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New Mexico Tech,
Earth and Environmental Science Department:
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"The Earth and Environmental Science Department offers BS, MS, and PhD degrees in a broad range of earth science disciplines including geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and hydrology, and administers an interdisciplinary undergraduate course of study in environmental science. The geology, geochemistry, hydrology, and geophysics programs operate semi-autonomously under the umbrella of the E & ES Department; however, one of the great strengths of the department is the large number of research and teaching efforts that cross program boundaries.
The department has 20 faculty members, of which four are in geophysics, six in hydrology, and ten in geology/geochemistry. In addition, the department has 32 affiliated adjunct faculty who are actively involved in research and/or teaching. Many of these are from the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, which is located on campus, but they also come from industry, national laboratories, and other organizations. The IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center, a major NSF-funded seismological facility, is also housed on campus and administered by faculty of the geophysics program.
The department has roughly 90 graduate and 65 undergraduate students and is strongly research-oriented. Major areas of research include (but are not restricted to):
- earthquake seismology and general geophysics
- economic geology
- faults and fluid flow
- geochronology
- groundwater hydrology
- paleoclimatology
- sedimentology and diagenesis
- surficial processes and hydrology
- tectonics
- volcanology
Research is strongly interdisciplinary and there is extensive cooperative research between programs. Major research instrumentation and facilities include well-equipped research computing laboratories, 40Ar/39Ar, quadrupole, and stable isotope mass spectrometers, electron microprobe, high-pressure rock physics and rock mechanics laboratory, fission track and image analysis lab, neutron activation counting lab, liquid and gas chromotography lab, a flow visualization lab, local seismic networks, and a high-bay lab for intermediate-scale hydrology analog experiments.
Faculty research productivity is high, with external funding currently at about $7 million per year. Undergraduate as well as graduate students are involved in research activities. Faculty are currently serving on the editorial boards of eight major journals. Nine members of the department are fellows of professional societies. Two faculty members have both served as distinguished lecturers for their professional society and received major research awards. Six have received the Distinguished Research Award and one the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Institute.
The Hydrology Program as a whole has been ranked 4th in the nation since 1999 in the US News and World Report Graduate School Rankings."
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