University of New Mexico School of Engineering

10/02/2026

Shaifalee Saxena, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Best Student Award.

Saxena began working as a graduate research assistant with Alexander Scheinker, Ph.D., at LANL in July 2025. Her research focuses on combining reinforcement learning with adaptive controls to help complex systems operate reliably as conditions change. The work has applications in particle accelerator tuning and robotic manipulation.

Shaifalee Saxena, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Best Student Award. She was one of five recipients out of approximately 2000 student workers.

09/21/2026

09/21/2026

09/21/2026

Assistant Professor Carlos Iván Rivera Gonzales of the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering recently spoke to potential students and their families at UNM’s Fall Preview Day.

“Events like this remind me how important it is to create welcoming spaces where future Lobos can envision their path forward and feel confident about the journey ahead,” Rivera Gonzales said.

Thanks for supporting our future students! 🐺❤️

09/04/2026

Barsha Khanal, an international undergraduate student in the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, has received six scholarships and awards, totaling $9,500, for academic and research excellence this year.

As a student from Nepal, the scholarships reduce the financial burden of Khanal’s education and allow her to focus on coursework, research, leadership and professional development.

“More importantly, receiving support from different engineering organizations motivates me to continue working hard and contributing to the engineering community. I am very grateful to the donors and organizations who believe in and support students like me,” Khanal said. “Their support encourages me to make the most of my education and, in the future, give back to other students and the engineering community.”

Read more about Barsha: https://engineering.unm.edu/news/2026/08/unm-engineering-student-awarded-6-scholarships.html

09/03/2026

Ask a student at The University of New Mexico School of Engineering if they’ve worked with Elsa Castillo, director of the Engineering Student Success Center, and there’s a good chance they’ll share a story about how she has supported their education in one way or another.

Castillo, who has worked in higher education for over 25 years, was honored with three major awards in the last year for her efforts to support students in STEM.

Read about her accomplishments here: https://news.unm.edu/news/soe-s-castillo-celebrates-25th-year-in-education-with-three-major-awards

09/01/2026

We're proud to announce the hiring of Radhakrishna “Suresh” Sureshkumar as chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He will join UNM in January 2027 from Syracuse University.

He looks forward to investing in the CBE department and amplifying impact by facilitating research and educational opportunities.

“The department has a long history of great standing among its peer group and is respected for the research it conducts, as well as its faculty — distinguished, mid- and early career,” he said. “I’m eager to combine core faculty expertise with the full reach of UNM’s intellectual power through collaborations with the health sciences ecosystem and other engineering departments, as the department launches its bioengineering degree.”

Read more about Professor Sureshkumar's background and goals: https://engineering.unm.edu/news/2026/09/sureshkumar-named-chair-of-chemical-and-biological-engineering-starting-january-2027.html

08/31/2026

If you wanted to take down a power grid or a network of drones, which part of the system should you attack? Researchers at The University of New Mexico School of Engineering posed the question in hopes of developing better network security mechanisms.

Francesco Sorrentino, professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Amirhossein Nazerian, a now-graduated UNM Ph.D. alumnus, published a study titled “Extreme vulnerability to intruder attacks destabilizes network dynamics,” in the journal Nature Communications on the security of cyber-physical systems with a surprising result.

https://news.unm.edu/news/unm-researchers-publish-study-on-intruder-network-attacks-in-nature-communications

08/25/2026

Design a sticker and you could win $100 Lobo Cash!

We want to know what being a Lobo Computer Scientist, Lobo Construction Manager, or Lobo Engineer means to you! For each category, one first place and one runner-up will be selected to win $100 and $50, respectively. Winning stickers may be utilized for outreach and recruitment purposes.

Full contest rules in the comments.

08/21/2026

The Southwest Environmental Finance Center at the UNM School of Engineering has secured a $7 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support small water systems and advance water technical assistance.

The Southwest Environmental Finance Center (SW EFC) at The University of New Mexico, recently received a new cooperative agreement awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Real Water Technical Assistance (RealWaterTA) Initiative.