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UNM professor to speak at TEDxABQ event

September 24, 2025 - By Carly Bowling

Associate Professor Fernando Moreu of the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering will speak at TEDxABQ this Saturday.

Moreu will discuss his work establishing the Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory (SMILab) at UNM, which enables people to collect their own data using Low-cost Efficient Wireless Intelligent Sensors (LEWIS) and robots the students and researchers design and build at SMILab. The LEWIS technology allows anyone, from small business owners to children, to collect the data important to them.

The LEWIS, developed by Moreu, is simple enough for elementary school students to build, yet collects data robust enough for research purposes and coursework in graduate-level studies. His lab has used the sensors on the Sandia Peak Tramway, Tinker Town Museum, the Rio Grande and other locations out of state, including California, Tennessee and Puerto Rico.

His talk will showcase how curiosity about how things work can help us reimagine how we live. The live event is scheduled for Sept. 27 at Electric Playhouse. Doors open at noon and the event will begin at 1 p.m. and run through 6:30 p.m. The event will feature 12 speakers. Tickets start at $145 for those interested in attending. Recorded talks will be made available on the TEDx Talks YouTube channel after the event.