Nevada’s legislature was visionary in 1959 when it created DRI as the environmental research campus of the state’s university system. DRI has flourished as an entrepreneurial campus of 500 scientists, engineers and technicians who leveraged the state’s $8.2 million allocation last year into $45.5 million in revenue. In addition, DRI’s research faculty are self-supported and do not receive state funding or tenure.

Today, that vision is threatened by the proposed budget reduction to higher education, which equates to a decrease in the state’s research investment:

• Currently there are 379 employees in Reno and 191 in Las Vegas. Our payroll is $31.4 million with $6.2 million for research administration coming from the state and the remainder being self-generated.
• DRI faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students currently hold 193 graduate degrees in more than 50 fields.
• In the last five years, DRI supported 245 graduate students with $6.7 million in non-state funds. DRI provided $655,000 in tuition for those students who were also awarded $176,741 in scholarships and fellowships. In addition, DRI paid $4.4 million to postdoctoral scholars.
• DRI's direct return on state-funded investment is $5-to-1 with $45.5 million in revenue leveraged from $8.2 million in state funding last year.
• Moving DRI into the universities would cost the state approximately $3 million annually because of the change in federal tax and grant status.