DRI Research Highlights: 2025, Volume 1

Dear Friend of DRI, Thank you for your interest in DRI and science that matters now. This report includes highlights of vital research conducted by our scientists.

In 2023, our DRI Foundation trustees recognized that fortifying communities against a shifting climate requires more than just science; it requires the collective resolve of communities and stakeholders to come together to advance resiliency and adaptability. From this belief, a new initiative was born: AWE+, which stands for Adaptable World Environment. AWE+ is a platform to heighten awareness of DRI's expertise and leadership in actionable science that engages people and brings them together to find solutions to shared problems. Last summer, AWE+: Wildfire Resilience and Recovery launched with a cross-section of attendees who grappled with difficult questions, shared ideas, and formed collaborative relationships. It provided a unique opportunity to identify and address areas of need in their respective communities.

I appreciate the commitment of our trustees to launch the inaugural AWE+ summit and provide a space to work across silos to support resilience and human adaptability.

Sincerely, Kumud Acharya, Ph.D., DRI President

In 2018, the Innovation Research Program (IRP) fund was established with donor support to provide critical financial resources that allow and encourage DRI faculty, students, and staff to test and pursue their very best ideas.  

Earlier this year, DRI established the IRP Endowment, ensuring this funding will be available in perpetuity. To maximize the endowment’s impact, the Gallagher Foundation and Bretzlaff Foundation have made generous, dollar-for-dollar matching commitments of up to $2 million, with a goal of raising a $5 million endowment. 

Michael Melarkey, Esq., President of the Bretzlaff Foundation, stated “By providing philanthropic support to partner in establishing DRI’s IRP endowment, we know that future generations of scientists will be able to test emerging creative, innovative research that advances DRI’s mission to help generate solutions to some of our world’s most pressing environmental challenges.” 

IRP endowment funds go directly to scientists as they carry on DRI’s legacy of advancing science that matters now. Over the past six years, $750,000 has been awarded to more than 20 research teams and resulted in over $20 million in additional funding. 

To learn more or make a gift to support the IRP Endowment, contact the Office of Advancement at (775) 673-7386 or email  dri.foundation@dri.edu .    

We are Nevada’s non-profit research institute, founded in 1959 to empower experts to focus on science that matters. We work with communities across the state–and the world– to address their most pressing scientific questions, while building bridges between scientists and policymakers to enact positive change.  

We’re proud that our scientists continuously produce solutions that better human and environmental health. We pioneered the use of chemical fingerprinting to identify sources of air pollution in Nevada’s cities and reduce haze in National Parks across the country. We work with communities downwind of historic atomic testing at the Nevada National Security Site to monitor radiation exposure. We used ice trapped below the surface of Greenland to connect historic levels of lead pollution with the rise and fall of ancient economies like the Roman Empire. For decades, we have been using satellite technology to locate, and build, drinking water wells for communities in Ghana and we have enhanced precipitation throughout Nevada, the driest state in the nation, using decades of research on cloud seeding.  

Scientists at DRI are involved with students at other Nevada System of Higher Education institutions, offering research positions and teaching support, but are not expected to take on the heavy teaching loads of university professors. Instead, they are encouraged to follow their research interests across the traditional boundaries of scientific fields, collaborating across DRI and with scientists worldwide. We reach thousands of young Nevada students annually with specialized science and robotics lessons and free continuing education for teachers. All faculty support their own research through grants, bringing in nearly $5 to the Nevada economy for every $1 of state funds received. With more than 600 scientists, engineers, students, and staff across our Reno and Las Vegas campuses, we conducted more than $52 million in sponsored research focused on improving peoples’ lives in 2024 alone.

At DRI, science isn’t merely academic – it’s the key to future-proofing our communities and building a better world.