Aggie Ingeniero, September 2017
As this issue of “Aggie Ingeniero” is being rolled out, our faculty members are looking at a number of ways to enhance graduate student enrollment. Current trends nationwide show declines in enrollment because of improved employment numbers, declines in numbers of international applicants, etc. However, some engineering colleges report consistent gains which are almost always attributed to their proactive s
trategies viz., marketing their research strengths, designing graduate curricula that are easily accessible to both continuing and non-traditional students. Among the initiatives we are considering right now are ways to attract our own bachelor’s students into master’s accelerated programs with scholarships and stipends designed to help them continue their studies, and using the limited number of graduate assistantships we have to leverage our external funding. Internationally, we are focusing our efforts in three directions – pipeline agreements with Changchun Institute of Technology, Taizhou University, and Agricultural University of Hebei, in China; pipeline agreements with colleges affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Nagarjuna; three universities in South India; and an agreement with Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua in Mexico.
Graduate education is intimately tied to our faculty members’ research activities, and neither can flourish without the other. Faculty have an important role to play here; their active engagement in recruiting top-quality graduate students, particularly at doctoral level, is key to our success.
Lakshmi N. Reddi, College of Engineering Dean
Faculty Profile: Samah Ben Ayed
Samah Ben Ayed has been teaching engineering students since fall 2015 in both the Mechanical and Aerospace and Engineering Technology and Surveying departments. This semester, Ben Ayed will serve as assistant professor in the ETSE department. She will teach fluid and thermal sciences-related courses.
Her drive to be an assistant professor was the initial impetus for her to come to New Mexico State University, but she was also drawn to explore the Western region of the U.S. Having been here for two years, she said, “I enjoy most the friendly environment of my colleagues and my students. It is a very caring community.”
Ben Ayed earned a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, and joined the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics at the same institution as a postdoctoral researcher. Her research interests are in fluid dynamics and reduced order modeling applied to HVAC systems, wind turbines and biomimetics.
Outside of the academic environment, Ben Ayed enjoys socializing with friends and relatives. “I also enjoy traveling and discovering other places,” she said. A former Spanish speaker, she hopes to take classes to revive her Spanish speaking ability.
WRITER: Linda Fresques
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