Posts by DRI Communications

Two children at a table drawing a pathway with colored markers for the robot to follow.

Ray of Sunshine Ministry Uses Green Boxes to Bring STEM Education to Foster Children and Homeschool Families 

By | Nov 14, 2024 | Donor Stories

Tiffany Morales, Founder and President of Ray of Sunshine Ministry, is bringing STEM education to foster children and homeschool students in Southern Nevada. This year, Ray of Sunshine is utilizing DRI STEM Education Program's Green Boxes to provide STEM and robotics programs to these groups. Morales said, “With DRI’s service, we’re able to provide excellent robotics programs to homeschool groups and foster care facilities, absolutely free of cost to us and to them.”

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Map of North American with orange markers indicating locations of extreme weather events.

Native Climate Reporter Team Presents, Listens, and Learns at Indigenous Climate Conference in Alaska

By | Nov 1, 2024 | Announcements, Featured projects

Along Alaska’s western coastline, 400 miles from the nearest road system, villagers from the Indigenous community of Newtok were scheduled for permanent evacuation in mid-October due to the irreversible threat of rising seas. The story, recounted by Newtok resident Della Carl in September at the National Indigenous Climate Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, embedded itself deep in the hearts and minds of each member of the audience, making it clear not just that sea level rise is happening, but why it matters. Such is the power of a well-told story.

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Sue Wagner wearing glasses and smiling at something just off camera against a black background.

Peter B. Wagner Memorial Endowment Honors the Work of Exceptional Women Graduate Students for 26th Year

By | Oct 15, 2024 | Donor Stories

Twenty-six years since it was first awarded, the Peter B. Wagner Award for Women in Atmospheric Science remains the only award in the United States for female graduate students in the atmospheric sciences. Thanks to the generosity of Sue Wagner, the exceptional work of women graduate students in the atmospheric sciences will continue to be recognized and honored in perpetuity.

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Darkened conference room with panelists on stage sitting in chairs. The audience is seated at round tables.

DRI’s AWE+ Summit Tackles Wildfire Resilience and Recovery

By | Aug 23, 2024 | Announcements

DRI, one of our nation’s leading applied environmental research institutes, together with the DRI Foundation, this week held its inaugural AWE+ Summit -Wildfire Recovery and Resilience: Working Across Silos to Drive Solutions. The summit is a call-to-action for communities to implement measures that support resilience and human adaptability to devastating wildfire events. Nationally recognized scientific leaders discussed challenges, progress, and hope through actions that will lead to solutions.

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Researcher studying a plant illuminated by the sun.

Donors Fund Endowment that Transforms Big Ideas into Groundbreaking Environmental Solutions and Offer a Dollar-for-Dollar Match up to $2 million

By | Aug 20, 2024 | Donor Stories, Uncategorized

Earlier this year, thanks to generous matching commitments from the Tom and Mary Gallagher Foundation and the Bretzlaff Foundation, DRI established the IRP Endowment, ensuring funding in perpetuity. To maximize the impact of the IRP Endowment, the Gallagher Foundation and Bretzlaff Foundation have made their commitments a dollar for dollar match up to $2 million with a goal of raising a $5 million endowment.

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Monica Arienzo on the bank of a river taking a water sample with the STEM Education Program logo overlayed on the image.

NSHE Institute DRI Secures EPA Funding for Stem Education Program to Increase Water Workforce Pipeline in Nevada

By | Aug 20, 2024 | Announcements

The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) is thrilled to announce DRI has secured $1 million in grant funding through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Program. This funding will support DRI’s STEM Education Program, which aims to strengthen Nevada’s workforce in the drinking water and wastewater sectors.

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Researcher kneeling down at the edge of a river collecting water samples.

EPA Selects Nevada’s Desert Research Institute for Funding to Support Environmental Education

By | Jul 8, 2024 | Announcements

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection DRI to receive a competitive grant for environmental education in Nevada. This organization has been chosen for its exceptional work in promoting youth ecological stewardship and environmental education, with the grant supporting a project to mitigate microplastics in Nevada waterways.

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Three educators working around a laptop and smiling.

Native Climate Team Holds Indigenous Education Workshop

By | Jun 18, 2024 | Blog

The Desert Research Institute’s Native Climate education team, Ileah Kirchoff and Crystal Miller, hosted a collaborative workshop between the Walker River Paiute Tribe and the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe on May 4, 2024. The session focused on Indigenous curriculum development and the incorporation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), particularly in lessons about the climate crisis.

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