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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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