Five teams of New Mexico State University engineering seniors took the highest honors at multiple regional and national competitions this past semester.
The competitions include the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program, the New Mexico Tech’s Miner Mayhem Robotics Tournament and the WERC Environmental Design Contest.
The teams who participated in the competitions were brought together by the College of Engineering’s capstone program. Engineering seniors are encouraged to join the capstone program and form teams that take on real-world projects and problems.
Various companies and organizations can become sponsors and have a team work on their specific projects or challenges. Brooke Montgomery, principal lead for strategic corporate engagement of the capstone program, oversees the coordination of the capstone teams and serves as the primary liaison between the teams and their industry sponsors.
“Innovation drives NMSU’s interdisciplinary capstone design program,” Montgomery said. “Our engineering student teams partner with national labs such as Los Alamos, Sandia and Oak Ridge; contracting industries such as Honeywell and New Mexico Spaceport America; private industries such as Cummins and El Paso Electric, local entrepreneurs and many more valuable sponsors to transform challenges into game-changing solutions that shape the future of engineering.”
Below are descriptions of each winning project, along with their faculty advisers and team members.
Turbojet, Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program
The Turbojet team placed first overall and received the Practicality Award at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program.
The team competed against 18 universities, including the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin. NMSU’s variable geometry nozzle design was recognized for its innovation and technical excellence.
The team traveled to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, home of the Air Force Research Laboratory, to test its nozzle design at an official Air Force test facility.
The NMSU team earned 116 out of 140 possible points, with judging criteria based on maximum thrust, thrust range, weight and dimensions. The Practicality Award is given to the design considered most suitable for installation on an actual airframe and deemed most flight ready.
Faculty advisers for the team were Andreas Gross and Fangjun Shu from NMSU’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. Team members included Kylie Braunhardt, Aydyn Bush, Joseph Florez, Grayson Guerra, Tori-Anne Platero and Zach White.
BattleBot Aggies, New Mexico Tech’s Miner Mayhem Robotics Tournament
The BattleBots Aggies team placed second in the beetleweight outlaw division at New Mexico Tech’s Miner Mayhem Robotics Tournament, competing against 13 universities.
Faculty mentor for the team was Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani from NMSU’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. Team members included Aaron Hyman, Cody Jaramillo, Dylan Salazar and Jose Velasco.
Smart Grids with Hydrogen Integration team, WERC Environmental Design Contest
The Smart Grids with Hydrogen Integration team, sponsored by El Paso Electric, received the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Outstanding Team Award and placed first in the WERC Design Contest Task 2 Bench Award. The team was recognized for its scalable smart grid design, which integrates hydrogen storage with real-time energy optimization. Project sponsors were William “Tye” Pollard and Matthew Wallace of El Paso Electric.
The faculty adviser for the team was Olga Lavrova from NMSU’s Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Team members included Ryan Evans, Jorge Macias, Luis Ponce Ituarte, Alejandro Garcia and Robert Sohm.
Mitigating Dust in Lunar Habitats Aggie team, WERC Environmental Design Contest
The Mitigating Dust in Lunar Habitats team earned second place in the WERC Design Contest Task 4 Bench Award for its work addressing dust suppression in lunar habitats, a key concern for astronaut health and safety.
Faculty adviser for the team was Montgomery from NMSU’s Engineering Technology and Survey Engineering Department. Team members include Donovan Lopez, Jared Pulliam, Jacob Kawecki, Nesto Grijalva and Oscar Chavez Ramirez.
Naiqui Armendariz, Terry McManus Outstanding Student Award, WERC Environmental Design Contest
Naiqui Armendariz, who is majoring in mechanical and aerospace engineering, received the Terry McManus Outstanding Student Award for her leadership in a sustainable engineering project based in San Elías, Chihuahua, Mexico. Her team developed a wind-powered water filtration and soil regeneration system designed to improve local agricultural resilience.
Faculty adviser for the project was Montgomery and team members included Naiqui Armendariz, TJ Bell, Wyatt Ziehe, Sohan Dissanayake and Robert Moreno.
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Capstone 2025 _1 CUTLINE: From left, New Mexico State University engineering seniors Grayson Guerra, Zach White Aydyn Bush, Kylie Braunhardt, Tori-Anne Platero and Joseph Florez from the Turbojet team took first place at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Propulsion Outreach Program competition. (NMSU Photo by Vladimir Avina)
Capstone 2025 _2 CUTLINE: From left, New Mexico State University engineering seniors Dylan Salazar, Cody Jaramillo, Aaron Hyman and Jose Velasco earned second in the beetleweight outlaw division at New Mexico Tech’s Miner Mayhem Robotics Tournament. (NMSU Photo by Vladimir Avina)
Capstone 2025 _3 CUTLINE: The Smart Grids with Hydrogen Integration team, composed of New Mexico State University engineering seniors, from left, Luis Pone Ituarte, Ryan Evans, Robert Sohm, Alejandro Garcia and Jorge Macias received the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Outstanding Team Award and placed first in the WERC Design Contest Task 2 Bench Award.
Capstone 2025 _4 CUTLINE: New Mexico State University engineering seniors, from left, Donovan Lopez, Angel de Jesus Zuniga Ramirez, Jared Pulliam, Jacob Kawecki, and Nesto Grijalva took home second place in the WERC Environmental Design Contest Task 4 Bench Award for its work addressing dust suppression in lunar habitats. (NMSU Photo by Vladimir Avina)
Capstone 2025 _5 CUTLINE: New Mexico State University engineering seniors, from left, TJ Bell, Wyatt Ziehe, Sohan Dissanayake, Naiqui Armendariz and Robert Moreno pose with the award earned by Armendariz at the 2025 WERC Environmental Design Contest. (NMSU Photo by Vladimir Avina)