On May 17, people from over 20 New Mexico institutions of higher education, state government, industry, and non-profit organizations attended the Year 1 NM SMART Grid Center All Hands Meeting in Albuquerque. The nearly 100 attendees enjoyed a keynote address by the Chancellor of New Mexico State University, Dr. Dan Arvizu, who was previously the Director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on renewable and sustainable energy.

In the world of academia, the proof is in the publications, not the pudding – unless, of course, the publication is on pudding. In the first year of New Mexico's last NSF EPSCoR project, the Energize New Mexico team produced 18 peer-reviewed publications. As time passed, these numbers predictably increased, with 27 in year three and 49 in year five. Now the grant is over, but papers are still being published. 

Clean and sustainable energy was a hot topic at the 2019 New Mexico Legislative Session. At least four bills and two memorials that passed are relevant to the NM SMART Grid Center research and associated education and workforce development components.

Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity (OE), Bruce J. Walker, announced the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) “Electricity Industry Technology and Practices Innovation Challenge.” This contest is designed to tap into American ingenuity for ideas on how to modify or replace existing processes and procedures, the use of technology, and traditional energy industry practices to improve grid operations, with the goal of making the nation’s Bulk Power System stronger and more resilient.

Eshani Hettiarachchi, New Mexico Tech graduate student and Uranium component team member for the Energize New Mexico grant, recently published her research on uranium-contaminated dust and its health implications in the American Chemical Society (ACS) journal, Environmental Science & Technology Letters.