The Center for Hydrologic Innovation will be unique. We know no other research center of this type. Key distinctive attributes of the Center are that it will be supported by the trust of philanthropist Dr. Raul Deju who has a sincere desire to promote excellence in hydrology at NMT, his alma mater.

The Hydrologic Innovation Center is also unique because it builds upon a long history of stellar contributions of distinguished groundwater hydrologists who have taught at Tech including Mahdi Hantush, CE Jacob, Lynn Gelhar, John Wilson, Fred Phillips, and most recently Mark Person, all of whom have received national recognition or awards.

The initial focus of the Center, on measuring earth deformations to quantify the global water balance, is at the cutting edge of hydrologic science today. This theme has great potential for better developing and managing our water resources locally, regionally and nationally as well. NMT’s companion to the Center, the CAIDS, along with the NM Bureau of Geology, will promote applications of AI to hydrologic problems addressed by the Center. 

NMT’s location in the desert Southwest affords an opportunity to conduct research which could benefit water-scarce areas of the US and around the world. Large portions of land controlled by NM Tech are potentially available for field research at a local scale or at the watershed scale in diverse geologic terrain. Researchers can come to campus to test new tools and methods at the same locations where other NMT researchers conducted earlier experiments, thereby leveraging the rich history of field experimentation at NMT.