Researcher kneeling on ground holding a device into water to take a sample for analysis

DRI Launches Collaborative New Project Investigating PFAS and Microplastics for Department of Defense 

DRI’s Monica Arienzo, Director of the Microplastics and Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, was recently awarded $250,000 by the Department of Defense to investigate laundering and textile degradation as a possible source of PFAS and microplastic pollution. The one-year grant will fund laboratory studies and analysis led by Arienzo, with DRI’s Daniel Saftner and Yeongkwon Son contributing to the work. Matt Reeves of Western Michigan University is partnering with the DRI scientists for the project.  

Intern sitting on the ground and documenting items found on the beach with a white board, bucket lid, and phone.

DRI Internships Offer Nevada Students Experience with Research and Insight into STEM Careers

This summer and fall, DRI brought twelve students from Nevada’s community and state colleges to the Las Vegas and Reno campuses for a paid, immersive research experience. Over the course of the 16-week program, students worked under the mentorship of DRI faculty members to learn about the process of using scientific research to solve real-world problems. This unique internship program welcomes all students, not only those pursuing majors in science, who are in their first or second year of enrollment at local state and community colleges.

Scientist with a large water container on a dolly in front of a pickup truck.

DRI Recruiting Fallon Community Members  for Free Well Water Quality Testing 

DRI scientists are recruiting fifteen Fallon residents with private wells to participate in a water quality study. All fifteen study participants will receive free water quality results, and a subset of the well owners will receive water filtration systems. The research will be used to identify the spatial extent and potential sources of contaminants such as pesticides, microplastics, and flame retardants and quantify the efficacy of treatment systems to reduce concentrations in drinking water.

An image of an Antarctic ice sheet with a hill on one side and a lake on the other

First-ever layered lake-sediment sample extracted from subglacial Antarctica

Since the discovery 50 years ago of subglacial lakes in Antarctica — some of the least accessible geological features on Earth — scientists have attempted to extract lake bed sediment to learn about the formation, movement, and past conditions of the ice sheet. Now, a team of researchers with the NSF-funded project Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) has successfully done so, recovering the first layered sediments from beneath the modern Antarctic ice sheet.