This monthly series brings together research organizations from across New Mexico to share and explore groundbreaking research happening within the state. Participating institutions include UNM Main Campus and Health Sciences, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
Sessions are held on the 1st Wednesday of the month, from 1 – 2 pm. Please join our mailing list or email us to receive information on upcoming sessions.
Anne Kinsinger
Director,
UNM ARID Institute
ARID Institute: New Directions for Dryland Science
Ms. Anne E. Kinsinger is the Director of the University of New Mexico’s Accelerating Resilience Innovations in Drylands (ARID) Institute. As Director, she is responsible for supporting resilience innovations that enable New Mexico and the region to thrive under the impacts of environmental change on water, energy, ecosystems, and community health. This entails fostering transdisciplinary collaborations to accelerate transformative research, co-producing science with academic, agency, community and industry partners, and training the next the next generation of scientists to improve economic, human and ecosystem health in New Mexico and beyond. Prior to her ARID position, Ms. Kinsinger served as Associate Director for the Ecosystems Mission Area at the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Ms. Kinsinger earned her Master of Forest Science in Natural Resources Economics and Policy from the Yale School of the Environment. She received her Bachelor of Science in Resource Science from University of California, Davis.
Su Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor,
Geography and Environmental Studies
UNM Climate and Health Allied Network for Geospatial and Environmental Science (CHANGES) Center
Dr. Su Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and serves as the Associate Director of the UNM Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC). As a Geospatial Engineer and Transport Geographer, he applies GIScience, remote sensing, geovisualization, and emerging geospatial technologies to enhance civil infrastructure and environmental management. His research focuses on leveraging spatial data and advanced geospatial approaches to develop innovative, resilient, and practical solutions for managing infrastructure and environmental systems, bridging cutting-edge technology with real-world applications. Dr. Zhang actively collaborates with government agencies, industry, and academic partners and is dedicated to training the next generation of geographers to use geospatial technologies to tackle complex challenges. Dr. Zhang is the Deputy Director of UNM CHANGES Center.
Niall Hanan, PhD
Professor,
Plant and Environmental Sciences,
New Mexico State University
Machine Learning for Ecological Insight
Niall P. Hanan, Ph.D. is an ecologist and Professor of Dryland Ecology in the Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University, where he also serves as a senior leader in the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. His research focuses on the structure, function, and dynamics of drylands, grasslands, and savannas across the southwestern United States, Africa, and other global dryland regions. Hanan has authored over 100 peer‑reviewed publications supported by major U.S. and international agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, USAID, NOAA, the Department of Energy, National Geographic, and Fulbright. Hanan is best known for contributions to savanna ecology, research on tree–grass coexistence, woody cover dynamics, and disturbance-driven ecosystem structure, including several landmark papers in Nature, Science, Ecology Letters, and Global Ecology and Biogeography. His research has helped define contemporary understanding of how climate, fire, herbivory, and resource variability shape dryland ecosystems at local to continental scales.
F. Omar Holguín, PhD
Professor,
Director, Center of Excellence in Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems,
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences,
New Mexico State University
CESFAS: Building a Statewide Innovation Hub for Value-Added Agriculture, Applied Research, and Workforce Development
F. Omar Holguín is a Professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University and Director of the Center of Excellence in Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems (CESFAS), a legislatively created center focused on advancing innovation in agriculture, food systems, and the bioeconomy. His work spans value-added agriculture, analytical chemistry, and translational research that connects academic research with industry and economic development. In this presentation, he will provide an overview of CESFAS, including its legislative foundation, collaborative structure, shared laboratory services, student workforce development programs, and partnerships that support innovation and sustainable agricultural growth in New Mexico.
https://aces-cesfas.nmsu.edu/
Sam McKenzie, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurosciences
UNM School of Medicine
Treating Focal Epilepsy through Responsive Neural Stimulation of Neuromodulatory Systems
Sam McKenzie, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He completed postdoctoral training at New York University before joining UNM in 2020. His research examines how neural activity propagates within and across brain regions, and how neuronal communication changes with learning and epilepsy. In this talk, he presents data on a novel target for deep brain stimulation in the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy along with a strategy for timing stimulation based on outputs from seizure forecasting outputs.
Achraf Noureddine, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
UNM School of Engineering
Introduction to Nanomedicine and Opportunities for Collaboration
Achraf Noureddine obtained his PhD from the School of Chemical Engineering of the University of Montpellier (France) before joining UNM as a postdoctoral researcher and then research assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. His research focuses on developing nanomedicine solutions for health issues including ovarian and prostate cancers and metabolic diseases. His team applies iterative knowledge from cell, tissue and systemic levels to rationally design novel materials to tackle drug delivery barriers for better translational outcomes.
Flavio de Castro Magalhaes, PhD
Assistant Professor
Health, Excercise & Sports Sciences
Dr. Flavio de Castro earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Exercise Science and completed his PhD in Exercise Biochemistry. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship focused on the effects of exercise on glucose metabolism. Dr. de Castro has been a faculty member since 2011 and joined the University of New Mexico in 2023.
His research centers on resistance training as a cornerstone intervention for older adults with type 2 diabetes. His work examines the effects of resistance training on glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, physical function, and psychosocial responses. Specifically, he investigates how manipulation of key resistance training prescription variables, including intensity, volume, frequency, and modality, impacts metabolic outcomes and treatment burden. His research also explores heterogeneity of response across age, sex, and baseline metabolic status, contributing to precision exercise medicine approaches designed to optimize efficacy, safety, and long-term adherence in clinical populations.
Meilian Liu, PhD
Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Dr. Meilian Liu earned her undergraduate degree in Chemistry and completed her PhD in Biochemistry, followed by postdoctoral training in adipocyte physiology. Dr. Liu served as research faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from 2009 to 2013 and joined the University of New Mexico as a tenure track faculty member in 2014.
Her research centers on adipocyte derived cytokines (adipokines) and their roles in interorgan and intraorgan communication. She has made significant contributions to understanding adipokine biology, including mechanisms of adiponectin multimerization, secretion, and signaling in metabolic regulation. Additionally, her work has demonstrated that adiponectin plays an evolutionarily conserved role in regulating both innate and adaptive immunity, shaping immune activity within adipose tissue and across immune organs. She is also interested in how adipocytes integrate diverse environmental cues and how adipocyte heterogeneity influences the maintenance of metabolic health and the development of metabolic disease.
Drew Levin, PhD
Principal Member of the Technical Staff
Sandia National Laboratories
Drew Levin received his PhD in Computer Science from UNM in 2016 and is currently a Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. His research centers on applying modern analytic modeling and machine learning approaches to interdisciplinary domains including epidemiology, immunology, natural distributed systems, and human health outcome prediction. Drew is the technical lead on a current collaborative project with the VA predicting suicide risk based on longitudinal electronic health records (EHR). His talk will discuss the challenges and promising results of applying modern machine learning approaches to medical EHR datasets.
Specifically, he will describe a study that aimed to apply deep neural networks (DNNs) to longitudinal electronic health care (EHR) data to predict suicide attempt risk among US veterans. The DNNs fused demographic information with diagnostic, prescription, and procedure codes to produce a suicide risk score for every patient. The models were trained and tested on EHR data of approximately 500,000 US veterans and then Shapley Additive Explanation (SHAP) values were calculated to provide explanations of the model predictions. The DNN models outperformed existing logistic and linear regression in predicting suicide attempts. Finally, the SHAP explainability methods identified meaningful subgroups of high-risk veterans as well as key determinants of suicide attempt risk at both the group and individual level. The deep learning methods developed here have the potential to significantly enhance existing suicide risk models for veterans. These methods can also provide important clues to explore the relative value of long-term and short-term intervention strategies. Furthermore, the SHAP explainability methods can also be used to communicate to clinicians the key features which increase specific veterans’ risk for attempting suicide.
Christophe Lambert, PhD
Professor and Chief
Division of Translational Informatics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Christophe Lambert, PhD, is a Professor and Chief, in the Division of Translational Informatics within the Department of Internal Medicine at UNM School of Medicine. His work spans clinical research informatics, bioinformatics, and systems thinking. He develops methods for large-scale healthcare data analysis, focusing on comparative effectiveness, mental health, and genomics, and leads the Informatics Core at the Southwest Center for Advancing Clinical and Translational Innovation (SW CACTI).
Suicidality and Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) are critical public health crises, yet electronic health records and claims data systematically underreport these conditions. In this talk, Dr. Lambert will discuss his team’s application of PULSNAR, a novel Positive and Unlabeled (PU) learning algorithm, to two massive cohorts to estimate their true prevalence. In 1.3 million U.S. Veterans, they found standard diagnosis codes capture only 23.4% of documented self-harm cases -- a finding verified through expert chart review. Applying this approach to 3.3 million commercially insured patients exposed to opioids, the team estimated a cumulative OUD prevalence of 5.08%, compared to the 1.35% captured by diagnosis codes, indicating that 73.5% of OUD cases are undiagnosed. This method offers a scalable solution to close the diagnostic gap, identifying "invisible" at-risk populations for early intervention.
David Quinn, MD
Professor
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Davin Quinn, MD, FACLP, is a Professor of Psychiatry with Tenure at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and is the Vice Chair for Adult Clinical Services, the Division Chief of Behavioral Health Consultation and Integration, and the director of the UNM Neuropsychiatry Clinic and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Service. Dr. Quinn is board certified in adult psychiatry, consultation-liaison psychiatry, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry, and brain injury medicine.
Jeremy Hogeveen, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
Should you return to your favorite restaurant, or try the new place down the street? Dr. Jeremy Hogeveen is a cognitive neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Psychology at UNM, who uses brain imaging tools to study this exact dilemma. Known as the “explore-exploit” tradeoff in reinforcement learning—this motivational conflict drives humans and other animals to frequently seek out novel, uncertain rewards instead of sticking with safe, familiar habits. Dr. Hogeveen will discuss the brain mechanisms underlying these difficult choices to explore or not, illustrating the “rise and fall” of exploration from adolescence through old age, and how this decision-making balance is disrupted in neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Michael Mandell, PhD
Associate Professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Mentoring Director, AIM
Dr. Mandell received a B.A. degree in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Science from Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota) in 1999. After several years working as a research technician, he attended graduate school at Washington University in Saint Louis (Missouri) and received his Ph.D. in Biology and Biomedical Science (Microbial Pathogenesis) in 2011. He then completed four years of postdoctoral training in cell biology at the University of New Mexico. He joined the faculty at University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2015.
Judy Cannon, PhD
Professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Core Facility Director, AIM Center
Dr. Cannon obtained her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in both Molecular Cell Biology and Political Science (1995), followed by an M.S. from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago (2003). She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago and joined the faculty at University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2010.
Monica Rosas-Lemus, PhD
Assistant Professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Dr. Rosas-Lemus obtained her B.S. in Chemistry from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the same institution. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Illinois Institute of Technology and a second postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University before joining the faculty at University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2023.
PIVOT (Promoting Innovative and Vital Opportunities for Transformation) is a prosecutor-led community-based diversion and deflection program for youth and young adults and community-engaged research project with the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, Moving Arts Española, Santa Fe County Uplift Youth, and other community partners. This panel session will describe the PIVOT program and key lessons learned for community-engaged research.
Jen Perillo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Jennifer Padgett Macias
Chief Deputy District Attorney
First Judicial District Attorney’s Office
Kiran Bhaskar
PhD, Professor
Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology / Department of Neurology
Kiran Bhaskar is a Tenured Professor in the Departments of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Neurology at the University of New Mexico. He is the Co-Director of NIH-funded P30 New Mexico Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (NM ADRC) and Scientific Co-Founder of TheraVac Biologics LLC. He completed his Ph.D. in India and post-doctoral research at the University of Iowa and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation before starting as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico in 2012. Dr. Bhaskar’s research focuses on understanding brain inflammation relevant to Alzheimer’s disease and related Dementias (AD/ADRDs). Several NIH grants have continuously funded his work for the past 15 years, suggesting a pathological feed-forward cross-talk exists between brain inflammation and tangle pathology, which drives AD. His team has made significant progress recently in developing vaccines for AD, which will be moving to Phase Ia/1b clinical trials next year.
Jason P. Weick
PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Neurosciences
Jason Weick is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosciences in the School of Medicine at UNM. Dr. Weick completed his PhD at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before joining UNM in 2012. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying protein trafficking and processing in neurons, and how this regulates excitability. His lab studies these processes both under normal conditions, and during the course of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). By leveraging cutting-edge techniques such as neurons induced from human stem cells and proximity-based proteomics, his lab aims to identify novel mechanisms of Amyloid Precursor Protein regulation and early organelle dysfunction during AD progression.
Michaelann Tartis
PhD, Professor, Chemical Engineering
New Mexico Tech
Michaelann Tartis is a professor of Chemical Engineering at New Mexico Tech. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from New Mexico Tech and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering with postdoctoral training in Bioimaging, both from UC Davis. Her research spans biomaterials for targeted drug delivery and traumatic brain injury modeling. Her lab group designs mechanically biofidelic human head models enabling dynamic imaging during impact, characterizes these materials, and incorporates living cerebral organoids to quantify tissue deformation. This work links mechanical loading to biological outcomes to identify injury mechanisms and thresholds, ultimately informing protective gear design and preventative measures for military and sport applications.
Donghyeon Ryu
PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, New Mexico Tech
Donghyeon Ryu is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at New Mexico Tech (August 2014 – present) and a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of RD Health Sensing (November 2020 – present). He obtained a Ph.D. in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in September 2014 and M.S. in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in March 2014 from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Ryu is active in research on design of multifunctional materials and metamaterials for wearable sensing technologies and self-sustainable infrastructures; structural health monitoring; and energy harvesting. His research has been sponsored by NASA, NSF, and others. He is an NSF RII-Track 4@NASA Ames Research Center Research Fellow and ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Workshop Fellow.
Department of Internal Medicine & Member of Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Prajakta Adsul is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Member of the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Inaugural Director of UNM's Center for Advancing Dissemination and Implementation Science. A primary care physician by training and former Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, her research uses community-based, participatory methods to design and implement pragmatic interventions that address cancer prevention and control challenges in medically disadvantaged populations both locally and globally.
UNM School of Administration
Dr. Nick Edwardson’s research focus is innovation implementation and comparative effectiveness in healthcare, with a particular interest in organizational economics. He currently serves as Chair of the Academy of Management’s Health Care Management Division. Nick received a PhD in Health Services Research from Texas A&M University and an MS in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Nicaragua.
College of Population Health
Dr. Verlin Joseph is an Assistant Professor in the College of Population Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. He received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Florida and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center on Alcohol, Substance use, And Addictions (CASAA) at UNM. His research explores the intersection of shame, substance use, and criminal legal outcomes. In this talk, Dr. Joseph will describe quantitative and qualitative approaches to measuring shame in substance use disorder (SUD) settings. He emphasizes the role of measurement invariance and qualitative insights in creating valid, generalizable tools to inform stigma-reducing interventions.
Department of Internal Medicine; Annemarie Madaras, MA, LPCC; Christina Phillips, MA
The Southwest Clinical Trial Node (SWCTN) at the University of New Mexico, first funded in 2019, is part of a national clinical trials network of 15 other sites funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The mission is to conduct research across prevention, treatment, recovery, and public health; to advance science on drug use and addiction; and to apply knowledge to improve health. This year SWCTN successfully applied for ongoing funding through 2032! NIDA’s goals for the network include fostering collaborations between academic centers and community provider, advancing substance use treatment and prevention, conducting large multi-site trials and research, and promoting evidence-based care for all communities. Dr. Kimberly Page is Co-Principal Investigator (PI) of the SWCTN and is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. She trained in epidemiology and biostatistics and has been doing research in infectious diseases and substance use for 30 years. Her Co-PI is Adela Grando, PhD, a health informaticist at Arizona State University. Dr. Page will describe the overall structure of the SWCTN and how protocols get done! The Node is also led and managed by Annemarie Madaras and Christina Phillips. They will describe how the day-to-day activities work: the teams that are part of a trial and how we manage these large protocols. Learn how to get involved, including submitting proposals, working on trials, accessing CTN data, and more!
Senior Scientist and Fellow, Bioscience Division, Microbial and Biome Sciences Group (B-IOME), Los Alamos National Laboratory
Babs Marrone is a Scientist, Laboratory Fellow, and AAAS Fellow in the Microbial and Biome Sciences group (Bioscience Division) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She received a B.A. from Hampshire College, a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin. Her research career has spanned biotechnology for biomedicine, bioforensics, biosecurity, and bioenergy applications. Her current research is focused on advanced biomanufacturing of biofuels and bioproducts. She is specifically interested in applying AI/ML tools to optimize biomanufacturing processes and to accelerate innovative biological solutions to address health and environmental challenges, climate resilience, and national security needs.
Senior Scientist and Fellow, Bioscience Division, Genomics and Bioanalytics Group (B-GEN), Los Alamos National Laboratory
Dr. Chain has served as the Microbial Genomics group leader at LLNL (2000-2009) and has been responsible for several different teams at the Joint Genome Institute (2000-2013), before coming to LANL (2009-present) to develop a microbiome science portfolio as well as to spearhead the bioinformatics and genomic data analytics teams in the Biosciences Division at LANL. He leads several projects at LANL exploring soil microbial ecology, pathogen genomics and evolution, and the application of bioinformatics and machine learning in biology. His interests span the universe of microbes, from viruses and bacteria to fungi, as well as the interactions amongst themselves and with their hosts.
Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD
Director of Faculty Research Development
Kara McKinney, MA
Associate Director for Research Development
Contact Us:
Office: 505-272-0885
Email: HSC-RDO@salud.unm.edu
Physical Location:
Health Sciences and Services Building
Mailing address:
MSC 08 4560
1 University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM 87131
