New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Encyclopedia
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (also called New Mexico Tech, and originally known as the New Mexico School of Mines) is a university located in Socorro, New Mexico
Socorro, New Mexico
Socorro is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It stands in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . The population was 9,051 at the 2010 census...

.

Noted for its undergraduate and graduate school opportunities, New Mexico Tech offers over 30 bachelor of science degrees in technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, the science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

s, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 (including mineral engineering), management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

, and technical communication
Technical communication
Technical communication is a method of researching and creating information about technical processes or products directed to an audience through media. The information must be relevant to the intended audience. Technical communicators often work collaboratively to create products for various...

, as well as graduate degrees at the masters and doctoral levels. New Mexico Tech is considered one of the best small science and engineering schools in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.
A recent National Science Foundation study of Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients in the U.S. ranked New Mexico Tech as 15th in the nation, as well as the number one ranked public institution.

History

New Mexico Tech is a relatively small (approximately 2000 students as of 2010) research- and teaching-oriented university focused on science and engineering. The institution was founded by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature in the year 1889 as the New Mexico School of Mines to both boost the territorial economy and teach mining specialties on the college level. During the 1930s, petroleum engineering and technology also became an important field of study at the institute. In 1946, New Mexico Tech began offering graduate degrees. The institute adopted its current name in 1951, but the change was not legally effective until 1960, when its name was changed by an amendment of the New Mexico State Constitution, Art.XII, Section 11.

Research and Teaching

New Mexico Tech's well-known areas of research and teaching include hydrology, astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...

, atmospheric physics
Atmospheric physics
Atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, chemical models, radiation balancing, and energy transfer processes in the atmosphere...

, geophysics, information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

, information security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....

, Earth Science, energetic materials engineering, and petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 recovery. Federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...

 and other sources has fostered significant training and research programs in this area (even going so far as to allow the university to purchase Playas, New Mexico
Playas, New Mexico
Playas was a small unincorporated town in Hidalgo County, the "bootheel" of the southwestern part of the U.S. state of New Mexico.It is a former company town, named after a nearby former settlement along the Southern Pacific Railroad...

, a former company town, as a field site). Because of its especially strong research programs, the school offers numerous scholarships and unique research opportunities for students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, with a very high professor to student ratio of approximately one professor per twelve students. In addition to its strong focus on science and technology, New Mexico Tech has seen much recent growth in the humanities and social sciences. Minors are now available in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

n studies, and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

, in addition to minors in science and engineering fields. The university's most recent NCA reaccreditation was in October 2004.

Affiliated Science and Engineering Centers



In 2003 the university bought the town of Playas, New Mexico
Playas, New Mexico
Playas was a small unincorporated town in Hidalgo County, the "bootheel" of the southwestern part of the U.S. state of New Mexico.It is a former company town, named after a nearby former settlement along the Southern Pacific Railroad...

 for use as a research and training facility for the university’s first responders and counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...

 programs.

Recent National Rankings

  • 2011 Ranked one of "The Best 373 Colleges in USA" by The Princeton Review
  • 2010 Ranked #19 in "Top 25 Most Desirable Small School" and #10 in "Top 25 Most Desirable Rural School" by Newsweek
  • 2010 Ranked #12 in "America's Best Value Colleges" by The Princeton Review
  • 2010 "13 Colleges That Won't Leave You In Massive Debt" by Huffington Post
  • 2009 Ranked as "The 37th best value among American universities" by Kiplinger's
  • 2008 Ranked as the 15th highest proportional undergraduate producer of doctorate degree recipients (and number one public institution) by the National Science Foundation

  • 2008 Ranked among top western colleges by The Princeton Review
  • 2007 Ranked as an "America's Best Value College" by The Princeton Review
  • 2007 Ranked one of the nation’s best institutions for an undergraduate education by the Princeton Review
  • 2006 Ranked as one of Kiplinger's Top 100
  • 2005 Ranked #2 Best value in education by The Princeton Review
  • 2005 "Publisher's Pick" in Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine
  • 2005 Ranked among top western colleges by The Princeton Review
  • 2004 Ranked among top western colleges by The Princeton Review

National Center of Academic Excellence

The school is a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE). This brings several major scholarships and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

School Culture and Student Life

NMT hosts an annual Performing Arts Series that is free to students, and, along with the broader Socorro community, city, and county, supports a great number of special events each year. New Mexico Tech is located approximately an hour south of Albuquerque in a region of high deserts to subalpine mountains that offers considerable outdoor recreation opportunities, including rock climbing, road and mountain biking, a triathlon, and hiking opportunities.

New Mexico Tech also hosts numerous active student clubs, a Part 15 AM radio station, and a biweekly student newspaper, Paydirt. The campus also includes an 18-hole championship golf course.

The campus population has historically been predominantly male, but it has moved increasing towards a balance between the sexes, with women now equal with men in most majors. The recently admitted class of 2013 has an overall male to female ratio of approximately 3:1, but this ratio is highly variable between departments.

New Mexico Tech has nine different halls/apartments for students: West Hall (Male Only), Driscoll Hall (Female Only), Presidents (Co-Ed), Baca, and South Halls (Co-Ed), Ben D. Altamirano Student Apartments, Desert Willow Apartments, and Mountain Springs Apartments

The campus also has a 150,000 gallon outdoor swimming pool that goes from a depth of 4 feet to 11 feet. During the winter months, it is covered to allow swimming to continue during cold weather.

New Mexico Tech now has social Greek Letter organizations as of the 2007-2008 school year: Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...

, an all-male fraternity, and Alpha Sigma Kappa
Alpha Sigma Kappa
Alpha Sigma Kappa – Women in Technical Studies is a social sorority for women in the fields of mathematics, architecture, engineering and the sciences.-History:...

, a social sorority for women in technical fields. Prior to this, the only official social/academic organization on campus was The Ancient and Honorable Order of St. Patrick (patron saint of miners), into which all 2nd semester first-year students in good academic standing as of the St.Patrick's Day weekend were eligible to be inducted.

Each summer, NMT hosts the Summer Science Program
Summer Science Program
The Summer Science Program is an intense six-week summer program for intellectually talented high school students. The program is based on a collaborative research project in celestial mechanics. Students study astronomy, physics, spherical trigonometry, and calculus while working to take...

, which teaches astronomy to high school students.

New Mexico Tech on Television

A number of television shows have focused on New Mexico Tech faculty, students, and research. TruTV's Man vs. Cartoon
Man vs. Cartoon
Man vs. Cartoon is an American popular science television program airing on truTV. The premise of the show is that students and researchers at New Mexico Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center attempt to re-create contraptions and situations found in Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner...

features attempts by Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center
Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center
The Energetic Materials Research and Training Center is a research division of New Mexico Tech, which performs testing of high explosives, bombs, and other munitions, as well as the means to deliver such munitions. It also offers courses for emergency responders in bomb response. EMRTC's offices...

 to re-create contraptions and situations found in Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...

 cartoons. Mythbusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...

, National Geographic Explorer
National Geographic Explorer
National Geographic Explorer is an American documentary television series that originally premiered on Nickelodeon on April 7, 1985, after having been produced as a less costly and intensive alternative to PBS's National Geographic Specials by Pittsburgh station WQED...

, BBC Horizon and Nova
NOVA (TV series)
Nova is a popular science television series from the U.S. produced by WGBH Boston. It can be seen on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries...

 have also featured Tech in various episodes. Another TV show featuring Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, Blow Up U, began filming in the spring of 2009.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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