New Mexico Tech

The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech and formerly New Mexico School of Mines) is a public university in Socorro, New Mexico. It offers over 30 bachelor of science degrees in technology, the sciences, engineering, management, and technical communication, as well as graduate degrees at the masters and doctoral levels. New Mexico Tech is a relatively small (1,412 students as of 2020) research- and teaching-oriented university focused on science and engineering. The institution was founded by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature in the year 1889 as the New Mexico School of Mines to both boost the territorial economy and teach mining specialties on the college level. During the 1930s, petroleum engineering and technology also became an important field of study at the institute. In 1946, New Mexico Tech began offering graduate degrees. The institute adopted its current name in 1951, but the change was not legally effective until 1960, when its name was changed by an amendment of the New Mexico State Constitution, Art.XII, Section 11. New Mexico Tech's well-known areas of research and teaching include hydrology, astrophysics, atmospheric physics, geophysics, information technology, information security, Earth Science, energetic materials engineering, and petroleum recovery.