Pamela Pyle

Pyle is organizing the New Mexico Chamber Music Festival, which runs from Sunday, June 2 through Saturday, June 8, with concerts at the University of New Mexico Center for the Arts’ Keller Hall on Friday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. and another on Saturday, June 8 at 2 p.m. at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 2000 Mountain Rd., NW. Tickets are not required for entrance.

The festival has global representation with students from Brazil, China, Korea, Taiwan, Venezuela and the U.S. attending. These students are studying across the country at the Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, the University of Texas, Austin, Arizona State University and the University of North Dakota, plus some recent UNM graduates.

In addition to Pyle, who teaches and performs piano and collaborative piano, the faculty includes acclaimed violinists Guillermo Figueroa, L.P. How and Distinguished Professor of violoncello at the Eastman School of Music, Alan Harris.

For this inaugural year, Pyle has hand selected 14 students, who will be divided into four chamber groups– two piano quartets and two piano trios, plus additional configurations of piano/string duos and a string quartet.

“It’s very exciting, as most of these students have not worked together before, so there will be very fresh collaborations afoot! I think they are an extraordinary group of young performers,” Pyle said.

Pyle said that she sees the viability of the festival catching on and becoming a recurring event. “A music festival is a unique experience for students and ultimately for the community that hears and supports them. They work for a short but intensely focused period on specific repertoire, and their whole lives for that time revolve around the music and their work with the faculty and other students. It is an immersion that allows them to learn and grow with the music, with the added bonus of getting to present their interpretations to an audience at the end of their explorations.”

Pyle has done extensive fundraising. Donors from across the city have contributed, as have some of Pyle’s colleagues within the College of Fine Arts and administrators and others across campus, and the Cultural Services offices of the City of Albuquerque. Piano Werkes has graciously loaned the festival the use of a Yamaha concert grand piano. As a result, the festival is free to the student participants.

“The students will be staying with us here on campus. We were able to raise enough money to fly them, and four cellos, in for the festival,” she said. “I am so grateful for the support we have received from so many members of the community. The economy of a city can be positively effected by hosting such a festival, but beyond this, the influx of international students and faculty add to the vision of our city as a valued center for the arts and creativity.”

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu

Meeko Oishi

Oishi, an electrical and computer engineering assistant professor, received the CAREER award to develop theoretical and computational techniques to make collaborative human-automation systems more reliable by identifying potential problems in user-interfaces and automation at the design stage. The research will use control theoretic techniques for dynamics-driven user-interface design, with application to large, safety-critical, high-risk or expensive systems.

Oishi’s research focuses on providing guarantees of safety and performance in cyberphysical systems through careful design of controllers and user-interfaces (for systems that are not fully automated). Another aspect of her work is characterization of biomedical systems using control theoretic techniques. In collaboration with neurologists who focus on Parkinson’s disease and neurosurgeons who focus on traumatic brain injury, her group aims to identify potential biomarkers through system identification and dynamical system analysis. For more, visit Oishi’s research, awards, publications and background.

Mark Stone

Stone, a civil engineering assistant professor, will use “river forensics” to reconstruct historical river conditions dating back over 100 years using computer models. The models will be used to describe flood waves as various river engineering projects were implemented throughout the middle Rio Grande valley. The project will also include important outreach activities involving the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) and the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI).

The research is underway because humans have long attempted to exert control over rivers to satisfy immediate needs. River engineering projects have included construction of dams and levees, channelizing rivers, and developing floodplains. Such projects have allowed our civilization to prosper but at an ecological cost that is now better understood and more greatly appreciated by society. The results of Stone’s research will improve understanding of these impacts while also informing river restoration efforts. For more, visit at Stone’s research, awards, publications and background.

Media contact: Tamara Williams (505) 277‑5859; email: tamara@unm.edu

A student from the CityLab studio explains his project to Dean Geraldine Forbes Isais.

The exhibition is work from the inaugural multidisciplinary studio, Root 66, which brought together architecture, landscape architecture and community and regional planning — the three disciplinary areas of the school.

Geraldine Forbes Isais, dean, UNM School of Architecture and Planning, said, “The exhibition was presented for the City of Albuquerque staff to come by to see the students’ work, evaluate it and talk with the students. We believe it’s a mutual goal to have student interns continue to work in CityLab and with the city.”

See slideshow.

Burr, center, with second year law student Jeffrey Mitchell, who served as co-host; and author Melody Groves, the featured guest for the winning Arts Talk episode.

Arts Talk received first place awards in the categories of Best Television Talk Show and Best Television Interview. Student Jeffrey Mitchell attended and was awarded as well. The interview was with authors Don Bullis and Slim Randles.

Episodes that were taped this semester will be rebroadcast Monday nights at 7 p.m. on Comcast channel 27.

May 13: Jonathan Miller, author of Rattlesnake Lawyer and Rattlesnake Wedding

May 20: College of Fine Arts Dean Kym Pynder and Arts Management Director Ramsey Lofton with co-host Marne Elmore, an art law student studying for a master’s in Fine Arts.

May 27: Photographer Craig Varjabedian with co-host Jeffrey Mitchell.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu

Winners of the AHF 2012 Distinguished Writing Awards will be publicly announced at the Foundation’s annual meeting and dinner later this month at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va.

Hutton has to his credit awards from the Western Writers of America and has served as a history expert for film and television productions.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu

Scene from “The Menu”

Why are we here? Where are the signs that make a life? Do we find happiness or are we taken? Is it promised us? Who will love without falter, tell the story? With a haunting original soundtrack, Tricklock takes you on a journey following a map of men, women, love, death and everything in between.

Linnell, who also has served as chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, signs copies of his book, “Walking on Fire,” at a reception prior to the Saturday, May 4 performance at 6:30 p.m. The performances are Thursday, May 2 through Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 5 at 2:30 p.m. in the Experimental Theatre, located in the UNM Center for the Arts.

“The Menu” is directed by Elsa Menéndez, with composition and original sound score by Casey Mráz. Movement direction is by Jennifer Predock-Linnell, with David Torres on lighting, scenographer/videographer.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for seniors and UNM faculty, and $10 for students and UNM staff. Tickets are available through the UNM Ticket Offices, call 925‑5858 or on UNM Tickets.com.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu

Plaza Mayor in Trujillo, Spain

The city and its natural and cultural environments are used as a test to study issues of preservation and maintenance of historical integrity within a context of present economic challenges and development. Trujillo and its region share commonalities with New Mexico, including a shared history. The city (along with National Park of Monfragüe and the medieval city of Plasencia) has been nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The workshop is organized under the auspices of the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance, with the participation from the UNM School of Architecture and Planning. Participants include Landscape Professor Baker Morrow, graduate architecture student Andrew Bernard, and Amy Barnhart from the Historic Preservation and Regionalism Program.

The UNM Honors College has been conducting programs in Trujillo, taking more than 170 undergraduate students to this city and region through the Conexiones program since 1995. López-Chávez will use this opportunity to share with the workshop participants the experience of using Trujillo as a research field for UNM students for, at least, the last 18 years. The workshop meetings and discussions are set in the Museo de la Coria, a 15th century restored convent that houses the Fundación Xavier de Salas — a NGO dedicated to the study of connections between Spain and the Americas. This institution has been the campus of UNM students who go with the Conexiones program, which presents its 10th program this July.

Main events in the preservation workshop are lectures by experts of institutions such as Hispania Nostra and the World Monument Fund; round tables with locals interested in the problems and possibilities of Trujillo as a preservation site. The program also includes visits to specific historical sites and areas of preservation and interest in Trujillo and in the region, including the sister city of Alburquerque and the National Park of Monfragüe.

Through the workshop, participants interact with European preservationists and work with a Spanish city of 8,000 people while exchanging ideas with individuals from a variety of disciplines, plus the local community.

Two products will be produced; a public forum in Trujillo and a written report in English and Spanish. The written report will be created by the participants and will be offered to the city of Trujillo. The intent is have the report serve as the basis for future UNM students interested in preservation and interdisciplinary studies in Extremadura, Spain.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu

William Michener, a professor with University Libraries at UNM, is the principal investigator along with UNM co-PI Mary Jo Daniel. Michener will coordinate research, education and administration of the award. Participating institutions and partners include New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, Eastern New Mexico University, New Mexico Highlands University, Santa Fe Community College, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Explora Museum, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Santa Fe Institute and the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship.

“The main idea of this award is to build our state research capacity to develop the state’s potential for sustainable energy development through collaborations among academia, business and industry and the National Labs,” Michener said. 

“This new award builds on prior NM EPSCoR successes and will foster greater educational achievement in STEM fields and expand opportunities for employment in well-paid jobs for New Mexicans,” Daniel said.

The research will attempt to answer three main questions:

1.  How can New Mexico realize its energy development potential in a sustainable manner?
2.  How can the efficiency of resource utilization or extractive technologies be increased?
3.  How can we sustain extractive energy development with no minimal risk to water and environmental resources?

Research teams will explore questions in several specific areas including

• Bioalgal energy development to support the next generation of biofuel production.
• The potential of solar energy to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to methanol, an alternative transportable fuel.
• A solar-driven water oxidation process that uses inexpensive catalysts to generate H₂, a high-energy fuel that does not emit carbon and design more efficient organic solar photovoltaic cells.
• Issues related to membrane properties and fouling that prevent osmotic pressure systems from becoming commercially viable sources of power.
• Improve understanding of the way uranium moves in the environment and developing tools for predicting an controlling the movement.

A geothermal energy team will develop a better understanding of factors that affect the viability and sustainability of New Mexico’s underlying natural hydrothermal systems. Another team will explore the trade-offs that occur between different energy and economic development choices while considering the potential for sustainable communities and use of water.

Additionally the award supports education and outreach activities that will build the human capacity needed to realize New Mexico’s potential in research, education and economic development. 

These include:

• An afterschool program for middle school students on computer modeling and simulation
• Summer research experiences for community college and tribal college students
• Professional development for community college faculty and for K-12 STEM teachers
• Museum exhibitions and a network of informal science education institutions
• An entrepreneurship institute to provide training in key enterprise functions to faculty

The research teams have already been designated and work on the grant will begin on June 1, 2013.  For more information, visit NM EPSCoR. 

The teams are listed below.

Bioalgal Energy Development Team
Solar Energy Development Team
Osmotic Power Development Team
Uranium Transport and Site Remediation Team
Geothermal Energy Resources and Sustainability Team
Social and Natural Science Nexus Team

Media Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277‑5627; email: kwent2@unm.edu

Assistant Professor of ECE Olga Lavrova and students showing a new solar photovoltaic array. Photo credit Tamara Williams.

The UNM School of Engineering celebrated completion of a new solar photovoltaic panel system on the roof of the Electrical and Computer Engineering building with balloons and a ribbon cutting. ECE Assistant Professor Olga Lavrova is leading the project which will be operated by graduate students as part of a smartgrid system.

The ECE building is a particularly heavy user of electricity on campus because of the numerous labs with complex electrical requirements. This installation will provide about three percent of the power used by the building. Lavrova says the solar photovoltaics system panel installation will be connected with the solar thermal system on the roof of the Mechanical Engineering building so that both systems can be operated in unison and lead to even greater reduction in power consumption. Together the students and faculty will operate the system for real time demand response and load management. These functionalities and inter-operability are one of the first steps UNM is taking towards making the main campus into a Smart Campus, part of the Smart Grid.

Lavrova says 10–15 students on the power and energy academic tract in ECE will be involved in running the system. Her biggest job she says is to keep the students in school. Many of the students involved in the project have already been hired by local companies.

The system was installed by Sacred Power Corporation which donated labor and materials. The photovoltaic panels were a donation from Schott Solar. The system is expected to produce 32 megawatts of power over the course of a year. This is the fifth building on campus to use solar energy for part of its electrical power.

Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277‑5627; kwent2@unm.edu

Taryn Simon, The Innocents, Charles Irvin Fain, scene of the crime, the Snake River, Melba, Idaho.

The Innocents is a series of photographs by Simon that depict victims of wrongful incarceration for violent crimes that they did not commit. The primary cause of wrongful conviction is mistaken identification. A victim or eyewitness identifies a suspected perpetrator through law enforcement’s use of photographs and lineups. This procedure relies on the assumption of precise visual memory. But, through exposure to composite sketches, mugshots, Polaroids and lineups, eyewitness memory can change. In the history of these cases, photography offered the criminal justice system a tool that transformed innocent citizens into criminals. Photographs assisted officers in obtaining eyewitness identifications and aided prosecutors in securing convictions.

Smith is the author of Photography on the Color Line: W. E. B. Du Bois, Race, and Visual Culture and American Archives: Gender, Race, and Class in Visual Culture; co-author of Lynching Photographs; and co-editor of Pictures and Progress: Early Photography and the Making of African American Identity. Her latest book, At the Edge of Sight and the Unseen is forthcoming from Duke University Press this fall.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu