Behind the Science Blog
DRI’s “Behind the Science” blog featuring our people and projects
Read the stories below to learn more about the amazing people and projects happening at DRI.
Native Climate Team Holds Indigenous Education Workshop
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.
Making Sense of Remote Sensing: A Q&A with Matt Bromley
Matt Bromley, M.S., is an Assistant Research Scientist with the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, and specializes in GIS and remote sensing. He holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and a M.S. in Geography from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is a native Nevadan, an Army veteran, and has been a member of the DRI community for ten years.
FIRST Robotics Announces 2020-2021 Competition Season
https://youtu.be/qXv8e8wjTok FIRST Nevada has announced an exciting and dynamic 2020-2021 robotics competition season with a variety of options for participating teams to get involved. This year's season has been deemed FIRST Game Changers- powered...
New study explores relationship between dust and Valley Fever
Vic Etyemezian, Ph.D., is the Interim Vice President of Research at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and specializes in the study of dust emissions. Vic has been a member of the DRI community since 1999, when he started his career at DRI as a post-doctoral scientist with the Division of Atmospheric Sciences in Las Vegas. He recently published a paper in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health titled “Valley Fever: Environmental Risk Factors and Exposure Pathways Deduced from Field Measurements in California,” working alongside colleagues Antje Lauer, Ph.D. (California State University Bakersfied), George Nikolich, M.S. (DRI), and others, so we connected with Vic to learn more about the project.
New Robotics STEM Kit for Nevada Students and Educators
Thanks to support from the Nevada STEM Networks, Nevada Robotics has created a new Robotics STEM Kit called Robot Recipe! STEM Kits are science and engineering activity kits uniquely designed by Science Alive to support formal and informal...
DRI scientists investigate effectiveness of heat warnings along US-Mexico border
Featured research by DRI’s Kristin VanderMolen, Ben Hatchett, Erick Bandala, and Tamara Wall.
In July and August, daytime temperatures along parts of the US-Mexico border can reach as high as 120 degrees – more than 20 degrees above normal human body temperature. For agricultural workers and others who live and work in the region, exposure to these extreme high temperatures can result in serious health impacts including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and heat-related death.
Engineered Processes for the Separation and Degradation of Microplastics in Freshwater
the researchers will use acoustic focusing and electrocoagulation to separate microplastics from freshwater effluents and determine the removal process mechanisms.
Featured Research: DRI scientists analyze origins of the Saharan dust plume
On June 18, 2020, NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured this visible image of the large light brown plume of Saharan dust over the North Atlantic Ocean. The image showed that the dust from Africa’s west coast extended almost to the Lesser...
Meet Sandra Brugger, Ph.D.
Sandra Brugger, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Researcher with DRI's Division of Hydrologic Sciences, and a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Fellow. DRI: What brought you to DRI? Brugger: I started at DRI in October 2019 with an Early Postdoc...
How Nevada’s Robotics Community Has Responded to COVID-19
Author: Melanie Sanchez If you participated in the 2020 FIRST or VEX robotics seasons, on any platform, youlikely had an abrupt end to your season and future plans due to COVID-19. As a teamcoach myself, I was incredibly disappointed to see the...
Keeping the Learning Going During COVID-19
Author: Melanie Sanchez As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, many of us have come to a stand still in terms of our productivity. However, many companies and organizations have begun to tailor to the...
Meet Gai Elhanan, M.D.
Gai Elhanan, M.D., is a health data scientist with the Division of Earth and Ecosystems Sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno. He specializes in health care informatics, and is a physician with more than 12 years of experience in...
New donor-powered research underway to address climate adaptation, water resources, and more
The DRI Foundation has just awarded the next round of seed grants to six teams of researchers through the Innovation Research Program (IRP). The IRP provides the start-up funding DRI scientists need to test new ideas and produce initial data, which...