SOCORRO, NM – Prospective students hoping to turn college experience into a career in industry, government, a lab, or continue their education in graduate school explored their abundant options at a showcase of student research on the New Mexico Tech campus. More than 250 students and over 200 of their parents and guardians attended Research@Tech Day Feb. 20 to learn more about the university’s hands-on research projects in science, technology, engineering, math, and other fields.
Students and their guests began the day hearing from a panel of students who described how they landed on-campus jobs, summer internships, and job offers from tech companies, national labs, and research organizations with the assistance of New Mexico Tech faculty, staff, and alumni.
Katie Neal, a senior pursuing a civil engineering degree, described her capstone assignment – a research and design project building a concrete canoe her team will race against other universities in April.
“There’s lots of opportunities for hands-on experience,” she said.
Neal told the audience she landed an internship at PNM electric utility last summer after attending NMT’s job fair, which featured practice interviews, resume advice, and a clothes closet. She also advised future students to join a club to meet others who share interests and can provide mentoring.
“Clubs were my really good way of meeting people outside classes,” she said.
High school students toured NMT’s departments, learning about cutting-edge research projects from both undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members. They watched demonstrations, checked out lab equipment, and viewed research presentation posters. Students and their guests also toured a drone room and on-campus housing, watched a robotics demonstration, learned about clubs and organizations, and got their admissions and financial aid questions answered.
More information about admissions is available on the New Mexico Tech website: nmt.edu/admission.
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