public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. It anchors the New Mexico State University system, which also includes two-year branches at Alamogordo, Las Cruces (Dona Ana Branch Community College), Carlsbad, and Grants. More than 75 majors are offered in six undergraduate colleges: agriculture and home economics, arts and sciences, business administration and economics, education, engineering, and human and social services. The Graduate School offers about 50 master's degree programs, about 25 doctorate programs, and 4 educational specialist programs. New Mexico State University conducts research in such areas as astrophysics, technology development, water resources, physical sciences, plant genetics, and agriculture. The university has one of the few full-time planetary observatories in the United States. It also has one of the world's largest college campuses, with an area of about 6,250 acres (2,529 hectares). Student enrollment exceeds 15,000.