New Mexico Tech to be featured on last episode of popular TV show

SOCORRO, N.M. (KRQE) – On Saturday, fans of a popular TV show will bid farewell to an explosive series. If you watch closely, you’ll see a New Mexico link. One local university is so good at blowing things up, they’ve been featured several times and will be in the final episode. “We have a blast,” said Dr. Van Romero with a chuckle. For nearly a decade, Vice President of Research at New Mexico Tech, Dr. Van Romero, alongside other explosive researchers, have helped two special effects experts and their team debunk common misconceptions, like whether a snowplow can split a car in half. The show is called “Mythbusters.” “It’s always been a big hit around here,” Romero said. “We’d like this to go on forever.” Unfortunately for fans, the show has reached the end of its run, but not before one last shoot in New Mexico. “We knew it would happen eventually and we had always been thinking about what we could do. We were a little bit surprised. About a year ago, they contacted us and said, ‘Okay, we’re ready to do our final show.'” explained Romero. Dr. Romero first appeared on the show as an expert in 2007, but gladly welcomed cast and crew to New Mexico Tech when Mythbusters wanted to up the ante on their explosions. In fact, the finale promises the series’ biggest explosion, yet, and Romero and his team deserve a lot of credit. Romero tells us they begin work on these project more than six months before they ever shoot them. Mythbusters gets in touch with what ideas they have, but it’s up to the brainpower at New Mexico Tech to develop the engineering solutions. Once both teams agree on a plan, the hard part’s over, right? Not even close...more