New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology


The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, formerly New Mexico School of Mines, is a public university in Socorro, New Mexico, United States.
It offers over 30 Bachelor of Science degrees in technology, the sciences, engineering, management, and technical communication, as well as graduate degrees at the masters and doctoral levels.
NMT regularly ranks high as a top public college in the West, public universities for percentage of bachelor's students who earn a doctorate, and as one the best Hispanic-serving universities in America.
WWW Official Site𝕏 newmexicotechFB newmexicotech

History

With 987 degree-seeking undergraduate students and 486 degree-seeking graduate students as of fall 2024, New Mexico Tech is a relatively small university focused on science and engineering. It was founded by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature in 1889 as the New Mexico School of Mines, with the goal of boosting the territorial economy by teaching mining specialties at the college level.
During the 1930s, petroleum engineering and technology also became an important field of study at the institute. In 1946, New Mexico Tech began offering graduate degrees. The institute adopted its current name in 1951, but the change was not legally effective until 1960, through an amendment of the New Mexico State Constitution, Art. XII, Section 11.
It also houses numerous research centers spanning diverse fields such as hydrology, astrophysics, explosives engineering, atmospheric physics, and cybersecurity.

Research and teaching

Image:Interferomter BCFcgOverlay.jpg|thumb|250px|Magdalena Ridge Observatory, managed by New Mexico Tech's Office of Research and Economic Development, is located west of campus at an elevation of in the Cibola National Forest.
Image:USA.NM.VeryLargeArray.02.jpg|thumb|250px|The Very Large Array : a 27-dish interferometer west of Socorro, with headquarters on the New Mexico Tech campus.
Image:Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology Program for Array Studies of the Continental Lithosphere Instrument Center.jpg|thumb|250px|The EarthScope Primary Instrument Center, located on the New Mexico Tech campus.
New Mexico Tech's well-known areas of research and teaching include hydrology, astrophysics, atmospheric physics, geophysics, information technology, information security, Earth Science, energetic materials engineering, and petroleum recovery.
In 2003, with funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, New Mexico Tech purchased the town of Playas, New Mexico, and the surrounding to develop the Playas Training and Research Center, operated by the school's EMRTC, which provides training and research for the university's first responders, counterterrorism, and Air Force programs.

Affiliated science and engineering centers

Student life

NMT hosts an annual Performing Arts Series that is free to students, and, along with the broader Socorro community, city, and county, supports a great number of special events each year. New Mexico Tech is located approximately an hour south of Albuquerque in a region of high deserts to subalpine mountains that offers considerable outdoor recreation opportunities, including rock climbing, road and mountain biking, a triathlon, and hiking opportunities. New Mexico Tech also hosts numerous active student clubs, a Part 15 AM radio station, and a biweekly student newspaper, Paydirt. The campus includes an 18-hole championship golf course. The NMT student esports and rugby club teams recently won national championships.
NMT takes pride in extensive community outreach, hosting popular events like a robotics demolition derby for 6th-12th graders and a weeklong summer science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program for high school students.
The campus population has historically been predominantly male, but it has moved increasingly towards a balance between the sexes. The gender distribution at New Mexico Tech as of 2021 is 68% male and 32% female.

Presidents

The following people have served as president of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology:
No.ImageNameTerm startTerm end
1Floyd Davis18931895
2William H. Seaman18951898
3Fayette Jones18981902
4Charles Keys19021905
5Robert P. Noble19051908
6Emmet A. Drake19081913
7Fayette Jones19131917
8Alexis Illinski19171921
9Edgar H. Wells19211939
10C.E. Needham19391942
11R.H. Reese19421946
12E. J. Workman19461965
13Stirling Colgate19651975
14Kenneth W. Ford19751983
15Lawrence H. Lattman19831993
16Daniel H. Lopez19932016
17Stephen G. WellsJuly 1, 2016April 28, 2023
interimDaniel H. LopezApril 29, 2023April 14, 2024
18Mahyar AmouzegarApril 15, 2024July 25, 2025
actingMichael JacksonJuly 26, 2025September 15, 2025
interimMichael JacksonSeptember 15, 2025Present

Notable alumni

Popular culture

A number of television shows have focused on New Mexico Tech faculty, students, and research. TruTV's Man vs. Cartoon features attempts by Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center to re-create contraptions and situations found in Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons. MythBusters, National Geographic Explorer, BBC Horizon and Nova have also featured Tech in various episodes. Another TV show featuring Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, Blow Up U, began filming in the spring of 2009.