UNM's proximity to national laboratories offers an unparalleled opportunity for students to participate in world-class research at Sandia National Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and many local high tech companies.
Opportunities vary from capstone projects, including company-sponsored tasks, to Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), to working in many of the School of Engineering labs, including a 10-acre lab in the Bosque.
Each program of study provides numerous areas where School of Engineering students may focus their research:
Chemical Engineering offers a variety of research areas that include bioengineering, chemical processing, environmental engineering, materials process, and semiconductor manufacturing.http://www-chne.unm.edu/chemicalgraduate.html
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Nuclear Engineering offers a wide range of research areas that range from medical physics to radiation protection. http://www-chne.unm.edu/nucleargraduate.html
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Civil Engineering's research areas include construction engineering and management, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics and water resources, structural mechanics, transportation and traffic. http://www.unm.edu/~civil/graduate.html
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Computer Science offers a wide range of research from computer and internet security to computer programming. http://cs.unm.edu/academics/prospective_graduate_students/
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Computer Engineering offers a variety of research areas that include bioengineering, computer intelligence, computer architecture, computer networks and systems, and image processing. http://www.ece.unm.edu/classes/graduatePrograms.html
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Electrical Engineering's research areas include applied electromagnetics, bioengineering, communications, image processing, microelectronics, optoelectronics, signal processing, and systems and controls. http://www.ece.unm.edu/classes/graduatePrograms.html
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Mechanical Engineering offers a variety of research areas that include energy conversion, energy resources, environment and transportation, manufacturing, materials and structures, and systems and design. http://www.unm.edu/~megrad/
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NSF-REU (National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
The key objective of this program is to expose more undergraduates to research in hopes they will want to pursue research as a career. Terran Lane, assistant professor of computer science, is collaborating with a team at the University of Oklahoma on a NSF-REU to study embedded machine learning. Lane recruited undergraduate students to assist his portion of the study, which focuses on teaching autonomous agents - like robots - to interact with their environments.
PREP (Post-baccalaureate Research and Education Program)
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this program offers recent UNM graduates with bachelor's degrees in science, math, and engineering the opportunity to spend a year working full-time in a research lab before entering graduate school. Students take courses at UNM as well as short courses offered by PREP.
Student response to research opportunities has been overwhelmingly positive.
"I'm learning things that I wouldn't learn in the classroom, so it's been the best of both worlds," commented Marty Ridens, a research assistant who was hired to help Terran Lane on his NSF-REU.
Tricia Padilla, who worked in a PREP program and graduated in May with a degree in chemical engineering, adds, "Working with Dr. Lopez and his group allowed me to gain different leadership skills by his example of supervision of people. It was insightful to see how he worked with and managed people."