One of only two New Mexico students, Lindsay Redman, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry, has been selectedas a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for 2013, and will receive a full academic scholarship for the remainder of her undergraduate education.

“It’s a big deal for me, not because I care about the money, but because it is like a ticket for graduate school and will be helpful for all the rest of the things I will apply for,” Redman said.

Redman was selected from a pool of more than 1,100 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated for the scholarship. Fewer than 275 students from across the nation were awarded Goldwater Scholarships. Redman is the only New Mexico recipient attending school in the state, as the other recipient attends John Hopkins University.

“The Goldwater scholarship is specific to the STEM fields, and the fact that we’ve had recent success shows we have some outstanding students who are beginning to receive national recognition,” Mark Andersen, director of the Office of National Scholarships who assisted Redman in her application, said. “NMSU is a wonderful training ground for students in the STEM field.”

For Redman, one of the coolest parts of the award was seeing her name among the other scholars at some of the country’s top universities.

“It’s awesome to put NMSU’s name out there with all those other programs and show that you don’t have to spend a life savings on school to do well,” Redman said.

As Redman is still a sophomore, the Goldwater scholarship will award her cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board, up to a maximum of $7,500 annually for two academic years.

Redman plans to pursue a doctorate degree, and while she is still determining her specific career goals, she knows she wants to continue with cancer research. She is currently working in Professor Jeffrey Arterburn’s lab doing breast cancer research by synthesizing organic molecules that will potentially bind to estrogen dependent tumors specific to breast cancer. This could aid in diagnosing and treating the cancer through labeling with a radioactive isotope or a fluorescent dye. Her previous research experience has been at the Los Alamos National lab in a medical isotopes facility, where she began working since she was a rising senior in high school.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1986 to honor Goldwater, who served for 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The program was created to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering and to foster excellence in those fields.

Read the original NMSU news release here.

The New Frontiers Institute, the Honors College,
and the Department of Music present:

“Music in Flight: WWII European Refugee Musicians in Latin America, 1933-1945”

Atkinson Recital Hall
April 22, 2013, 7:30pm
Free and Open to the Public

Featuring members of the La Catrina String Quartet,
Laura Spitzer, Lisa Van Winkle, Fred Bugbee,
and John Carlo Pierce
With Dr. Andrea Orzoff, Department of History

The New Frontiers Institute, the Honors College, and the Department of Music proudly present a lecture-recital that will introduce a series of untold musical stories: those of European musicians who fled the Nazis and settled in Latin America. There, they helped create national orchestras and conservatories. They brought lesser-known Latin American composers’ work onto concert stages, and reinvented local musical traditions for the modern classical repertoire. Their stories provide a glimpse at some of the ways in which immigrants can enrich cultures and be enriched by the cultures they become part of. They are stories of international politics, transnational cultural networks, urban and musical culture, and the redefinition of European identity in the New World.

Dr. Andrea Orzoff, senior fellow at NMSU’s New Frontiers Institute and Associate Professor of History, will spin these musicians’ tales; faculty and students from NMSU’s Music Department will play the music. Among the artists onstage will be members of the Grammy-winning La Catrina String Quartet, as well as professors Laura Spitzer, Lisa Van Winkle, and Fred Bugbee. Music by composers Guillermo Graetzer, Alberto Ginastera, Rodolfo Halffter, and others, along with Theodoro Valcárcel’s “Tahwa Inka’j Tak’y-nam (Four Incan Songs),” sung by John Carlo Pierce, tenor.

Please join us and learn about a very different kind of “world music”!

For information call 646-2005 .

Larry D. Thomas, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, has published nineteen collections of poetry, his most recent book-length collection of which is A Murder of Crows (Virtual Artists Collective, Chicago, 2011).  He has two additional books of poetry forthcoming: The Lobsterman’s Dream (El Grito del Lobo Press, Fulton, MO) and Uncle Ernest (Virtual Artists Collective, Chicago).  Among the publications in which his poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming are 200 New Mexico Poems,The Texas Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Sugar House Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and Southwestern American Literature.  His New and Selected Poems (TCU Press 2008) was long-listed for the National Book Award.

http://larrydthomas.com

(Original Article)

Wesley Hazen, a December criminal justice graduate at New Mexico State University, soon will be traveling overseas to study crime and punishment. Named a 2013 Gates Scholar, the native New Mexican will spend nine months researching the criminal justice system at the United Kingdom’s Institute of Criminology beginning in October.

Hazen, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, is among 39 students nationwide to receive the full-cost scholarship, and only the second NMSU student to receive it. Mohammad Ghassemi, an electrical and computer engineering graduate received the award in 2010.

“The Honors College is very proud of Wesley and his accomplishments,” said Mark Andersen, associate dean in the Honors College. “His story is an inspiration to the whole university community, and I hope that it serves to remind our students that even the most prestigious competitive scholarships are not out of reach, given hard work and dedication.”

Continue reading the original article here.

Congratulations to Honors College Professor Serrano. She teaches HON 306V Science, Ethics and Society and the HON 115 Journeys of Discovery freshman seminars: Plants, Brain and  Behavior and the Art of Scientific Discovery.  Professor Serrano thanks the Honors students for inspiring her to be at her best and sends congratulations to the Fall 2012 students and their families.

From the NMSU News Release:

New Mexico State University Regents Professor Elba Serrano has reached a pinnacle in her career. Serrano was recently named as a 2012 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
She will be recognized in a ceremony along with 700 other honorees at the Fellows Forum on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013, in Boston, where she will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette for her accomplishments.

“This is a wonderful recognition of Dr. Serrano and reflects well on the ability of NMSU to attract top quality faculty to our university,” said NMSU Interim President Manuel Pacheco. “Our congratulations go to her.”

Election as a fellow of AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications.

“NMSU has provided me with the opportunity and resources to achieve recognition for fulfilling my professorial duties. I’m especially honored and grateful to have worked with the students at NMSU,” Serrano said.

Serrano, a neuroscientist in the College of Arts and Sciences, will be recognized for her contributions to neuroscience, research, teaching and service, as well as program leadership and efforts to diversify the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

Continue reading the original article here.

Dr. Nancy Baker is currently the regent’s professor for the department of government at NMSU. She has been an aggie since 1989 after living in New Orleans for 10 years. She completed a lot of her graduate work in New Orleans and focused on Political Science. Her main focuses are on the on the presidency and constitutional law. Aside from teaching, Baker enjoys gardening and hiking around the Organ Mountains. Dr. Baker is also a traveler. She has traveled/lived in about 45 countries. This past spring she was fortunate to teach for a semester in Bratislava, Slovakia. She also enjoys reading. Currently her favorite book is “The Baroque Cycle,” by Neal Stephenson. She favors many quotes and one of them is by Mark Twain: “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience; this is the ideal life.” Her favorite thing about the honors college is the “dynamic nature of the classroom. Students feel comfortable discussing and even disagreeing with course material, and this makes honors classes lively and interactive.” She advices students to be engaged with the world and recommends the honors college because it provides skills in critical thinking, writing, researching, and reading that will enable students to continue learning and growing throughout their lives. She believes this is truly empowering!

Early registration for Sophomore and Freshmen is TBA

Mark Andersen has been named associate dean of New Mexico State University’s Honors College. As part of his appointment, he will also serve as director of the college’s Office of National Scholarships and International Education.

(Justin Bannister, 575-646-5981, jbannist@nmsu.edu)

[Read the rest at NMSU News Center]