Vimal Chaitanya, Faculty Senate Chair

Vimal Chaitanya is a Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Department in the College of Engineering (COE). He came to NMSU in 2006 as Vice President for Research, Graduate Studies, and International Programs with tenure in MAE and CHME departments. Additionally, the Physical Science Lab (PSL), Molecular Biology, WRRI, NMSGC, and research support offices reported to him. During his tenure of ten and a half years, the R&D expenditure averaged $142.5 M and awards per year reached $198 M in 2010. As a Professor in the MAE department, he has introduced and taught four new courses at the undergraduate/Graduate level, served as chair of MAE P&T committee and as academic adviser to NSEC, LANL. He is currently serving as Director of manufacturing systems and research programs (MSRP) for the College of Engineering focusing on additive manufacturing. He serves as the Program Director of Plutonium Workforce Development – an NNSA funded initiative involving 10 NM educational institutions. Vimal has undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from India, a Masters in Bioengineering from Clemson University, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. He worked for a year at the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) prior to joining University of Central Florida, where he established state recognized center of excellence in Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC), and dedicated Masters and Doctoral degree programs in Materials Science and Engineering, both of which he directed till joining NMSU. 

Christopher Brown, Faculty Senate Vice-Chair

Christopher Brown joined the faculty in 2000 after completing his PhD in Geography in the Joint PhD Program hosted by San Diego State University and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Christopher’s time in this program gave him considerable experience in collaborative graduate degree programs, and he was part of the interdisciplinary (ID) committee that developed the successful ID Water Science and Management Program at NMSU. Christopher was also the NMSU lead on developing the New Mexico Doctoral Program in Geography (a collaborative program on which NMSU is partnering with colleagues at the University of New Mexico), and he was co-lead on developing an online master’s degree program in geographic information systems and technology that is in the final stages of review and approval. In his time at NMSU, Christopher has been a strong advocate for shared governance and served as the Faculty Senate Chair from 2016-2018, and he looks forward to working with Faculty Senate Chair Vimal Chaitanya to continue to advance shared governance at NMSU.