Matt Reisen

Campus briefs for April 25, 2017

UNM Students get a sneak peak of Lobo Rainforest on April 26 According to a UNM Newsroom press release, a sneak peek for student housing at the Lobo Rainforest Building will be held Wednesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Interested residents will have an opportunity to tour the model room of the new student housing facility called Lobo Rainforest, which is located at 101 Broadway Blvd. NE, according to the press release. Applications are currently being accepted for student housing and are open to Innovation Academy students, current UNM Residents and UNM upperclassmen.

Holiday Time: Grant wishes with local products this year

Every year many Americans flock to mega stores like some sort of high-speed pilgrimage. As a result, stampedes and violent altercations have become synonymous with the holidays themselves. The name “Black Friday” evokes chills down the spine that run deeper than the frigid winter itself. Avoid the frantic shoppers and corporate products to support those closest to you. Give your loved ones the gift of New Mexico’s best. Here are some gift ideas that reflect the best our beautiful state has to offer, while also supporting the local culture.

UNM researchers begin studying teen brains

The Mind Research Network at UNM is beginning to study adolescent brain development, and is being funded by a program that strives to create employment opportunities while also conducting research projects. Vince Calhoun, professor of electrical computer engineering and executive science officer at the Mind Research Network, said he is the principal investigator for a new $5.9 million research grant from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The four-year project, which started Aug. 1, will begin scanning child participants in October, he said. “The goal is to look at a rapidly changing period of time, the adolescent period between the ages of 9 and 14 years old,” Calhoun said. “(We want to) really try to understand what’s going on in the brain in terms of all the different changes that are occurring.”

Art professor's multimedia piece to be displayed in D.C.

A UNM arts professor is being honored by having her work displayed at an exhibit in the nation’s capitol this month. Fine arts professor Mary Tsiongas’ video artwork, “The Mercurial Dog Anticipates Her,”is being featured in the 2015 Women To Watch exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  “It was a wonderful surprise, and I was just thrilled to have it go to Washington, D.C.,” Tsiongas said.

Media are mistaken, say tailgaters

UNM-sponsored tailgating parties have received criticism from the press, and the people in charge of the events are defending them as fun, safe celebrations of school spirit. A recent story from KRQE News 13 highlighted drinking and partying at a tailgate two weeks ago, but Drew Ingraham, assistant athletics director for marketing and revenue, said the criticism was overblown and the scenes were taken out of context.

Group giving support to struggling students

An organization on campus is reaching out to help students find a balance between college life and responsibility. The Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention, which seeks to educate students on the dangers of drugs and alcohol rather than recommending complete abstinence, has started a new program called Diary of a Lady Lobo, aimed at curbing risky drinking in female students at UNM, John Steiner, COSAP program manager said.

CAPS goes digital with new online tutoring

This semester a new program will help students bring tutors into the comfort of their own home — electronically. Anne Compton, associate director of the Center for Academic Program Support, said CAPS will debut its new Online Learning Center on Monday, which allows students to receive tutoring from their own computer. The Online Learning Center, a combined effort of CAPS, Extended University and New Media and Extended Learning, will give tutoring to students who may be too busy, or too far removed, to physically go to the CAPS office, but still need assistance, she said.

Professor Chris Holden talks to students about the educational possibilities of augmented reality programing.

Vince Calhoun explains how a magneto encephalography (MEG) machine operates. Magneto encephalography (MEG) which is, equipment that measures the magnetic field changes produced by bundles of neurons firing in the brain.