February 2022 Issue

Student Profile

PhD Student

 

Mechanical Engineering Department

 

 

Advisor

Michael Hargather

 

Sivana Torres obtained her B.S in petroleum engineering from New Mexico Tech in May 2019. She always knew she wanted to pursue her graduate degree. Through connections she made with professors in her undergraduate degree she was given the opportunity to do just that. After receiving her B.S. she started research with Dr. Michael Hargather's research group with the intention to earn her master's in mechanical engineering with a specialization in explosive engineering. After her first year as a MS student and beginning research on shock propagation in polymethylmethacralyate (PMMA), she decided to transition to the Ph.D. program.

 

Sivana is one of the first female students pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at New Mexico Tech. Her Ph.D. research is funded through Sandia National Laboratories for geothermal applications. She applies optical diagnostics to quantify shock wave attenuation and fracture growth in PMMA. High-speed schlieren imaging is implemented to visualize explosively driven shock wave propagation and fracture growth at Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC). Calibration allows the qualitative schlieren data to become quantitative, thus yielding shock velocity, fracture velocity, and density measurements. Photon Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) is used to determine the particle velocities in the PMMA after the shock wave passage. Each piece of data contributes to the description of the shock state of PMMA under explosive loading. PMMA is a surrogate material for understanding geothermal systems, allowing optical measurements which are not possible in rock materials. As a researcher, Sivana acts as the test engineer for her research experiments at EMRTC giving her hands-on field experience.

Image of Sivana Aligning PDV probes to measure explosively driven particle velocity history on a 1ft x 1ft x 1ft PMMA cube

High-speed schlieren image series of shock wave propagation and fracture growth in a 1ft x 1ft x 1ft cube of PMMA

New forms

Intent to graduate

Intent to graduate forms for graduate students have been updated. This form is due by midterm of the semester prior to that you intend to graduate in and is in addition to the  Registrar's Intent to Walk and Graduation Payment forms. You can find this form on the Graduate Studies website or the Registrar's website.

 

PhD Committee Report Forms

To provide greater flexibility and tracking ability, the PhD Advisory Committee Report form has been updated and divided into multiple forms to reflect the stage you are in with your PhD degree rather than keeping everything within one form to cover around five years of your progress. These forms are now available and live on the Graduate Studies website.

04/15

Completion paperwork for Spring graduation

If you are planning to graduate in May the completed report of the advisory committee, iThenticate report from academic advisor, and ProQuest submission of the final thesis/dissertation must be submitted to and accepted by the Center for Graduate Studies or one final copy of an accepted independent study paper must be submitted to the student’s advisor and advisory committee. Please refer to the Completion Guideline on the CGS website.

 

Student degrees are not complete until final materials have been approved by the Center for Graduate Studies and the student receives final acceptance via email from the ProQuest system. 

There are some Endowed scholarship opportunities open to graduate students, which are listed here on the Endowed Scholarship website. Native American graduate students should contact the Financial Aid Office for information for additional scholarship opportunities (financial_aid@nmt.edu).

President

Vice President

Information Officer

Appropriations Officer

 

Travel Officer

Events Officer

Recruiting & Contracts

Admission & Student Success

AA Technology Support & Data Analytics

Dean of Graduate Studies

We love to hear from you

https://www.nmt.edu/gradstudies

Fidel Center - Room 275

Tel: (575) 835-5513