NEWS
New Mexico Shines at National EPSCoR Conference
New Mexico EPSCoR had a robust presence at the 28th National NSF EPSCoR Conference held in Omaha, Nebraska, from October 13-16, 2024. The New Mexico cohort included multiple student and faculty researchers, two state lawmakers, and staff from the NM EPSCoR state office.
📸 Link to professional event photo album
📸 Link to photos NM EPSCoR staff took
Selena Connealy, Associate Director for NM EPSCoR, spoke in three different sessions including, "Working with American Indian and Alaska Native Communities in EPSCoR Jurisdictions," "E-CORE Projects," and "Postdoctoral Researcher Development."
Brittney Van Der Werff, NM EPSCoR's Communication and Outreach Manager, organized and led the "Science Communication at the Front Lines" session, sharing her expertise in science communication alongside two other practitioners from Nebraska.
The "Quantum Research in EPSCoR Jurisdictions" session featured three experts from New Mexico including Distinguished Professor Marek Osinski and Assistant Professor Liz Godwin from the University of New Mexico, along with Jake Douglass, Quantum Business Development Lead at Sandia National Laboratories.
Rounding out New Mexico’s session contributions, Gerhard Schoener, Senior Hydrogeologist at Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority and Research Assistant Professor at UNM, shared his experience using photography as a low-cost monitoring option in the “Using Time-Lapse Images as a Tool for Research, Education, and Communication” session.
PhD students Bing Gao and Mega Frost from the University of New Mexico presented research posters, “Molecular Optomechanical Coupling in Plasmonic Nanocavities” and “Electron Microscopy Characterization of GaSb Islands Grown on Silicon Substrates via Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Quantum Applications,” respectively.
Assistant Professor Sarbagya Shakya from Eastern New Mexico University and Assistant Professor Meng Zhou from New Mexico State University attended, as well as State Representative Debbie Sariñana and State Senator William Soules, underscoring New Mexico's commitment to advancing research capacity at both the institutional and governmental levels.
