New Mexico Tech-affiliated researchers are once again considered among the top in the world, according to the annual Stanford/Elsevier citation database, commonly known as the “World’s Top 2% Scientists” list.  

Eight current New Mexico Tech faculty and administrators, along with numerous emeriti and former faculty and adjuncts, are counted among the researchers most cited by their peers. 

Each year, Elsevier and Stanford University compile the list of scientists ranked among the top 2% based on a range of metrics, such as citations and h-index, that are available in Elsevier’s Scopus database. Scientists are ranked based on their data from the prior year as well as on their overall career statistics.

Inclusion in the rankings is a prestigious honor, recognizing researchers for career-long impact and single-year contributions to their field. This year’s edition includes the career-long citation impact of the researchers through 2025 as well as the single-year citation impact of the researchers for 2025. 

New Mexico Tech President Dr. Michael Jackson said, “The quality of the STEM research our faculty and scientists do at New Mexico Tech is shaping their fields and impacting our communities, our state, and the world.”

“We are incredibly proud to see so many faces from New Mexico Tech among this year’s top researchers. Thanks to their scholarship and dedication, the university’s influence spans the globe in areas like mathematics, engineering, biology, neuroscience and earth and environmental science,” said Dr. Lique Coolen, New Mexico Tech’s Vice President for Research and Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs, who herself is on this year’s list. 

Current New Mexico Tech faculty making the list based on their career-long activities (those also noted for 2025 impact are marked with an *):

• Brian Borchers, Department Chair and Professor of Mathematics *
• Deep Choudhuri, Associate Professor of Materials Engineering
• Lique Coolen, who is also a Professor of Biology and in the Department of Communication, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) 
• Mostafa Hassanalian, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering*
• Michael Lehman, Department Chair and Professor of Biology
• Bixiang Wang, Professor of Mathematics*
• Andrei Zagrai, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
• Jun Zheng, Department Chair and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering*

Emeritus faculty and staff scientists featured on the list based on their overall careers (those also noted for 2025 impact are marked with an *):

• Kent Condie, Earth and Environmental Science *
• Fred Phillips, Earth and Environmental Science *
• David Raymond, Physics 
• Jill Buckley, Petroleum Recovery Research Center*
• Gary Axen, Earth and Environmental Science *
• Philip Kyle, Earth and Environmental Science
• Thomas Kieft, Biology
• John Wilson, Earth and Environmental Science
• Lawrence Teufel, Petroleum Engineering
• Robert Holson, Psychology
• Peter Mozley, Earth and Environmental Science 
• T. David Burleigh, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering

Former New Mexico Tech faculty and adjunct faculty recognized on the list for overall career impact:

• Randall Seright, Petroleum Recovery Research Center 
• Robert Bowman, Earth and Environmental Science
• John Curro, Materials Engineering
• A.A. Fakhimi, Mineral Engineering

By Kimberley Clementi and Katie E. Ismael