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March/April 2007

1. University nets $215M military contract
2. NMSU solar research institute receives $4.2 million award
3. Professor wins surveyor of the year award
4. NMSU installs info unit at solar power plant
5. New giving opportunity for 2007
6. NMSU part of Texas alliance selected as finalist for wind turbine research facility
7. Michael D. Burger to become president and chief executive officer of Merix Corporation
8. Gadsden SEMAA students to participate in moon buggy competition
9. Business is a family affair for Andrew Baca
10. Two NMSU students receive Goldwater scholarships
11. NMSU research recognized for helping small business
12. Recent Grants

University nets $215M military contract

New Mexico State University, as part of a consortium that includes three other universities and a private technological research group, has been awarded a $215 million contract by the Army Research Laboratory to manage the Army's High Performance Computing Research Center. Read More

NMSU solar research institute receives $4.2 million award

New Mexico State University's Southwest Technology Development Institute (SWTDI) has been awarded a $4.2 million, five-year contract to conduct research aiding the U.S. Department of Energy's new Solar America Initiative. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, toured SWTDI facilities today for a briefing on the project. Read More

Professor wins surveyor of the year award

Steve Frank, associate professor of surveying engineering in the College of Engineering at New Mexico State University, has been named Surveyor of the Year by the New Mexico Professional Surveyors (NMPS).

The award is given out each year to a member of the surveying profession who has given great service to the profession over the years. Nominations come from several chapters of NMPS. Read More

NMSU installs info unit at solar power plant

New Mexico State University's Institute for Energy and the Environment recently completed installation of a data acquisition system and information kiosk at PNM's new Sunflower solar panel array at Algodones.

The 23-kilowatt photovoltaic generating facility is located near Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The location was chosen to increase public awareness that a clean alternative, renewable energy resource is being used by the state's largest utility. The array was designed to resemble environmentally friendly sunflowers. Read More

If you are considering making a charitable gift before the end of the year, are 70 and a half or older and have an individual retirement account, you need to know about a new provision of the Internal Revenue Code;. This giving opportunity is only available for gifts made after Aug. 17, 2006 and before Dec. 31, 2007.

You can instruct the custodian of your IRA to distribute an amount up to $100,000 directly to a qualified charitable organization, such as the New Mexico State University Foundation for the College of Engineering, from your IRA and the distribution will be excluded from your gross income. This distribution may be counted toward your required minimum distribution for the calendar year. Until now, if you wanted to use IRA dollars to make a charitable gift, you had to withdraw the amount, include in in your taxable gross income and then reduce your taxable income by the amount of an itemized charitable deduction. The net result was that you still paid some income tax on that withdrawal. The new law allows you to give a direct, dollar-for-dollar gift, without the distribution being counted at all in your gross taxable income.

At this time, the IRA rollover does not apply to 401Ks, 403b annuities, defined benefit and contribution plans, or profit-sharing plans. For more information, please contact Patricia Sullivan at (505) 646-2913, patsulli@nmsu.edu, or Debbie Widger at (505) 646-5731, dwidger@nmsu.edu. Read more about Charitable Gifts from Individual Retirement Accounts.

Michael D. Burger to become president and chief executive officer of Merix Corporation

Merix Corporation announced today that Michael D. Burger has accepted the Company's offer to become President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Merix effective April 30, 2007. Mr. Burger, age 48, is currently President of the Components Business Unit of Flextronics Corporation. Prior to joining Flextronics, Mr. Burger served as President and a member of the board of directors of ZiLOG Corporation and, earlier, as the Vice President and Managing Director of National Semiconductor's Asia Pacific Division based in Hong Kong. He holds an engineering degree from New Mexico State University and pursued postgraduate work in business from Stanford University.

Gadsden SEMAA students to participate in moon buggy competition

Six Gadsden High School students participating in a NMSU program will brave the unknown challenges and rocky terrain of the moon as they participate in the 14th Annual Great Moon Buggy Race.
Members of the Southern New Mexico Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SNM SEMAA) club at Gadsden High School will pit their moon buggy against buggies created by student groups from across the country April 13 and 14 in Huntsville, Ala. Read More

Business is a family affair for Andrew Baca

As CEO and president of Abba Technologies Inc. in Albuquerque, Andrew Baca is carrying on a rich family tradition of success in business.

The Belen-based Baca family traces its entrepreneurial roots back to 1939, when Andrew's grandfather, M.C. Baca started Belen Auto Sales--a business that Andrew's father, brother and sister continue to operate today. Read More

Two NMSU students receive Goldwater scholarships

Two New Mexico State University engineering students have received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Mohammad Ghassemi and Kwame Porter-Robinson were among 317 students from around the nation who received the $7,500 award for the 2007-08 school year. They were chosen from 1,110 students nominated for the scholarship by university faculty and are the only students in New Mexico to receive the award. Read More

NMSU research recognized for helping small business

New Mexico State University research aimed at improving the manufacturing process for an environmentally friendly cleaning solution is gaining recognition. 

NMSU Chemical Engineering Professor David Rockstraw worked with Sound Earth, a New York-based company, to develop a technique for keeping one of its cleansers uniform. Read More

Recent Grants

The following grants have been recently awarded to the College of Engineering:

1. Research to investigate customer-driven emergency power generation
2. CEMRC to continue in vivo bioassay of WIPP workers
3. CEMRC receives extended contract for WIPP support
4. Microsatellite Target System receives second round of funding
5. Civil Engineering Department receives four-year grant for highway evaluation
6. Air Force funds fourth year of free-space laser communications research
7. Researchers receive additional funding for polarmetric imaging investigation
8. CEMRC receives funding to continue radiological monitoring of WIPP site
9. CEMRC receives increased funding to investigate repository performance
10. WERC receives funding to reduce pesticide use
    

Note: Items submitted for possible inclusion in Aggie Ing. should be sent to lfresque@nmsu.edu by 5:00 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month.