Two faculty members from The University of New Mexico were featured in the USA Today documentary, “Trust or security? The hidden cost of nuclear deterrence,” and the accompanying news story “Trinity test fallout haunts New Mexico as US expands nuclear plans.”

The documentary, produced by USA Today journalists Zulekha Nathoo and Lamar A. Salter, explores the impact of the Federal government’s push to modernize its nuclear stockpile by increasing plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The story featu…

Shaifalee Saxena, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Best Student Award. She was one of five recipients out of approximately 2000 student workers.

Saxena began working as a graduate research assistant with Alexander Scheinker, Ph.D., at LANL in July 2025. Her research focuses on combining reinforcement learning with adaptive controls to help complex systems operate reliably as conditions change. The work has applications in particle accelerator…

Lisa Losada-Rojas, assistant professor in the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, is one of three 2026 New Mexico EPSCoR Mentor Award recipients. In her research, she advances communities’ public health through transportation solutions.

Losada-Rojas was nominated for offering personalized, thoughtful and transformative mentorship to her students. Her nominator said she has a remarkable ability to meet students where they are and help them grow into independent scholars.

Her approach to uplifting student…