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| Mike Martin, NMSU President |
by Mike Martin, NMSU President
During the past year we have had many discussions about how best to structure NMSU’s research enterprise for the 21st century.
After closely studying ourselves as well as other major research universities, we have decided that we need to put increased emphasis and investment in a small group of strategically identified research clusters. The criteria for such clusters would include the following:
- They need to be inclusive and faculty-driven, bringing together researchers from across campus;
- They need to be closely tied to state, regional and national priorities while building on NMSU’s historical research strengths;
- They need to attract significant external funding and support; and
- They need to heighten NMSU’s national and international profile.
A research cluster focusing on 21st century space and aerospace, for example, could build on our expertise in suborbital flight, unmanned aerial vehicles, scientific balloons, telemetry, astrophysics and particle physics, remote sensing, astronomy and planetary science as well as our extensive K-12 programs in science, technology, engineering, math and aerospace education. By working with regional resources such as White Sands Missile Range and the Southwest Regional Spaceport, we could lead the country in areas such as nanosatellite delivery and commercial space flight.
Focusing our efforts on selected research areas will bring many benefits, including increased resources for NMSU’s entire research endeavor. This is because most funding agencies are requiring interdisciplinary approaches in their requests for proposals, as well as the capacity to carry out programs of longer duration. This new initiative will make us more competitive for major national grants. Out of these clusters will come centers where we can excel nationally in selected research fields. For example, a natural resource cluster could include a center that focuses on the management, allocation and maintenance of water in arid climates – a critical issue for New Mexico.
Increased resources will enable us to provide mini-grants for new research projects and start-up packages to hire distinguished researchers from other institutions, which in turn will further enhance our research enterprise.
Having a nationally competitive research program also will provide new opportunities for our students, and serve as a force for regional economic development.
But along with benefits, this new approach brings some challenges. It will require teamwork among colleges, laboratories and institutes at NMSU, as well as partnerships with the business and government communities. It also will require support personnel who can assist researchers in administrative areas such as proposal and program development. We currently are actively engaging our faculty members to help us organize and define the research objectives of the proposed clusters.
The stories in this issue of NMSU Research underscore NMSU’s expertise in the new research clusters that are under discussion and our growing emphasis on economic development.
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