Two people are looking at each other and shaking hands in front of shelves of supplies and green boxes.

Teichert Foundation supports STEM Education Outreach in Washoe County

By | Jul 15, 2025 | Donor Stories

The Teichert Foundation has generously provided support for DRI’s STEM Education Program to engage in a targeted STEM education outreach and engagement campaign in Washoe County, Nevada. This campaign will utilize three existing, bilingual Next Generation Science Standards aligned STEM kits that touch upon electricity, energy, and ecosystems topics, respectively. This campaign focuses on connecting with underserved PreK through third grade students and parents.

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Child playing with building and engineering toys on the green carpet.

DRI Invites Nevada Families to Science and Literacy Events for Pre-K Students

By | Mar 3, 2025 | Announcements

DRI’s STEM Education Program is holding free events focused on developing literacy through engaging science activities for Pre-K children 5 and younger throughout Nevada. Through hands-on experiments, story time, and interactive games, the events will bring ecology and electricity to life for the whole family. Each child will also receive free books to take home (while supplies last).

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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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Monica Arienzo in a river looking at a water sample with a overlay of a Green Box kit to educators.

DRI’s STEM Education Team Receives EPA Grant to Support Microplastics Education for Nevada Students and Communities

By | Jul 24, 2024 | Announcements

The $100,000 grant will fund the production of additional educational kits known as Greenboxes that raise awareness and understanding of the prevalence and role of microplastics in the environment. In addition to the Greenboxes, the grant will also support community partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, the Walker Basin Conservancy, Get Outdoors Nevada, Sierra Nevada Journeys, and Envirolution.

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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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METRICS-trained educators implement robotics in PreK – 5 classrooms across Nevada

By | May 17, 2024 | Nevada Robotics

As the school year comes to an end, it is a great time to reflect on the progress and feedback of Nevada Robotics METRICS-trained educators. METRICS stands for Mentoring Educators Teaching Robotics and Innovation in Computer Science and is a Nevada Robotics designed professional development program that was first piloted in the 2022-2023 school year at Pleasant Valley and Mamie Towles elementary schools in Washoe County. The training utilizes Nevada Robotics Books and Bots curriculum and other original lessons to teach state standards in computer science, math, and ELA.

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