essentials.” The proceedings will be published by IEEE’s Computer Science series.
Photo: Hairong Lei
Lei’s recent publications include “Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction Using Single Class SVM” and “Modular High-Speed Adaptive Optics System.” He is working with Joe Kniss, UNM assistant professor in computer science, on “Supervised Manifold Distance Segmentation.” Lei received master’s degrees from Utah State University and Beijing Institute of Technology.
Tickets for the 2009 UNM Staff Picnic are now on sale. Tickets are $5 and include all-day access to the Rio Grande Zoo, Botanical Gardens and Aquarium and to the picnic at the zoo from 6:30-9:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 1. To purchase tickets, staff must show a Lobo ID. There is no limit on the number of tickets each person may purchase. Tickets will be available at a number of locations throughout campus.
Faculty/staff may purchase tickets at the main campus Bookstore Ticket Sales Office, north campus Cashier’s Office at the Basic Medical Sciences Building (cash or check only), south campus Student Support and Services Center Ticket Sales Office, Physical Plant Department Administrative building (cash or check only), Valencia campus Cashier’s Office, Taos campus Bookstore, Gallup campus Cashier’s Office and Los Alamos campus Cashier’s Office.
The zoo and biopark open at 9 a.m. All staff and guests must wear the ticket/wristband for access to all venues. At 6 p.m., the zoo closes to the public. Staff and guests already inside may remain. Doors reopen for the picnic at 6:30 p.m. Face-painting, chair massages and live music begin at 7 p.m. Door prizes will be awarded at 8:45 p.m.
Shuttle service is not available this year. Tickets for the Biopark Train are not included. Train tickets are $2 for adults, $1 for children under 13. Staff are advised to park at the zoo, as the biopark trains stop running at 6 p.m.
Coolers will not be allowed in the biopark. A zoo concession stand will be open, in addition to the dinner included with picnic tickets. For information on the zoo and biopark visit: Albuquerque BioPark.
The annual Staff Picnic is organized by the Staff Council Rewards and Recognition Committee. For more information visit: Staff Council.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1583; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor Yemane Asmerom and Sr. Research Scientist Victor Polyak will be featured on the National Geographic program “Naked Science: How the West Was Made.” Asmerom’s and Polyak’s research on the Grand Canyon will be featured as part of the program, “The show will broadcast on the National Geographic Channel (NGC) on Sunday, July 19 at 8 a.m. Mountain.
Also, Ryan Crow, a graduate student working with Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor Karl Karlstrom, is also part of the research to be featured.
Based on brand new research, this National Geographic documentary sheds light on catastrophic and gradual geological events that shaped the American West’s most iconic landscapes, and reveals new theories about the forgotten knowledge of its first inhabitants and how the future of the West might be predicted by the landscape of Mars.
How the West Was Made investigates catastrophic events: a mega-flood that gouged out the Washington Scablands with a thundering 500 cubic miles of water 2000 feet deep, scouring out the features we see today; the biggest known volcanic eruption this planet has ever witnessed spewing out a vast 1,200 cubic miles of volcanic ash around the San Juan range of the Rocky Mountains and ejecting ash into the atmosphere that circled the world several times; and the gradual wind erosion of Monument Valley which has an uncanny resemblance to the dusty planet Mars.
Is our future bound for same fate as the red planet? Read more at: "Naked Science: How the West Was Made".
The University of New Mexico Alumni Lettermen’s Association will award 24 scholarships for the 2009-10 academic year. The George Brooks Fifth-Year Scholarship, renamed after former UNM ski coach and letterman George Brooks, and the Ralph C. Youngberg Memorial Scholarship will assist athletes to complete their undergraduate education at UNM.
The primary purpose of the UNM Alumni Lettermen’s Association is to provide scholarships to fifth-year student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility but need to complete their undergraduate education. The following student-athletes will receive financial assistance to earn their degrees from UNM:
* Mike Brownstein, Clinton Cox, Daniel Grubbs, Dane Hamilton, Jon Hesketh and Will Kerr, baseball
* Guillermo Chavez and Steve Saunders, men’s golf
* Casey Dyck, men’s skiing
* Chris Wright, men’s soccer
* Miles Bugby, Graeme Kassautzki and Johnny Parkes, men’s tennis
* Anthony Fairbanks, men’s track
* Samantha Hughes, softball
* Jeanne Fairchild and Sarah Kwasigroch, volleyball
* Mikaela Backstedt and Morgan Grantham, women’s golf
* Karin Ohlin, women’s skiing
* Hannah Hand, Kaci Paetz and Krista Peterson, women’s soccer
* Maria Sotirchos, women’s tennis
“The UNM Alumni Lettermen’s Association is proud to be in a position to offer awards annually. Thanks to all our dues paying members, we will award 24 scholarships. We are proud of the accomplishments of the student-athletes at UNM; they embody the ideal student-athlete,” said Rick Ronquillo, Chair of the Scholarship Committee.
Long-time artist Edward Goettler is having a one-man show of his work at the Masley Art Gallery beginning Friday, July 17. The show titled, “An American Art Experience,” continues through Sept. 4, 2009.
“The farther west we drove, the more Pop everything we looked on the highways. Suddenly we all felt like insiders because even though Pop was everywhere-that was the thing about it, most people still took it for granted, whereas we were dazzled by-it-to-us, it was the new Art. Once you “got” Pop, you could never see a sign the same way again. I was lying on the mattress in the back of our station wagon looking up at the lights and wires and telephone poles zipping by, and the stars and the blue-black sky, and thinking – I didn’t ever want to live anyplace where you couldn’t drive down the road and see drive-ins and giant ice cream cones and walk-in hotdogs and motel signs flashing.”
– Andy Warhol, Driving with friends from N.Y. to Hollywood in the fall of 1963
The exhibit attempts to express Goettler’s reflections on some of the most important occasions of his American Art Experience including events that have caused great hope, joy and concern for the future of this great nation. Many of Goettler’s works are expressed as icons, symbols on occasions of great and or great concern, and many noteworthy for the shear folly and joy of the experience.
Gayle Diné Chacon, director of the Center for Native American Health at UNM, will deliver the opening remarks at the Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools Health is Life in Balance Train-the-Trainer Summer Institute, Monday, July 20-Wednesday, July 22 at the Homewood Suites by Hilton, Albuquerque Uptown, 7101 Arvada Ave NE.
Photo: Gayle Diné Chacon
Chacon joins Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute and leading Native American educators to prevent type 2 diabetes through early education. Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult onset diabetes, has become increasingly prevalent among children and adolescents as rates of overweight and obesity rise. A Center for Disease Control study estimated that one in three American children born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
The DETS Health is Life in Balance type 2 diabetes K-12 curriculum aims to curtail diabetes at an early age, especially among Native Americans. Diabetes is almost three times more common among Native American populations.
The curriculum is endorsed by the National Congress of American Indians, which represents more than 250 tribal nations throughout the United States. An evaluation of the curriculum, involving 1,519 students and 63 teachers across the country, showed student achievement gains at elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as an increased interest in science careers.
The curriculum is available for free to all teachers of Native American children in hard copy and online. Call the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute at (505) 453-4437 or visit Diabetes Education or SIPI Diabetes Outreach.
New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera will be a guest lecturer in the ITV course PA 523, State and Local Government on Monday, July 20 at 7 p.m. Herrera will address what it is like to work at the intersection of federal, state, and local policy, program and constituency demands. Additionally, she will also address the challenge of public communications, through various means including the media.
Photo: Secretary of State Mary Herrera
The class will meet in Woodward Hall 149 and will also be available via distance learning sites and video on demand at: Guest Lecturer Mary Herrera. The class is open to UNM students, regardless of major.
The University Communication and Marketing Department has won a gold medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for the commercial “Be a Lobo. Be Yourself.” The international award is in the category of Video PSAs and Commercial Spots: Traditional Video, DVD, DC or Film.”
You can view more information about the competition at: CASE Awards.
“We decided to go with a completely innovative approach to the traditional institutional spot. The message that UNM is a place where one can be an individual while also being a part of the pack is a powerful one,” said Cinnamon Blair, marketing director. “What UNM offers to its students as well as the larger University community is a unique blend of education, geography, people and culture not found at other more conventional institutions.”
The commercial spot is part of an institutional branding initiative for UNM that will be rolled out later this year. The University has worked with a local advertising agency McKee, Wallwork Cleveland to develop the brand over the last two years.
To view the award-winning spot visit: Be a Lobo. Be Yourself.
The Anderson School of Management’s Department of Finance, International and Technology Management, and Entrepreneurship recently hosted 26 Executive MBA students from the Fundação Centro de Análise, Pesquisa e Inovação Tecnológica (FUCAPI), a university devoted to technological analysis, research, and innovation in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
This year’s visit marked the seventh year that Anderson has hosted students from Brazil’s MBA programs, strengthening cross-cultural ties and enhancing relationships that foster international management, technology management, and economic development capacities at both FUCAPI and Anderson.
Provost Suzanne Ortega welcomed the students at a dinner held in their honor at the Hibben Center for Archaeological Research. They also participated in daily seminars taught by Anderson School faculty including Raul Gouvêa, Sul Kassicieh, Steve Walsh, Raj Mahto, Ward Hickey, Howard Kraye, Sandy Sanzero (Sandia Labs), and John Brown (Mesa Capital and Sandia Capital Partners).
For a full day, the Brazilian guests took part in comprehensive tours of firms in the local community to learn firsthand about technological business operations. CEO Ned Godshall shared his insights at Altela, a high-tech startup firm specializing in purifying water discharged from oil and gas drilling operations.
Additionally, CEO Bob Sachs led a tour of TEAM Technologies, an Albuquerque engineering and manufacturing firm which serves the needs of high-tech ventures. Fully engaged in the learning process, FUCAPI students kept the two technology entrepreneurs busy answering questions about every aspect of their successful firms.
Applications being accepted for Fall 2009
The Provost’s Committee for Staff (PCS) is seeking scholarship applicants for its Staff Academic Support Scholarship for the Fall 2009 semester. The scholarship, in its fourth year, is designed to help support staff who utilizes their tuition remission benefit. This is an opportunity for UNM staff to apply for limited financial support to be used to help cover the cost of academic books, course fees and supplies. The fall deadline is Aug. 10 at 5 p.m.
Eligibility requirements include: course(s) must be used toward degree or certificate completion or professional development; passed UNM Employment Probationary Status; Be at least a .50 FTE UNM employee; Must have a “Meet expectations” or better on most recent Performance Review. Three $250 scholarships will be awarded.
Application guidelines include a completed application form, available online, and a statement outlining academic path and benefit of these funds towards your academic degree. Applications for the Fall 2009 Staff Scholarship are now being accepted. For more information visit: Fall 2009 Staff Scholarship.
For more information contact Lina Sandve at 277-1516 or via e-mail at:
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
UNM Biology Department to have major presence at conference
Registration is now open to the press for the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) 94th Annual Meeting, which will be held Aug. 2-7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The meeting will include more than 3,500 scientists, students and educators, and will center around the theme, “Ecological Knowledge and a Global Sustainable Society.”
The scientific program will feature 24 symposia, 180 oral sessions, 95 poster sessions and host of special sessions and workshops. Field trips, which are open to all meeting registrants, will explore habitats and cultures unique to New Mexico.
The meeting program is available online in searchable format at 2009 Technical Program. Please note that all abstracts are embargoed until 12 a.m. Mountain Time the day of their presentation.
To register for the meeting, contact Christine Buckley at christine@esa.org or 202 833-8773 ext. 211. The deadline to register for field trips and workshops is June 30.
Highlights from the program include:
Plenary addresses:
· Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project
Opening plenary: “Strategies to sustain earth's freshwater ecosystems”
· Monica Turner, University of Wisconsin Madison
Scientific plenary: “Disturbance and landscape dynamics in a changing world”
Scientific sessions:
· limate change science and its role in conservation planning
· Warfare ecology: an agenda for an emerging sub-field
· Special series on global biogeochemical cycles
· Integrating science and policy for watershed sustainability
· What should ecology education look like in the year 2020?
Field trip highlights include:
· Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Jemez mountains
· El Malpais National Monument: Extremophiles and life in “lava tubes”
· Traditional corn dances in the Jemez Pueblo community
· Raptor viewing with HawkWatch International
· Forest restoration, fire, and water: Ecology of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Newsroom operation
Members of the press are exempt from registration fees and may attend all meeting sessions. A staffed press room will be available, including internet access, computers, a printer, telephones and an interview area.
ESA Policy on Press Credentials
We will waive registration for reporters with a recognized press card. Registration is also waived for current members of the National Association of Science Writers, the Canadian Science Writers Association, the International Science Writers Association and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
We do not waive registration for editors of peer-reviewed journals, ad sales representatives, publishers, program officers or marketing professionals.
Institutional Press Officers
Press officers may request copies of all abstracts related to their institution. ESA will distribute any relevant press releases in the Annual Meeting press room. Please contact Christine Buckley for more information.
Media Contacts: Christine Buckley, (202) 833-8773; e-mail: christine@esa.org or Nadine Lymn (202) 833-8773 x 205; e-mail: nadine@esa.org
This week, U.S. House Democrats unveiled their new health care overhaul plan on Capitol Hill. What impact will these reforms have on New Mexico? On this week’s episode of “New Mexico in Focus,” “New Mexico In Focus,” KNME-TV’s weekly hour-long public affairs show airing on Friday, July 17 on KNME-TV channel 5.1 and repeating on Sunday, July 19 at 6:30 a.m., co-host David Alire Garcia will discuss this potential impact with state senator Dede Feldman.
Feldman, a longtime advocate for health care reform, recently spent time in Washington D.C. discussing her efforts with members of the White House.
“New Mexico in Focus” also continues its series of one-on-one conversations with Albuquerque’s mayoral candidates. This week Garcia talks with R.J. Berry about his plans for the Duke City.
Then, Gene Grant and this week’s “The Line” panelists - Whitney Waite Cheshire, Teresa Cordova, Margaret Montoya and Jim Scarantino - will debate the following topics:
• The Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings
• The State's Efforts To Battle Drunk Driving
• The Potential For New Mexico's Commuter Train To Go High Speed
“New Mexico in Focus” is produced by Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer and closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
Students and faculty can anticipate significant visible changes to IT systems and services in the areas below upon their return to campus in August. More than 10 projects in the areas of Student and Instructional Services, Network and Security, and Application Services, all designed to improve and enhance usability, have been in the works throughout the summer.
Student and Instructional Services...
Classroom Modernization
Besides the Mitchell Hall remodel in progress, IT and Media Technology Services are bringing technical improvements to centrally-scheduled classrooms this fall: Built-in audio-visual equipment and instructor lecterns feature laptop connections to high-definition projectors, wireless connectivity, projector controls, audio speakers, electric screens and central management of AV equipment with remote technical support. For more visit: Classroom Modernization
Computer Pod Upgrades
Approximately 200 new Windows machines will be upgraded between Summer 2009 and Spring Semester 2010. This upgrade will enable all the Pods to move to Vista with a centrally-managed image. The latest version of Microsoft Office Suite will be implemented in both Macintosh and Windows environments. This version is downward compatible to accommodate older document versions students may have. For more visit: Computer Pods.
Web Mail Performance
Servers and software that underlie UNM Web Mail, used by students especially, are being increased, upgraded and tuned almost 5-years to the day from original implementation. webmail.unm.edu users can expect to experience improved response time and availability when they use Web Mail. For project information visit: Web Mail or contact Steve Spence, zurn@unm.edu.
Survey and Election Tool Upgrade
The product used for surveys and elections (Opinio), has been upgraded and patched to eliminate duplicate mailings. Surveys & Questionnaires (Opinio) or Elections.
Test Scoring Print Charges
Automatically scanned and scored test results are e-mailed to the instructor for free. Charges for printing test results are new this year to recover the costs of printing. Fees, when set, may be found in the IT Service Catalog at: Print Charges.
Network and Security...
Wireless Enhancements
IT is improving campus wireless coverage at the Duck Pond, in some dorms and in almost all centrally-scheduled classrooms, including Dane Smith, Ortega, Education, and Sara Reynolds Halls, over the summer to meet the growing demand for access to the network by devices that students bring to campus.
This will be accomplished by adding access points to increase coverage and capacity. Wireless expansion is also continuing in buildings and
classrooms across campus as budget allows. For more information about the project visit: ITS Wireless or contact Mark Reynolds at, reynolds@unm.edu.
Network Sign-In
When students return to campus this fall, NetID and password authentication from a browser will be required for access to the UNM wireless network, Lobo-WiFi, as well as the wired network in Student Housing. Network Access Control brings a new level of security to the UNM network. Remember to open a browser to access network services. For more information visit: Network Access Control
NetID Password Strengthening
UNM systems are being modified this summer to support longer passwords and more special characters. This is the first of many steps to improve security by making passwords harder to guess. The new rules will apply to newly-created NetIDs. The rest of the UNM community will acclimate as passwords expire. For more information visit: NetID Passwords
Software Licensing Services
Microsoft Operating System and Office Suite for Employees and Departments
Departments, staff and faculty can purchase MS Vista and Office for Windows and Macintosh systems at an extremely low price under the new MS Campus Agreement, thanks to IT negotiating and underwriting an agreement with Microsoft that benefits the whole UNM community. Personal purchase is available from the UNM Bookstore for $10 per copy, and departmental purchases can be made from the Software Distribution Department for $5 per copy. For more information visit: Software Distribution Department.
Symantec Antivirus available for all UNM Students, Staff and Faculty
IT has purchased licensing for Symantec Antivirus for the benefit of all employees and students. Students, Faculty and Staff can download it for free from the IT download page, after signing in with a UNM NetID and password. Departments can purchase discs from Software Distribution with a departmental Purchase Request for $5. For more information visit: Software Distribution.
Application Services...
Federal Race and Ethnicity Codes Compliance Project
More than 60 offices across five UNM campuses and the UNM Hospital are involved in making changes to hundreds of forms, systems, and reports as part of the University's response to Federal regulation changes concerning race and ethnicity information.
As part of the effort, IT will be updating Banner to bring it into compliance with the new regulations and to prepare it to receive data from forms which will begin collecting the new information in early August. A census is planned in early 2010 to allow all students, faculty, and staff to update their race and ethnicity information. Contact Linda Johansen, lsj@unm.edu, for project information.
Banner ERP Reporting Improvements
The product used for reporting (Hyperion) is upgraded to version 8.5. The plug-in is available after authentication with a NetID and password at: Hyperion Version 8.5, while Reporting Business Support has information about reporting services.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
World-renowned physician Hunter “Patch” Adams will be speaking at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Domenici Center on Thursday, July 16 at 1 p.m. After his presentation Adams, trained as a clown as well as a doctor, will be visiting sick children at UNM Hospital. Convinced that laughter and creativity are very important to health care and a person’s overall health, Patch Adams has spent over 30 years working as an advocate to change the way America looks at health care.
Photo: Hunter "Patch" Adams
Adams helped found the “Gesundheit!” Institute in West Virginia to examine ways to integrate traditional medical care with alternative forms of medicine, including holistic medicine, acupuncture and more. In 12 years Adams and his collaborators in the institute have worked with more than 15,000 patients and Adams devoted his life to studying what makes people happy and how that impacts their health.
Given the current success of the institute, planning for a new health-care facility on 310 acres in West Virginia has begun. The new facility will include a 40-bed hospital, a theater, arts and crafts shops, horticulture and vocational therapy.
Adams was the inspiration for the film that carried his name, “Patch Adams,” with Academy Award winning actor Robin Williams playing the role of the doctor.
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu
Matthew McDuffie, an instructor in the Dramatic Writing Program at the University of New Mexico and a professional screenwriter who has written for HBO, Showtime, Warner Brothers, and the producers of ER, Capote and Six Feet Under, will lead a series of intimate one-day workshops for filmmakers and storytellers who are determined to create stronger stories, characters and commercially viable screenplays.
The classes, scheduled for July 18 and 25, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at KNME Studios, will cover the mechanics of plot and the development of each participant’s storyline. Individuals are encouraged to bring in ideas or existing work. The goal is to have a complete outline by the end of the day.
Bonnie Curtis, producer of “Saving Private Ryan” and “Minority Report,” said, “Matthew is a passionate storyteller. He lives for it. He understands that the problem solving and puzzle-making of good story is to serve emotion and character, and ultimately the audience. In this age of reality TV and internet immersion, Matthew has not forgotten that entertainment is an art form.”
The workshops cost $125, including lunch. A $25 deposit is required. Call (505) 385-1323 or e-mail buzzblanco@comcast.net for more information and reservations.
The UNM Harwood Museum of Art in Taos presents the Paisley Art Party, a free, all-ages costume party on Saturday, July 18, 3-5 p.m., coinciding with the Ledoux Street Stroll. Planned as an open house for the Harwood’s Fern Hogue Mitchell Education Center, the Paisley Art Party is an opportunity to come together to create and experience art.
Harwood Curator of Education Lucy Perera said the Paisley Art Party features “music, great food donated by Cids, a buffet of different art activities and an opportunity to visit the beautiful Fern Hogue Mitchell Education Center, the dedicated art studio recently renovated through the generosity of donor’s Stephanie Bennett-Smith and Orin Smith. This space, housed in the old children’s library is a very cozy, colorful and dynamic area where a great deal of art-magic takes place throughout the year.
“Our programs have expanded to include Harwood Art in the Schools, which serves thousands of children during the school year; Museum Adventures in Art, which uses local artists as instructors and is funded by New Mexico Arts; Art Afterschool; Saturday Arts for Families, which takes place during the summer months; Art Exploration Workshops, multiday mini-art camps producing such exciting products as the Harwood’s entry in the Arroyo Seco Parade; and a new teen Wear-Able art class taught by Beth Haidle.”
The Paisley Art Party is also an opportunity to visit the New Art Gallery, located outside the Education Center. Currently on view is “Hopper @ The Harwood: My Kid could do that!” an exhibition of work created by twelve children over a period of four days in response to the museum’s official Hopper @ The Harwood exhibition.
“The New Art Gallery is one very happening spot, and it’s great to have a space to display work created in our programs,” Perera said. “The current show is a riot and is best experienced after visiting the Harwood’s exhibition. A team of kids, average age of about seven, created work in response to Dennis Hopper, Ron Davis, Ron Cooper, Larry Bell, Ken Price and Robert Dean Stockwell. The piece de la resistance is a wool shirt which we covered with glue, glitter and dirt a la Larry Bell’s infamous jacket.”
The Paisley Art Party also features a raffle and silent auction. Raffle tickets are available in the Museum Shop for $3 each. Prizes are donated by Twirl, Razor Scooters, Moby Dickens, Northside Health and Fitness, Micheles, Taos Roasters, Ojo Caliente, Genji Pottery, Substance, Zia Custom Frames, local artists and others. All funds raised will help support educational programs.
Call Perera at (575) 758-9826 ext. 105. The Harwood Museum of Art is located at 238 Ledoux Street in Taos. For more information visit: Harwood Museum.
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, best-selling author of “The Dirty Girls Social Club,” will present a free lecture titled “The Costs and Benefits of Ethnic Identity as Genre in the Contemporary Fiction Marketplace” on Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the historic west wing of Zimmerman Library.
Photo: Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Valdes-Rodriguez discusses the costs and benefits of ethnic segregation in contemporary American fiction, and poses some interesting questions. Is it warranted? Honest? Is it just? Is it legal? Is ethnicity the same as genre? Who gets to be a default human in American publishing? Why is ethnicity still perceived in the United States as a valuable marketing tool? What is ethnicity, and is it genetic or learned? What does such separation do to an author's career? How might an author avoid these pitfalls? How might an author exploit them?
Valdes-Rodriguez is the bestselling author of seven novels, including “The Dirty Girls Social Club”, “Playing with Boys,” “Haters,” “Make Him Look Good,” “Dirty Girls on Top,” and the upcoming novels “The Husband Habit” (July 2009) and “Three Kings Dates” (Christmas 2010).
The event includes a book signing with the author. The Summer Sunset Lectures are made possible by the generous support of the UNM Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman has announced that the UNM Nanoscience and Microsystems (NSMS) Graduate Program has been awarded the highly competitive grant to provide fellowships for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN).
Many of the challenges we face today in energy, medicine or information technology cannot be solved by working within a single discipline. The NSMS interdisciplinary graduate program brings together faculty from 10 participating departments to train students to solve complex problems utilizing the skill sets that come from a variety of academic disciplines.
The U.S. Department of Education GAANN fellowships will provide stipends of up to $30,000 per year for up to 6 UNM Ph.D. students, based on financial need and will include additional funds to cover other costs of education. The grant program is effective in August 2009 for a total duration of three years.
The academic departments participating in the NSMS program are Cancer Biology, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics & Statistics and Physics and Astronomy.
Students interest in learning more about the NSMS program or applying for the GAANN fellowships should contact Heather Armstrong NSMS program coordinator at (505) 277-6824 or heathera@unm.edu
“Telling New Mexico – A New History” is a chorus of voices, edited by UNM Regents Professor of Anthropology Marta Weigle, with New Mexico History Museum Director Frances Levine and Senior Curator and UNM alumni Louise Stiver. The book is designed as a general history of the state, prepared in anticipation of the state’s centennial in 2012, but unlike most history books, this one consists of dozens of essays, many of them from UNM faculty.
Whether it is Professor of Anthropology Sylvia Rodriguez writing about how acequias, the ditches New Mexicans use to irrigate the fields, work or former UNM Press Director Roland Dickey writing about how to survive the howling windstorms in eastern New Mexico, the writers give a panorama of perspectives about the state.
In his essay “The Memorable Visitation of Bishop Pedro Tamarón, 1760” Department of History Professor Emeritus John Kessell writes about the visit of the Bishop of Durango to the pueblos of northern New Mexico. In another essay he examines tall tales about the Pecos Pueblo and its reputed connection to Montezuma and worship of a giant snake.
Want to know about the first revolution ever to take place in North America? Read the essay by former Anthropology Professor Alfonso Ortiz as he explores the aggravation and frustration that led Native Americans in the pueblos to violently overthrow the Spanish colonists in 1680, chasing them all the way to El Paso nearly 100 years before the American Revolution.
Wondering what part a sparsely populated southwestern state played in World War II? Read Professor of History Ferenc M. Szasz’s essay to learn about how Navajo codetalkers created an unbreakable code for the U.S. Marines, how the New Mexico National Guard fared in the Bataan Death March and the extraordinary effort to build the first atomic bomb and secretly test it in New Mexico.
Want to know why it took more than 60 years for New Mexico to join the union? Read Professor of History Durwood Ball’s tale of the U.S. Army in New Mexico. He explores the commands (1848-86) of four officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Edwin V. Sumner. Sumner tried to organize the various tribes, colonists, miners and entrepreneurs living in the state, finally concluding that “New Mexico was worthless for Anglo agriculture and industry, and that New Mexicans were ignorant, indolent, and slothful, and that federal territorialism would fail miserably in the Southwest.”
Professor of History Margaret Connel-Szasz explains how the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo reshaped land ownership in the state and how the tribes were organized and allotted land by the U.S. government. She writes about the Navajo’s fierce fight with the army and the “Long Walk” that altered the life of the Navajo people. She also examines the legal battle to determine whether Native Americans were “citizens” of the state.
Former professor of history Jennifer Nez Denetdale writes about the “Century of Progress” celebration of the Navajo Nation in 1968 and the way the Navajo think about themselves and their history. She also writes about the mining of uranium on Navajo land and the health problems created by radiation exposure.
Telling New Mexico is published by the Museum of New Mexico Press. It is a sampling of the many voices that are part of New Mexico history and is meant to show the facets of this multicultural state. It is also meant to help visitors understand more about the new New Mexico history and the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe. Weigle says the book was designed in a way that would allow it to be used as a textbook.
For more listen to this interview, Telling New Mexico, as Weigle talks about how the book was put together, how she and her collaborators decided to organize the book and what was left out.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The Albuquerque Art Business Association has named UNM Professor of English and American Studies Peter White a “Local Treasure.” White directs the New Mexico Musical Heritage Project, which provides violins and musical training for the students enrolled at the Public Academy for the Performing Arts in Albuquerque.
Photo: Peter White
White teaches a two and a half year course covering the cultural and traditional aspects of violin making for Native American and Hispanic students, from the cutting of the wood in the Sandia Mountains to making the varnish to finish the instruments. He says only a handful of elders in New Mexico are still able to pass on the traditions of violin making.
White has taught at UNM for 32 years, and teaches the violin making course without compensation while he is on leave to the state of New Mexico. He is currently serving as the NM Department of Higher Education cabinet secretary, and is on leave from UNM.
White and his students plan to travel to Italy for the Stradivari Contest in October. One of his violins has been accepted into this international triennial contest. He and his students will deliver a lecture and perform New Mexican violin music at the contest on Sept. 26 to Oct. 4.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
Bob Long, a former UNM Chemical and Nuclear Engineering professor and Department chair, has died. Long set up a major endowment to be used by the department and for two UNM Presidential Scholarships for Chemical and Nuclear Engineering students. Presidential Scholarships are open to New Mexico’s brightest and best high school graduates and cover 90 to 100 percent of the cost for an undergraduate student to attend UNM.
Vice President for Research Julia Fulghum said, “He was a wonderful person and his gift will allow the department to aid promising students and to help faculty function in this time of very restricted budgets. We especially appreciate his thoughtfulness in remembering the university and the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department.”
Long had a long and distinguished career as a professor and utility executive. He joined the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering program at UNM in 1965 and served as chair of the program from 1974 until 1978 when he left to join General Public Utilities Nuclear Corporation. He served as President of the American Nuclear Society in 1991-1992.
Long initially went to General Public Utilities (GPU) to set up a small reliability engineering group to attack some of the company’s technical concerns. Less than a year later, the accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor occurred, and Long worked to come up with a plan to satisfy the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the safety and reliability of the plant and to restart the undamaged TMI-1 reactor. He then turned his attention first to designing and implementing training for operators and most other personnel, and then to totally revamping GPU’s way of doing business and nuclear safety culture.
Long’s tenure as a faculty chair sensitized him to the problems of running a department and the majority of his endowment gift is designated for use by the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering chair to respond to needs of the department, including paying faculty to go to conferences, to renovate the student computer pod, and increasing support for student groups who are affiliated with the department.
Long created the Robert and Ann Long Fund for the Support of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Education at the School of Engineering. His family has requested that memorial gifts be sent to that fund. Senior Director of Development & Alumni Relations Pam Hurd-Knief is working with the endowment.
Memorial contributions to the Robert & Ann Long Fund should be sent to:
UNM School of Engineering Development Office
Centennial Engineering Center
MSC01 1140
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001
Media Contacts: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu
The University of New Mexico is collaborating on college and high school student convergence/multimedia projects Sunday, July 26-Saturday, Aug. 1 in conjunction with the Native American Journalists Association's 25th anniversary convention, to be held in Albuquerque. Students in the projects will create multimedia news content to be featured at the NAJA Web site.
The Department of Communication and Journalism hosts the high school portion, Project Phoenix. The camp welcomes 16 high school students representing the following tribes: Laguna Pueblo, Navajo, Creek, Yup'ik, Navajo/Lakota, Oglala Lakota, Caddo, Rosebud Sioux, Cherokee, Yakama and
Choctaw.
Students will learn and practice multimedia journalism, story development, field research, journalism for the Web, design, photography and broadcast journalism. They will be housed in UNM residence halls and mentored by UNM Communication and Journalism faculty, alumni and NAJA professional mentors from across the country.
At the Hyatt Regency in downtown Albuquerque where the main conference is held, 10 college students will gather representing UNM, Haskell Indian Nations University, University of Oklahoma, Occidental College, University of Missouri, Ball State University and New Mexico State University. They will be mentored by media professionals from across the country representing NAJA - including two UNM alumni - and the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
The projects and convention receive support from UNM's Department of Communication and Journalism, Department of Native American Studies and Division of Student Affairs, with additional support from American Indian Student Services, Indigenous Nations Library Program, Native American student organizations and KUNM.
The 2009 NAJA National Convention will be held Thursday, July 30-Saturday, Aug. 1. For registration and additional information, visit 2009 NAJA National Convention.
For more information about the college and high school student multimedia projects, contact Mary K. Bowannie, Native American studies lecturer, mkbow@unm.edu, or Judith White, communication and journalism assistant professor and Project Phoenix co-chair, jmw49@unm.edu.
Also visit the departments of Native American Studies, and Communication and Journalism.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1583; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
The 2009 Curanderismo Class, “Traditional Medicine without Borders: Curanderismo in the Southwest & Mexico,” a two week course, begins July 20-31, from 8:10 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. in Anthropology Lecture Hall Room 163. In its eighth year and taught by UNM Vice President for Student Affairs Eliseo “Cheo” Torres, the popular summer class provides traditional healers of all backgrounds, western medicine practitioners and members of the public, the opportunity to come together to share knowledge about the art and science of the Mexican folk healing tradition called Curanderismo.
Torres takes an integrative approach to medicine and his class features demonstrations incorporating Curanderismo with various traditional and holistic health techniques. The course uses healers and health practitioners from UNM, Mexico and the Albuquerque community as instructors.
“In the eight years we’ve held the class, it has grown in popularity,” said Eliseo “Cheo” Torres. We had more than 100 students last year. What’s unique about this class is that local curanderos, practitioners and healers all come together to share and learn about traditional healing methods. The first week local curanderos will be involved, while Mexican curanderos and local curanderos will take part in week two.”
For a course syllabus visit: Traditional Medicine Without Borders: Curanderismo in the Southwest & Mexico.
Also in conjunction with the class, the UNM Women’s Resource Center, in partnership with the New Mexico Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative, National Hispanic Cultural Center & the City of Albuquerque Cultural Services Department, will sponsor and host several Mexican Traditional Ferias de Salud (health fairs) and free workshops around the city and also in Espanola, Santa Fe and Denver.
Torres said some 20 well-known Mexican folk healers/curanderos(as) from the México City area, including the communities of Cuernavaca, Tepoztlán and Amatlán, will participate in various health fairs in Albuquerque from July 28-30.
“They will discuss traditional healing therapies including herbal medications, spiritual cleansings and other healing techniques, which have remained a part of the Mexican culture for centuries,” said Torres. “Treatments will be available and donations accepted.”
For a complete list of health fairs and workshop descriptions visit: Mexican Traditional Health Fairs.
Tuesday, July 28
12 - 2:30 p.m. – UNM Traditional Mexican Health Fair – Feria de Salud (Outside of the SUB north entrance)
12 – 1:30 p.m. – Renowned Mexican Folk Healers Curanderos(as) from the Mexico City Area will speak in Lobo A and B upstairs in SUB
12 – 12:30 p.m. – Risa Terapia – Rita Navarrete, Curandera – Eliminating negative energy and healing yourself through laughter
12:30 – 1 p.m. – Velia Herrera, Curandera – Usage of medicinal plants, traditional massage, and spiritual cleansings for a holistic healing approach Limpias Espirituales y plantas medicinales
1 – 1:30 p.m. – Juan Carlos Solano, Curandero – Traditional healing through the practice of ocean shell sounds for spiritual cleansings and the usage of obsidian stone for energy treatments Uso terapéutico del caracol y la obsidiana
5 – 10 p.m. – Mexican Traditional Health Fair ~ Feria de Salud
Old Town Plaza (Gazebo area) & Old Town Chapel
(Patio Escondido ~ 404 San Felipe)
Wednesday, July 29
5 – 10 p.m. – Traditional Mexican Health Fair ~ Feria de Salud
La Placita ~ 827 Isleta Blvd. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105
Thursday, July 30
5 –10 p.m. – Traditional Mexican Health Fair ~ Feria de Salud
National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 4th Street SW, courtyard between Salon Ortega and La Fonda Restaurant)
Free Workshops – July 30
6 – 7:30 p.m. – Renowned Mexican Folk Healers/Curanderos(as) from the Mexico City Area will speak. Talks will be interpreted.
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
6 – 6:30 p.m. – Risa Terapia – Rita Navarrete, Curandera – Eliminating negative energy and healing yourself through laughter
Media Contacts: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu or Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Biology Professor Mary Anne Nelson was named today by the White House and President Barack Obama as one of 22 individuals and organizations to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). Colleagues, administrators, and students from their home institutions nominate candidates for the Presidential Mentoring Award.
Photo: Mary Anne Nelson
This Presidential Award recognizes individuals and organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to mentoring students and increasing the participation of minorities, women and disabled students in science, mathematics and engineering. An additional 87 recipients received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
“I'm very honored to have been recognized for my efforts in mentoring undergraduates and graduate students in the sciences,” said Nelson, who is also program director for the Minority Access to Research Careers or MARC. “However, it feels like the award should go to the students, not to me! It's been a real privilege and also lots of fun to work with these students. It's hard to put into words the joy of watching them progress as they embark on their research experience, and then go on to impressive careers.”
Nelson’s research interests center around sexual development in Neurospora crassa, the control of gene expression during development, fungal genomics. Nelson also directs the Neurospora Genome Project (NGP), which represents an effort to obtain partial or complete nucleotide sequences from a large number of cDNA clones derived from conidial, mycelial, unfertilized sexual and perithecial libraries of N. crassa.
The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, awarded each year since 1996 to individuals or organizations, recognizes the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science or engineering and who belong to minorities that are underrepresented in those fields.
The awards were created to recognize the critical importance of mentors in the academic and personal development of students and colleagues who are underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The mentoring can involve students at any grade level from elementary through graduate school.
By offering their time, encouragement and expertise to these students, mentors help ensure that the next generation of scientists and engineers will better reflect the diversity of the United States. The awardees serve as leaders in the national effort to develop fully the Nation's human resources in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
"There is no higher calling than furthering the educational advancement of our nation’s young people and encouraging and inspiring our next generation of leaders," President Obama said. "These awards represent a heartfelt salute of appreciation to a remarkable group of individuals who have devoted their lives and careers to helping others and in doing so have helped us all."
In addition to being honored at the White House in the fall, recipients receive awards of $10,000 from the National Science Foundation to advance their mentoring efforts. They also receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for a White House awards ceremony and several days of educational and celebratory events, including visits with members of Congress and science agency leaders.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
The first of two Greg Johnston Summer Concerts for 2009 is set for Friday, July 17 with Shred Factor 9 taking the stage. Shred Factor 9 features a distinct UNM connection with all the band members working in various areas of the UNM Health Sciences Center. The concert gets underway at noon near the Betty Sabo Modern Art located southeast of the SUB and south of the Student Health Center.
Photo: Shred Factor 9
A classic rock band, Shred Factor 9 plays a wide variety of oldies and recent hits from bands including the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Credence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, Steve Miller Band, Steppenwolf, the Animals, the Kinks, the Ramones, Wings, Free, and Tom Petty to name a few.
The band features Valerie Darensburg on vocals and bass, Jason Darensburg on drums and Christopher Kallman on vocals and guitar.
Shred Factor 9 has been playing around the Duke City in various incarnations for nearly a decade. Recent gigs include the UNM Faculty Staff Club along and the Old Town Holiday Stroll.
Additionally, the band writes, records and plays original music published by their small production company, Capricorn Music Productions, in Albuquerque.
The second concert that’s a part of this year’s Greg Johnston Summer Concert Series is slated for Friday, August 7 in conjunction with Staff Appreciation Week. The featured band is Soundclub Souperstar. The concert will begin at noon near Modern Art.
The concerts were renamed the Greg Johnston Summer Concerts, in honor and recognition for Johnston’s work as founder of the concerts on behalf of the Staff Council Work+Life committee. The concerts are intended to provide a noon hour respite for UNM employees and students. Johnston, who worked in the University Communication and Marketing Department as a Sr. Communications Specialist, died in February 2007 after a brief battle with cancer. The concerts are sponsored and supported by the UNM Staff Council and its Work+Life Committee and the Division of Student Affairs.
Bring your lunch, shade and a healthy dessert will be provided.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Surgeons at the University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital have successfully performed the state’s first ever pediatric robotic surgery. Led by Dr. Jason Wilson, associate professor in the UNM Department of Surgery and section chief of Pediatric Urology at UNM, the surgical team performed the procedure on a three-year-old boy who had a non-functioning kidney that required reconstructive surgery.
The surgical robot at UNM Hospital has been used to serve primarily adult patients, but with the success of the first pediatric surgery, Wilson says more pediatric patients will be able to benefit from the robotic surgery.
The surgical robot is equipped with advanced instruments and a miniature camera that provides a high-definition, three-dimensional view inside the body. The surgery delivers precision that is not possible in conventional laparoscopic surgery.
In contrast to traditional laparoscopic surgery, the arms on the surgical robot are capable of movements similar to the human wrist, giving the surgeon more dexterity. This capability, says Wilson, is very helpful when performing on smaller pediatric patients.
Robotic surgery also helps with a quicker recovery time compared to conventional, open surgical procedures. The three-year-old patient was able to be discharged in less than 24 hours after surgery. Conventional surgery is usually associated with a hospital stay of at least 3-4 days.
Media Contact: Lauren Cruse, (505) 272-3690; e-mail: lcruse@salud.unm.edu
Will Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez announce his bid for re-election this weekend? That’s the speculation, based upon the recent post in his political website. Mayoral candidate Richard Romero sits down with co-host David Alire Garcia to talk about his campaign on “New Mexico In Focus,” KNME-TV’s weekly hour-long public affairs show airing on Friday, July 10 on KNME-TV channel 5.1 and repeating on Sunday, July 12 at 6:30 a.m.
Also this week, Garcia will talk with former Albuquerque City Councilor Hess Yntema and Albuquerque Journal reporter Dan McKay to get their views on the mayoral race.
Then Gene Grant and this week’s “The Line” panelists, Whitney Waite Cheshire, Jim Scarantino, Margaret Montoya and Teresa Cordova debate the following topics:
· The cult of personality in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death.
· Steve Pearce’s campaign to reclaim his congressional seat.
· Gov. Richardson’s recent education award.
· Cuba - New Mexico’s fastest-growing city.
“New Mexico in Focus” is produced by Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer and closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Barry Kues will give a talk and sign copies of his book “The Paleontology of New Mexico” at the Petroglyph National Monument Visitors Center, 4735 Western Trails NW on Saturday, July 18 at 7 p.m. On Tuesday, July 21 at 7 p.m., Kues will talk about and sign copies of his book at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science at 1801 Mountain Road NW.
The book contains an introductory section covering basic paleontological concepts and a survey of the major groups of animals, plants, and protozoans, each chapter focuses on the state’s fossil record for an individual geological period or epoch. These chapters include a summary of important paleontological and evolutionary events, an outline of the stratigraphy of the state, maps, and commentary on the vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants that lived in New Mexico during each time interval.
Numerous illustrations portray the important fossils known from the state. This book demonstrates not only how rich and diverse New Mexico’s record of past life is, but also documents ongoing studies that will lead to new discoveries.
Media Contact: Katherine MacGilvray, (505) 272-7177; e-mail: katm@unm.edu
A new book by Craig Varjabedian, “Ghost Ranch and the Faraway Nearby” will be featured at an opening of an exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum on Sunday, July 12 from 1-4 p.m. The museum is located at 2000 Mountain Road NW. For more than 20 years, Varjabedian explored and photographed the red cliffs and the sweeping plains of the fabled 21,000 acre Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico.
In “Ghost Ranch and the Faraway Nearby” he shares more than 90 new duotone photographs capturing its evanescent light. These images reach beyond familiar ideas associated with the ranch - such as its renown as a site of personal renewal and transformation – into Varjabedian’s singular vision of his subject and its ties to ideas of identity, place and perception.
To further illuminate the experience of Ghost Ranch, Varjabedian gathered an “appreciation” of Ghost Ranch, written by Georgia O’Keeffe, and essays written to accompany his photographs. These include an evocative introduction by photographer Jay Packer, an essay by writer Marin Sardy examining the place’s natural features and social history, and topical essays by theological studies professor Belden C. Lane, arts writer Douglas A. Fairfield, and former Ghost Ranch executive director Rob Craig. Also included are forwards by Cathy L. Wright, director of the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, and Debra Hepler, executive director of Ghost Ranch.
The Staff Council Rewards and Recognition Committee of the Council has extended the deadline for nominations for the Jim Davis Outstanding Councilor Award to Friday, July 10 at 5 p.m.
The Staff Council established this award in June 1999 to recognize the significant contributions of an individual to the Staff Council. The award is named in memory of Staff Councilor, Jim Davis, supervisor in the UNM Recycling Department. The late Jim Davis was the first recipient of this award.
Any current or former staff councilors or standing committee members who are at least .50 FTE, have served at least one year, are currently or have been members in good standing of Staff Council, Standing Committees, or Ad Hoc Committees is eligible to be nominated. Nominate your grade or precinct councilor that keeps you up to date on Council + UNM business with e-mails, nominate your co-worker that is not a Councilor but active on one of our committees.
Final candidate recommendations will be submitted to Staff Council Executive Committee no later than 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 14, 2009. The Jim Davis Staff Councilor Award for Meritorious Service winner will be presented a plaque during the UNM Staff Council Luncheon on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009.
A crowd of more than 300 people gathered last week at the UNM Taos campus to celebrate the construction of a three and a half acre solar array in cooperation with the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative. The 500-kilowatt facility will provide 100 percent of the power needs of the campus, making it the first college of its kind in the nation to be completely powered by solar energy. The array is expected to be operative later this month.
UNM–Taos Executive Director Kate O’Neill said the solar array symbolizes the campus’ energy independence from foreign oil and the toxic effects of carbon based fuels and is a commitment to future generations.
U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, State Representative Ben Ray Lujan and UNM Vice President for Institutional Support Services Steve Beffort attended the Independence Day celebration.
For more information visit: UNM Taos.
Media Contact: Bill Knief, (575) 770-1804; e-mail: wdkgrv@taosnet.com
Comadre A Comadre, the University of New Mexico’s College of Education program that provides education, resources and breast health support, has announced its summer and winter lineup of guest speakers and lecture dates. Featuring several guest speakers, the Comadre platícas serve as informational talks geared toward Hispanic/Latina women and centered around breast cancer health.
The summer and fall talks include:
** July 9 - Ana Quiroz, a breast and cervical cancer early detection program coordinator - Topic: Where to Get Free/Low Cost Mammogram's?
** Aug. 13 - Lisa Anne Gill, author - Topic: Writing to Heal
** Sept. 10 - Barbara Welcer, UNM Center for Life - Topic: What are Complementary Medicince Options I Can Use with My Treatment?
** Oct. 8 - Ralph Lind, Trailheads Counseling and Psychotherapy - Topic: What is the Effect of a Cancer Diagnoses on the Family?
** Nov. 12 - Shelley Rael, UNM Health Promotion Program - Topic: How Can I make Healthy Food Taste Good?
** Dec. 10 - Dr. Ian Schnadig, New Mexico Cancer Center - Topic: What are the Latest Treatments in Breast Cancer?
Comadre a Comadre also announced its monthly Regional Support Group Meetings set for July 23, Aug. 27, Sept. 24, Oct. 22 and a special holiday potluck on Dec. 12.
Educational platícas are held regularly by Comadre A Comadre and are open to the public. They are typically held at the Casa Comadre, located at 1909 Lomas NW in Old Town. All lectures and meetings are held on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Guest speakers begin their talks at 7 p.m.
The Comadre a Comadre program serves Hispanic/Latina women and their loved ones through advocacy, education, information, resources, and support about breast health and breast cancer. Its services are free and provided in both Spanish and English by experienced staff. The Comadres are breast cancer survivors who are trained to access services and lend support from someone who "has been there."
Other sponsors of the platícas include The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service, the Breast Cancer Resource Center and the New Mexico Department of Health.
For more information pre-registration, transportation, childcare needs or special assistance call, (505) 242-1222 or visit: Comadre a Comadre.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Former UNM President Dr. Richard E. Peck will be the featured author at the UNM Bookstore, Saturday, July 11 to sign copies of his latest book, 'Traveling at My Desk: Stories for 52 Weekends.' The UNM Bookstore is located at 2301 Central Ave. NE at the intersection of Cornell and Central. Parking will be validated in the parking structure for up to one hour with purchase.
Photo: Former UNM President Dr. Richard E. Peck
Peck is an author, playwright and retired academic, whose writing career -- detoured for years -- resumed when he left academe. After a career as an English professor and university administrator (president at one time or another of three universities, including the University of New Mexico from 1990-1998), he now divides his time among three very satisfying pursuits: restrained meddling in the lives of his children and grandchildren, golfing at a level far below his aspirations, and writing.
Peck was born in Wisconsin on Aug. 3, 1936. After graduating from high school and two years of factory work, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, as a green PFC was selected for flight training, and in June, 1956, was commissioned the youngest officer and pilot in the USMC at age 19. He subsequently completed an A.B. at Carroll College in 30 months, his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in three years. He taught English at the University of Virginia and Temple University, then filled administrative positions at the University of Alabama and Arizona State, leading to presidencies of ASU, the University of New Mexico and the University of South Florida.
During those years he committed his time and energies to scholarship, and his popular writing became infrequent. He did manage to complete 12 produced plays (three of them winners in national competitions), a score of short stories, a novel nominated as Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year (Final Solution, Doubleday), and TV scripts, as well as two editions of minor poetry.
Peck is a member of Screen Writers Guild of America (West) and has contributed occasional columns to a number of newspapers. He lives in Placitas, NM, where he takes the 16 steps from his bed to his word processor every day and sits, telling stories, until the gorgeous New Mexico sunsets distract him.
For more information about this event contact Lisa Walden (505) 277-7494 or via e-mail at, lwalden@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
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19th Annual Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque
Approximately 600 students will be on the University of New Mexico main campus July 8-10 to participate in a Mariachi music workshop called Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque at the Student Union Building from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. A special free, lunchtime public concert will be held near the Mesa Vista Hall Courtyard Thursday, July 9 starting at 12 p.m. The lunchtime concert is sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs.
Additionally, a Mariachia Showcase Concert and Competition will be held at Civic Plaza in downtown Albuquerque on Friday, July 10 from 6:30 - 10:30 p.m. The showcase will be followed up with the Mariachi Spectacular concert at Sandia Casino Amphitheater on Saturday, July 11 from 7-11 p.m. Ticket prices vary for this event featuring professional Mariachi performers. Lastly, on Sunday, a Mariachi Mass will be held at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park on July 12 at 10:30 a.m.
For more information visit: Mariachi Spectacular.
Dean of University Libraries Martha Bedard is looking for ways to digitize the information in older collections and university archives that researchers find most valuable so her team is searching for ways to make that possible. Their initial efforts can be viewed at: University Archives.
Photo: Martha Bedard
You can also view the initial efforts at putting the university’s special collections in the Center for Southwest Research at the Rocky Mountain Online Archive. Type in a search term like “Albuquerque” and you will see everything from a listing of buildings designed by architect John Gaw Meem to the records of the Albuquerque & Cerrillos Coal Company, a coal mining operation in the early part of the 20th century near Madrid, New Mexico. The Rocky Mountain Online Archive is now putting more photos and images into the archive.
Full text of most documents is not yet available. Bedard says her department is now thinking about how to prioritize the monumental job of scanning records now stored in boxes.
For example, UNM has copies of nearly every newspaper ever printed in the state, many going back to the territorial years, but most are on microfilm or microfishe. It will take thousands of hours for library staff to scan the newspapers and put them into a digital archive, and there will have to be a determination of whether that project comes before scanning the hundreds of thousands of individual documents in other collections.
Bedard says her administrative team is also looking for ways to allow electronic accesses to theses and dissertations published by graduate students. A sampling is already available as part of a pilot project on the university libraries dspace repository but she doesn’t have the money to set up a system that will allow every thesis or dissertation to be digitized.
Navigating Your Way
Bedard says it is a huge project to make the extensive collections available online and University Libraries still has a great deal of work to do. She is excited by the new opportunities to bring such things as audio versions of folk music in the J.D. Robb Collection or the wide selections of classical music available at the Fine Arts Libraryto anyone who visits the University Libraries web site.
University Libraries has information available in a number of forms and to help navigate the way through a subject area such as music it sometimes takes help, which the library provides in the form of specialists.
For Bedard this transition of information from the written page to the computer screen is an exciting change, but she says the difficulty is in putting together a plan that will allow improvements in technology to feel seamless to everyone who uses the library services. She says much of the information is available, but it is stored in different databases, and it is not always easy to navigate from database to database to assemble the information needed on a particular subject.
Gathering Information in One Place
Bedard says University Libraries is now searching for an easy way to collect and display information for students and researchers. For example, she would like to be able to type ‘Rudolfo Anaya’ into the search engine and find, a list of his books and their location in the library, a list of articles and reviews, biographical information about the former UNM English teacher and other information about his long career as a professor and author. She thinks the library can eventually develop a way to aggregate information scattered in various collections, books and journals about a subject into a display that would make it clear exactly what information is available in the library system.
Bedard thinks that is one of the next major improvements students will see when they visit University Libraries online.
Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; kwent2@unm.edu
Studies at the Mind Research Network (MRN) in Albuquerque could soon help clinicians predict and discover ways to prevent relapse in individuals combating substance abuse. MRN Scientific Director Dr. Vincent Clark says brain imaging and psychiatric evaluation have found that the makeup of the brain influences a recovering addict’s tendency to relapse - which in some cases may help predict a relapse months before it actually occurs.
Photo: Vincent Clark
Clark, who is also an associate professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNM, presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in San Francisco last month. Studying 45 individuals recovering from cocaine and methamphetamine addiction, Dr. Clark says his testing has an 89 percent accuracy rate.
“Treatment for addiction so often fails because we do not have an adequate understanding of why a person returns to using drugs,” said Dr. Clark. “Our research helps us pinpoint changes in brain activity that precedes drug use, and being able to predict relapse will lead to better treatment and intervention strategies.”
MRN scientists presented a total of 19 studies at the Human Brain Mapping meeting, from basic methodology of genetics and brain mapping to advanced applications of brain mapping for the diagnosis of mental and brain illness, including schizophrenia, addiction, lupus, and traumatic brain injury.
MRN is a world class neurodiagnostic facility dedicated to finding better tools to diagnose and treat addiction, mental illness, autism and other brain disorders. Imaging, genetics and a one of kind mobile MRI facility aid investigators in reaching high risk individuals recovering from addiction to drugs and alcohol.
Clark‘s research was funded with grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy.
For more information on MRN, contact Lisa Breeden, Development Director, at lbreeden@mrn.org or (505) 681-7110. Visit our web site at www.mrn.org.
Since it’s launch in March of 2007, V-me, the first U.S. Hispanic Network to partner with public television stations, has become the fastest growing Spanish language network in history. KNME was one of 15 charter stations nationwide to air V-me. Co-host Gene Grant interviews its President and CEO, Carmen DiRienzo, on “New Mexico in Focus,” KNME-TV channel 5’s weekly hour-long public affairs show, will air on Friday, July 3 at 7 p.m. on KNME-TV channel 5.1 and repeat on Sunday, July 5 at 6:30 a.m.
Additionally, co-host David Alire Garcia, on a tour of the National Hispanic Cultural Center with its incoming director, visits with Dr. Estevan Rael-Galvez, and takes a sneak peek at an amazing fresco that is a work in progress in the Center’s torreon.
Also, “The Line” panelists including Whitney Waite Cheshire and Jim Scarantino will be joined by guest panelists Margaret Montoya, UNM Health Sciences Center and CUNY School of Law, and Teresa Cordova, a former Bernalillo County commissioner and UNM School of Architecture and Planning professo.
They will discuss other topics including Independence Day and patriotism, and a video about the “fire and passion” of a notable New Mexican flamenco dancer Maria Benitez.
“New Mexico in Focus” is produced by Kevin McDonald and Kathy Wimmer and closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.
Media Contact: Evy Todd, (505) 277-1218; e-mail: etodd@knme.org
The combined grade point average (G.P.A.) of the University of New Mexico's 21 athletics programs for the 2009 spring semester was 3.12 according to the UNM registrar’s office. That’s the highest spring semester G.P.A. since UNM began tracking grades in 1988, and the second-highest G.P.A. overall. The record of 3.14 was set in the fall of 2008, meaning the top-two semesters have been achieved in the past two terms. The Lobos have now reached a G.P.A. of 3.00 or better for 13 of the last 14 semesters.
“The student-athletes, coaches, advisement staff and mentors are to be congratulated for an outstanding performance during the 2008-09 academic term,” said UNM Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs. “The academic achievement of our student-athletes continues to be extremely impressive.”
2009 University of New Mexico Spring Semester Grade Point Averages
Men
Baseball 3.03
Basketball 2.91
Football 2.62
Golf 3.43
Skiing 3.70
Soccer 3.15
Tennis 2.93
Track* 2.84
Women
Basketball 3.41
Golf 3.52
Skiing 3.57
Soccer 3.48
Softball 3.11
Swimming 3.43
Tennis 3.47
Track* 3.47
Volleyball 3.37
Total 3.12
* includes cross country, indoor and outdoor track
Media Contact: Greg Remington, (505) 925-5525; e-mail: gregrem@unm.edu
Two research studies, connecting childhood obesity and injury risk, will be presented by Dr. Keshia Pollack on Tuesday, July 14 from 3:30 to 5 p.m., in room 2112 at the UNM Domenici Center. Pollack’s work focuses on the importance of considering injury prevention and control as part of policies and programs that address childhood obesity. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
Photo: Dr. Keshia Pollack
An assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an injury epidemiologist, Pollack will discuss her research on efforts to increase youth participation in physical activity as a means to address the childhood obesity epidemic, and the associated benefit from increased attention to injury prevention and control.
In this presentation, Pollack discusses the nexus of childhood obesity and injury, and highlights data from two studies: one showing how obesity is associated with the risk and distribution of injury in youth, and the other showing how injury hazards in the urban built environment are correlated with youth physical activity.
For more information about directions or parking contact the UNM Prevention Research Center at (505) 272-4462.
Many UNM and HSC employees have received an e-mail message claiming to be from the UNM Information Technology Service center, informing them
that mail systems will undergo scheduled maintenance and asking users to reply to the message and confirm their e-mail information.
This e-mail is a phishing attempt and users are asked to immediately delete the message. The message sender has been identified as an out-of-state spammer, and as a precautionary measure, responses to this message have been blocked.
UNM will never send e-mail messages asking users to confirm their e-mail addresses or passwords, nor will they send e-mails asking for any kind of personal identification information. Please contact the ITS Support Center at 277-4848 with any questions or concerns.
Media Contact: Vanessa Baca, (505) 277-0987; e-mail: vjbaca1@unm.edu
Alfred Mathewson, professor, UNM School of Law, was recently named acting director of the Africana Studies Program for 2009-2010 announced Brenda Claiborne, dean, College of Arts and Sciences. Mathewson assumed the role July 1.
Photo: Alfred Mathewson, professor, UNM School of Law
"Professor Mathewson is eminently qualified to lead the program this year. He's had extensive experience working in and researching the African American community. The college looks forward to working closely with Professor
Mathewson for a fruitful and productive academic year at Africana Studies," Claiborne said.
Mathewson joined the UNM law faculty in 1983 after working as a corporate, securities and banking lawyer in Denver. 1997 through 2002, Mathewson was associate sean of academics where he oversaw curriculum, clinical law, faculty appointments, the faculty promotion and tenure process, library, faculty development and related issues.
Mathewson's teaching and research focuses on sports law, minority business enterprises and corporate governance. He frequently supervises in the Business and Tax law Clinic and has served as acting director of the Clinical Law Program for the past three summers. He has published numerous articles and given speeches in these areas and he brings this expertise to his teaching.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Rich Brody, Rutledge Professor of Accounting at the UNM Anderson School of Management and CPA financial forensics expert, was recently awarded the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) Credential by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The CFF Credential, established in 2008 by the AICPA, is granted to qualified CPAs with considerable professional experience in financial forensics.
Photo: Rich Brody
Brody met the requirements to earn the CFF credential, which include demonstrating significant business experience in the area of financial forensics as well as completing a minimum of 75 hours of life-long learning and education activities in the area of financial forensics. The CFF Credential is granted exclusively to CPAs who are members in good standing of the AICPA which binds them to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. CPAs who have earned the CFF Credential must be recertified every three years to maintain their credential.
Brody’s research addresses issues related to forensic accounting, auditing and corporate governance. He has authored or co-authored over 60 refereed publications and has presented his work at more than 35 national and international conferences. Recent research has focused on issues such as corporate fraud, identity theft, background investigations, counterfeit educational credentials and the impact of corporate governance structure on auditor judgment.
A fraud prevention and detection expert, Brody has been published or quoted in SmartMoney Magazine, Fraud Magazine, Journal of Forensic Accounting, Journal of Forensic Economics, The CPA Journal, Internal Auditor, American Business Review, Accounting Horizons, Psychological Reports, Advances in Accounting and Managerial Auditing, as well as in a number of regional and local newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S. He has appeared on KOAT, KRQE, KKOB, and NPR and network television affiliates and radio stations in nearly one dozen cities across the country.
Media Contact: Leslie Venzuela, (505) 277-7117; e-mail: venzuela@mgt.unm.edu