Click here to donate to the chair (Select "Find a Giving Area/Fund," search for "chile pepper" and choose the endowed chair). To name the chair, or to join the Institute's highest level Development Council, call Terra V. Winter at (575) 646-5787.

The Chile Pepper Institute (CPI) is the only international organization devoted to education, research, and archiving information related to Capsicum. Since its inception in 1992, it has been a recognized research institute in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University, where chile pepper research has continued since the horticulturalist Fabian Garcia first began experiments to breed standardized chile pepper varieties in 1888. The CPI is located on the main campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. The Chile Pepper Institute is housed in Gerald Thomas Hall, Room 265, and provides displays on current NMSU chile research, books, posters, art, seeds, the 'Hall of Flame', and other chile pepper related educational items.

Development Leadership Council Overview

Established in February 2009, the CPI Development Leadership Council is a dynamic, well-positioned group of chile industry leaders. The primary purpose of the Council is to provide the leadership to create a permanent endowed chile pepper research chair and to establish a new, expanded CPI facility on the west-end of campus, featuring seminar and teaching rooms, a sustainable teaching and demonstration garden, and a state-of-the-art greenhouse.

• Check out the Chile Pepper Institute Master Plan