CEMP: Community Environmental Monitoring Program

The Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) is a network of 29 monitoring stations located in communities surrounding and downwind of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), formerly the Nevada Test Site (NTS), that monitor the airborne environment for manmade radioactivity that could result from NNSS activities. The CEMP is a joint effort between the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO), and the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the Nevada System of Higher Education. One of the unique aspects of the program is that the CEMP provides a hands-on role for community members in station operation and data collection.

GLOBEC: Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Program

This collaborative study between the Desert Research Institute (Chris Fritsen), the University of California, Santa Barbara (Langdon Quetin and Robin Ross), and the University of California, San Diego (Maria Vernet) examines the relationship between sea ice extent along the Antarctic Peninsula and the life history of krill (Euphausia superba), by developing, refining, and linking diagnostic datasets and models of phytoplankton decreases in the fall, phytoplankton biomass incorporation into sea ice, sea ice growth dynamics, sea ice algal production and biomass accumulation, and larval krill energetics, condition, and survival.

IPY: International Polar Year Program

Alison Murray and her group studies life in free-drifting icebergs that originated from various regions of the Antarctic ice shelves and have concentrated in a region of the northern and northwestern Weddell Sea known as "Iceberg Alley." This research is being supported by the National Science Foundation.

Lake Vida Project

Geochemistry and Microbiology of the Extreme Aquatic Environment in Lake Vida, East Antarctica
DEES faculty members, Alison Murray and Christian Fritsen, along with several colleagues participate in ongoing research of the Antarctic lake. Support for this project is being provided by the National Science Foundation.

TERPRO: INQUA Commission on Terrestrial Processes, Deposits, and History

The INQUA Commission on Terrestrial Processes, Deposits, and History (TERPRO) promotes and supports research on Quaternary topics related to terrestrial environments and history, especially in areas that investigate new frontiers in science and incorporate multiple and cross-disciplinary research efforts, multi-national research, and involve developing countries.

INQUA Dune Atlas

The primary objective of this project is to develop a global database of geographically-located chronologic information on periods of aeolian sand deposition for desert and other inland dune fields and sand seas. The data will be accessed, analyzed, and visualized using a geographic information systems (GIS) approach.

Lincoln Highway

In 1859, Captain James Simpson established a route that would provide a foundation for a portion of the nation’s first coast-to-coast thoroughfare, the Lincoln Highway (LH). This project focused on mapping of the 1913 and 1919 routes of the Lincoln Highway through U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) via satellite imagery and historic documents including General Land Office maps, historic transportation maps, and other documentation.