NM Tech hosts alumni tourney

An estimated 100 golf teams hit the

links as part of the Dr. Daniel H. Lopez

President’s Golf Tournament on the New

Mexico Tech campus on Sept. 14 and 15.

It was two fun-filled days of golf,

great food, club house hospitality and a

chance for many golfers to catch up with

old friends against the backdrop of M

Mountain.

The 29th annual tournament is the primary fundraiser for the President’s Tuition

Assistance Fund and, since its inception,

has raised more than $990,00 to help support 480 students.

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Because of the rigors of NM Tech’s

academic load, some students still need

extra semesters to graduate, and with most

scholarships only covering four years,

there are those who are worthy of help.

According to Niche.com, NM Tech is

ranked as the No. 1 Best College and Best

Value College in New Mexico. The school

also ranks as the No. 9 school in the country as a Hispanic-serving institution – a

designation for schools with more than 25

percent Spanish student attendance.

The school is ranked #1 by the National

Science Foundation for bachelor’s graduates from public universities who later earn

a Ph.D.

Mohammad Afrazi

Basic circuitry puzzles and games were

the spark that ignited Mohammad Afrazi’s

passion for engineering as a teenager in

Iran – a foundation that propelled him to

earn undergraduate and graduate degrees

in civil engineering, Now Afrazi is earning

a second master’s, this time in mechanical engineering with a robotics emphasis under Dr. Kooktae Lee at New Mexico Tech.

“After I got to civil engineering I saw a lot of repeatable jobs that we can make automatic” said Afrazi. “There

are some dangerous areas that humans are working in,

for example very tall buildings and tall bridges or underground structures, and they are dangerous to do maintenance. After seeing those jobs I got into robotics,” Afrazi

said.

His primary goal in pursuing expertise across engineering disciplines is to center human safety by reducing

the possibility of danger in risky jobs people have to perform without assistance from automation. He has contributed to three books, including “Programming the Finite

Element Method with Special Application in Geotechnical

Engineering 1 and 2” and “Elastic Theory of Materials.”

He is also co-author of more than 30 papers, including

“Strength and Deformation Behavior of Sand-rubber

Mixture” in which researchers explored the use of waste

tires to strengthen soils and sands in the construction of

civil infrastructures.

During his academic career in Iran, Afrazi earned

a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at Shiraz

University and a master’s degree in the same discipline

at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran. There, he was

president of the Civil Engineering Student Scientific

Association of Iran, and editor of the student-run scientific journal Palar, winning a national award as the country’s best scientific magazine by the Ministry of Science

Research and Technology. He is an editor and reviewer for

more than 20 scientific journals around the world and a

member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and

the Society of Mining Engineers.

“I want to make a robot to help humans -to do something that does something dangerous and hazardous

and takes the burden of that from humans.” Afrazi said.

“Robotics nowadays are getting jobs from humans, the

only areas that robots are helping humans in are in surgery or in areas hazardous or dangerous for humans.”

Afrazi is a recipient of the President’s Tuition

Assistance Scholarship award. He said the award has

enabled him to procure research and books he needs to

pursue his education without putting a burden on his family. He hopes to pursue a doctorate in robotics after his

graduation from New Mexico Tech.

Mireya Grijalva

As a kid, Mireya Grijalva found herself transfixed

by scientists in the cartoons she watched growing up in

Zacatecas, Mexico. Always in the background, the eccentric supporting characters somehow managed to outshine

the flashier roles in her eyes.

“It was always the scientist behind everything that

happened, but they were never the main character,”

Grijalva said with a laugh. “My favorite character was

always the scientist.”

A senior expected to graduate at the end of the Fall

2023 semester, Grijalva is studying Biomedical Sciences

at New Mexico Tech. She first discovered the degree program at a college admissions fair as a Rio Rancho High

School student.

She entered the major with an eye on a career in medicine, but found herself gravitating toward the study of the

broader biological world – including the changing climate

and its effects on the cultivation and production of essential crops like wheat.

Working with mentor Dr. Joel Sharbrough, her

research focuses on methods for bioengineering wheat to

increase its hardiness as geographical areas able to support a viable harvest shrink globally.

“We need to figure out the best ways to grow wheat

and in which conditions and start selecting for these

advantages,” she said.

She has also worked closely with NMT Associate

Professor Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian, in a group of students that designed a drone that collects CO2. Outside

the lab and out of the field, Grijalva serves as a Senator

in the SGA, and head of the body’s Mental Health

Committee. She is a member of the American Association

of University Women, and the Hispanic Students

Association.

Grijalva says the President’s Tuition Assistance

Scholarship saved her from facing a decision to cut her

education short just shy of her final semester at Tech.

She had unexpectedly exceeded the credit limit covered

by other scholarships, and without any savings to cover

tuition, she applied for and received the PTAS. “It was

such a relief,” she said. Grijalva won’t transition immediately into graduate school. First, she plans to take a break

for travel and to pursue some work experience in engineering