Competitive Graduate Student Assistantship Program
The AES graduate research awards further the mission of ACES and the AES by expanding research that benefits the citizens of New Mexico. These assistantships will help attract and train outstanding graduate students to understand the complexities and value of quality research.
Awards will be distributed throughout the year and proposals will be reviewed by the Interim AES Associate Dean, Dr. Jay Lillywhite, and AES Associate Director, Dr. Lara Prihodko.
Please email, aces_proposals@nmsu.edu , with your Graduate Assistantship request and copy, Claire Montoya, AES Director of Communication and Reporting.
2021-2022 Graduate Research Assistantship Awards
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Development of a novel assessment for clinical signs of bovine respiratory disease in newly received feedlot calves using tri-axis accelerometers
PI: Vinicius Gouvea
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Sorption Competition Impacting Per- & Polyfluoroalkyl Contaminants in Soils
PI: Kenneth Carroll
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Pecan Crops
PI: Nicole Pietrasiak
Co-PIs: Richard Heerema, Jennifer Randall
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Control of Salmonella contamination in dry processing environments using air-based cold atmospheric plasma: Tackling a persistent problem with a novel waterless sanitation technology
PI: Luis Sabillon
Co-PI: Sergio Martinez-Monteagudo
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Managing Lehmann Lovegrass and Restoring Native Species for Rangeland Improvement
PI: Erik Lehnhoff, Akasha Faist
Graduate Student Award Hire: Melissa Meyers
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Soil Carbon Sequestration and Global Warming Mitigation in Semiarid Cropping Systems
PI: Rajan Ghimire
Co-PIs: Manoj Shukla, Mark Marsalis
2020-2021 Graduate Research Assistantship Awards
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Integrated Mesquite Management for Improved Rangeland Health
Project Leads: Erik Lehnoff; Akasha Faist; David Thompson
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Use of Drinking Water as a Carrier to Provide Critical Nutrients for Immune System Support: Impacts on Health and Performance of Weaned Calves
Project Leads: Clint Loest; Vinicius Gouvea
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Quantifying Thresholds for Shrub Encroachment in the Chihuahuan Desert
Project Lead: Niall Hanan
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Improving Management Outcomes for Elk, Mule Deer, Black Bears, and Mountain Lions Following Stand-Replacing Wildfires and Landscape-Scale Forest Restoration Projects
Project Lead: James Cain
- ACES Competitive Awards Program | Urbanization Impact on Wildlife
Project Leads: Fitsum Abadi Gebreselassie; Martha Desmond
2019-2020 Graduate Research Assistantship Awards
One-year Proposals Awarded (2019-2020)
- Food safety/food microbiology
Willis Fedio | EFCS
- Identification of steroidal saponins as a potential biochemical marker for Fusarium basal rot resistance screening of onions
Christopher Cramer | PES
- Fungal toxicity in range plants
Rebecca Creamer | EPPWS
- Using drones to distribute leafy spurge biological control agents to small expanding patches of invasive weeds in northern New Mexico
David Thompson | EPPWS
- Novel Approach to Quantify Nitrogen Mineralization and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Semiarid Cropping Systems
Rajan Ghimire | PES/EPS
Two-year Proposals Awarded (2019 – 2021)
- Characterizing Hemp Nutraceuticals During in vitro Human Gut Digestion
Ivette Guzman | PES
- Obtaining Cover Crop Agroecosystem Services while Reducing Irrigation Water
Erik Lehnhoff | EPPWS
- Explore and develop optimal hedging strategies that can be adopted by dairy producers
Jay Lillywhite | AEAB
- Sampling & Analysis to Address Per- & Polyfluoroalkyl Contaminants at NM Dairies
Kenneth Carroll | PES