We have all witnessed people who have tried to become something they are not, while others concentrate on building on their own strengths. Institutions go through the same processes. And, like people, those that build on their strengths find success far more easily.

Our new laboratory building is a great symbol of NMSU's strength in arid lands studies and programs, but it is not the genesis of that strength. It builds upon it. When we refer to NMSU as an oasis of desert science, we have a long history of excellence on which to base that claim.

The scientists of our institution discovered, identified and catalogued the flora and fauna of this arid state. E.O. Wooton, featured in the spring 1993 issue of this magazine, wrote the tome on the subject of flora after crisscrossing the territory in horse and buggy.

In so doing, he trained one of the world's most renowned botanists, Paul Carpenter Standley. Wooten then founded the world's premier arid rangeland research facility-the Jornada Experimental Range. The role of the facility has grown with the years, as a site of the International Biological Program and the Long-term Ecological Research project for arid lands.

The Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center, contiguous to the experimental range, helps answer questions about how to economically sustain a beef ranch while maintaining the range resource, in part by trying to arrive at the perfect desert cow. And our Corona Range and Livestock Research Center provides rare information on range sheep operations.

All facilities carry on a great tradition of long-term research conducted by legendary scientists John Knox and P.E. Neale over decades at places like the Bell Ranch in San Miguel County and the Floyd Lee Ranch near San Mateo.

This magazine recounts, too, how our institution lies at the center of the most admired desert soils and geomorphology study in the world. That study helped develop our university by attracting scientific talent to our area and establishing baseline data that still brings scientists to southern New Mexico.

We often forget that arid lands study goes beyond the dry landscape. It includes studies of riparian areas in deserts and investigations into how to properly introduce water to arid lands in order to sustain agriculture. This is one reason we like to use the "oasis" metaphor when we refer to our arid lands expertise. Our history is just as rich in this area of study, harkening back to our institution's first graduating class and Fabian Garcia.

Between 1894 and 1943, Garcia and his colleagues created modern irrigated agriculture in our valleys by experimenting with and refining the crops that could be grown here-chile, onions, cotton, pecans and more. The father of the Southwestern food industry was also the father of irrigated agriculture in New Mexico.

Through the years, other giants from NMSU created varieties of crops that allowed New Mexicans to stay competitive, including Acala 1517 cotton, Big Jim chile, NuMex onions, a host of alfalfa varieties and more.

Already, our scientists are known around the globe for the work they do that is relevant to so many people who inhabit the world's most abundant land type-arid lands. Through our ties with colleagues around the world, we are becoming known as an oasis of desert science. And what makes me most proud is that we are able to do this while remaining so relevant to the people of New Mexico.

As arid regions become more populated in our border region and worldwide, our work will only grow in importance. Our new laboratory facility has given a great house to what has long been the home of desert science.