New Mexico Tech announces president

Dr. Mahyar Amouzegar

New Mexico Tech Regents named Dr. Mahyar Amouzegar as their next president at a special meeting via zoom today. Amouzegar will begin his term as NMT’s 18th president on April 15, 2024.

“I am thrilled and deeply honored to be entrusted with leading New Mexico Tech into its next chapter,” Dr. Amouzegar said in NMT’s press release. “NMT stands proudly at the forefront of innovation, a campus where brilliance converges with limitless possibilities. As we embark on this transformative journey, I also wish to acknowledge the historic town of Socorro, whose provenance is soundly intertwined with the campus’s growth and ingenuity.”

Jerry Armijo, president of the Board of Regents who served as co-chair in the search committee, spoke to the quality of the candidates and the process of making the difficult selection and expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed during the meeting.
Armijo said when they were making the decision, they decided to go with the candidate who had a balanced background in both the academic and research side.
“We are a unique school in our higher education system in New Mexico, and that we are really the only STEM focused university, so we feel we have a higher responsibility, both on the academic and the research side. And we just don’t feel that we’ve been meeting our potential in either of those areas. So, we want to drive growth in both areas,” Armijo said, after the meeting.

According to the press release, Dr. Amouzegar has been appointed to a five-year term with an annual salary of $425,000. Interim President Daniel Lopez will serve in the same capacity through the transition period.

Dr. Amouzegar comes to NMT from The University of New Orleans, a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he has served as the Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs since 2017. He was named a Freeport McMoRan Distinguished Professor of Logistics earlier this year. He also served as the Dean of Engineering for California Polytechnic University, Pomona’s College of Engineering from 2011-2017, said the release.

Dr. Amouzegar has served as a Senior National Security Policy Analyst for the RAND corporation since 1998, managing research teams to develop research ideas for the U.S. Air Force, securing funding, overseeing projects and developing national security policy reports.

NM Tech started their recruitment and application evaluation in June 2023, did preliminary screenings in September, their first round of interviews in October followed by semi-finalist interviews in November.

Dr. Mahyar Amouzegar was named in the top five candidates in November, along with Dr. Robert Wilhelm, Dr. John Barthell, Dr. Tomás Diaz de la Rubia and Dr. Mohamed Abousalem as their candidates. Each candidate had an opportunity to visit NMT, tour the campus and interact with the community.