Munji Kahalah never expected that a degree grounded in computational thinking would lead him to importing viral snacks from around the world. Today, the UNM alumnus is the creative force behind Monaco Market, New Mexico’s largest exotic snack store, with shelves stocked with Dubai chocolates, Chinese mango ice cream and South Korean juice pouches that have exploded in popularity on TikTok and Instagram.

Kahalah began as a computer science and computational math major, but discovered along the way that his true passion lived at the intersection of technology, creativity and entrepreneurship.

“I realized I really loved seeing how businesses go from A to Z,” Kahalah said. “Tech was always interesting to me, but there’s so much more to building something than just engineering.”

He came to UNM in 2015, immersing himself in computational math and computer science. While challenged by the coursework, he grew increasingly curious about innovation beyond the technical side.

That curiosity led him to enroll in several courses through UNM’s Innovation Academy (IA), a decision he now calls pivotal. Through IA, Kahalah participated in pitch competitions, applied entrepreneurial thinking to real-world problems and found lasting mentorship.

“It was the total opposite of what I was doing on the engineering side,” he said. “Those courses were more hands-on and real-world. I enjoyed them a bit more because they were right up my alley.”

Kahalah now operates two locations: one in Albuquerque and one in Wilmington, N.C. and Instagram.

New Mexico has been getting hotter and drier each year. Last winter, the state experienced record-breaking warm temperatures that could significantly affect this spring’s wildfire season.

At UNM, faculty experts are working with state officials and policymakers to help communities build wildfire resilience. The Center for Fire Resilient Ecosystems and Society (FIRES) is an interdisciplinary center that conducts research and community outreach to address the effects of fires. The Center develops next-generation fire and vegetation management tools and assesses the economic impacts of fires, the benefits of fire resilience strategies, and the health effects of air quality.

“Our state is highly flammable,” said Director Matthew Hurteau. “There are people working to alleviate this, and I wanted to bring them all together to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our discussions and solutions.”

Hurteau, a professor in UNM’s Biology Department, officially established the center in 2024 after years of foundational collaborations. FIRES’s vision is a future in which communities and ecosystems across New Mexico and the western U.S. are resilient to wildfire.

The FIRES team spans multiple departments and organizations, including biology, economics, communication and journalism, pharmaceutical sciences, computer sciences, internal medicine, geography and environmental studies, the Earth Data Analysis Center, and collaborators at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories and the U.S. Fire Service.

Eric Knapp (’98) and his wife, Dana Marie Knapp, have pledged $4.5 million to the Peter A. Winograd Endowed Annual Scholarship in Law at UNM’s School of Law.

Their new commitment builds on more than two decades of giving and includes a principal-level estate gift that will ensure the scholarship’s long-term impact for generations of law students. It is the largest philanthropic gift in the School of Law’s history.

Eric Knapp earned his J.D. from UNM in 1998 after completing a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado. His initial conversation with Professor Emeritus Peter Winograd sparked a relationship that shaped his legal education and lifelong connection to the School of Law.

After graduating, Eric practiced in Albuquerque with Freedman, Boyd, Daniels, Hollander, Goldberg & Cline, P.A., before moving to San Francisco to join O’Melveny & Myers LLP, later becoming a partner at Squire Patton Boggs and Winston & Strawn LLP. He retired from practice this past year.

Nasir Ahmed, a UNM alumnus and professor emeritus, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering’s class of 2026 for inventing the discrete cosine transform (DCT), the data compression format foundational to most modern digital media standards.

The DCT enables technologies such as Zoom calls, HDTV and echocardiograms. Ahmed first proposed the DCT in 1972 while working at Kansas State University, where he spent the first 15 years of his academic career before returning to UNM in 1983 as the Presidential Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He became chair of the department in 1989.

Ahmed, who received an Honorary Doctor of Science from UNM in May 2025, served as dean of the School of Engineering from 1994 to 1996 before becoming associate provost for research and dean of Graduate Studies. He retired in 2001. He and his wife, Esther Pariente Ahmed, met at UNM, where she also earned a Ph.D. Their son, Michael Pariente, earned his bachelor’s degree from UNM in the 1990s.

The NAE, a nonprofit entity based in Washington, D.C., operates under the 1863 congressional act that also founded the National Academy of Sciences. It provides objective analysis and advice to the nation and advances the engineering profession.

Momentum is building at UNM’s College of Education & Human Sciences (COEHS). Across urban and rural communities, on tribal lands and in border towns, more students are choosing teaching as a career—and more experienced educators are stepping into leadership roles—thanks to coordinated recruitment efforts, culturally grounded programs, and statewide partnerships transforming New Mexico’s educator workforce.

The results include national recognition for producing Hispanic education graduates, record cohorts of Indigenous school leaders, a renewed high school-to-teaching pipeline, and innovative residency models that keep new educators rooted in the communities they serve.

“It’s incredibly meaningful that our future teachers reflect the strengths, histories and needs of the communities they come from,” said COEHS Dean Kristopher Goodrich. “We are preparing leaders who can support New Mexican students in every corner of the state—and we are seeing the impact play out in real time.”

In a recent report by Excelencia in Education, UNM ranked 18th nationally among institutions graduating Hispanic students with bachelor’s degrees in education. As one of the largest Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) in the country, UNM’s commitment to linguistic and cultural diversity continues to shape its teacher preparation programs.

“Our state has a huge need for teachers whose backgrounds reflect their students,” Goodrich said. “This ranking is a testament to the hard work happening at every level—from faculty curriculum design to our recruitment partnerships to the donors supporting scholarships for future teachers.”