New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
New Mexico Tech is a relatively small (1,412 students as of 2020) 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. New Mexico Tech's well-known areas of research and teaching include hydrology, astrophysics, atmospheric physics, geophysics, information technology, information security, Earth Science, energetic materials engineering, and petroleum recovery. Federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security 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, 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 had significant growth in the humanities and social sciences. Minors are now available in history, Latin American studies, and philosophy, as well as in science and engineering fields. In 2003 the university bought the town of Playas, New Mexico for use as a research and training facility for the university’s first responders and counter-terrorism programs. The school is a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. This brings several major scholarships and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. 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 includes an 18-hole championship golf course. The campus population has historically been predominantly male, but it has moved increasingly towards a balance between the sexes. The current gender distribution at New Mexico Tech (2020) is 70% male and 30% female. A number of television shows have focused on New Mexico Tech faculty, students, and research. TruTV's "Man vs. Cartoon" features attempts by Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center to re-create contraptions and situations found in Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons. MythBusters, National Geographic Explorer, BBC Horizon and Nova 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.
History
The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech and formerly New Mexico School of Mines) is a public university in Socorro, New Mexico.