Many of these are from the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources , which is located on campus, but they also come from industry, national laboratories, and other organizations. The department has roughly 90 graduate and 65 undergraduate students and is strongly research-oriented.
Research is strongly interdisciplinary and there is extensive cooperative research between programs.
Undergraduate as well as graduate students are involved in research activities. Faculty are currently serving on the editorial boards of ten major journals, and two are general editors of prominent periodicals. Two faculty members have both served as distinguished lecturers for their professional society and received major research awards. One serves on the governing board of a GSA Division. Three have received the Distinguished Research and one the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Institute.