Graduate Students

Achyut Adhikari

BS (1999):  Biology and Environment, Tribhuwan University, Nepal
MS (2001): Ecology, Natural Resource Management, Tribhuwan University, Nepal
MS (2006): Resource Economics, Research and Project Planning in Natural Resources, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

Achyut spent 5 Years working as a Research Associate, Programme officer and Wetlands Biologist with NGO, INGO’s working on Natural Resource Management (UNDP, IUCN, and LI-BIRD, PROPUBLIC). In January 2008, he began pursuing a PhD degree in Geoscience at UNLV with a research focus on assessment and monitoring of Wetlands for Water Quality and water resource management in the Las Vegas Watershed.

Knut Mehler

M.S. (2008): Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena, Germany
B.S. (2005): Geography, Geology, and Ecology – University of Jena, Germany

After receiving his Bachelor in Geography Knut spent 4 months at the Desert Research Institute analyzing water samples for phosphorus from different locations of the Las Vegas Wash. After he finished his masters in soil science he decided to come back to DRI in the summer of 2009. Knut is currently a Ph.D student at the Department of Geoscience of University of Nevada Las Vegas. His interests include nutrient cycles; particularly carbon and nitrogen cycles in soil and freshwater ecosystems and how those cycles might be affected by human impacts and the ongoing climate change.

Mahesh Bhattarai

I joined University of Nevada Reno in 2008 as a Ph.D. student in Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences. I’ve Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering and Master of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering. After earning master degree in 1997 from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois I worked as a lecturer in Tribhuvan University, Nepal and also as a professional engineer. During those eleven years I worked in dozens of researches and projects related to water quality and wastewater engineering. Currently I’m working under the supervision of Dr. Kumud Acharya on Impact of Climate Change on Lake Mead Water Quality. This research intends to assess the sediment load and consequent nutrient, carbon and selenium loads from Las Vegas Watershed to Las Vegas Wash and to the Lake Mead due to precipitation extremes. Sediment loads will be assessed using the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool (AGWA), which uses SWAT and KINEROS2. Research also aims to establish a threshold precipitation extreme with respect to erodibility.

Melissa Thaw

Melissa holds a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian studies from Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon.  As part of her degree she studied Mandarin Chinese during an overseas program at Guangxi Normal University in Guilin, China.  She returned to China during her senior year to conduct interviews for her senior thesis.  She subsequently studied mathematics and natural science at Lake Tahoe Community College, South Lake Tahoe.  Melissa has previously assisted with limnology and climate change research at DRI examining black carbon concentrations in ice and liquid water samples.  She has also worked as a research intern at U.C. Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center where she assisted in Lake Tahoe research including conducting experiments on Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea). Melissa will be focusing her research on Lake Mead Quagga mussels while pursuing a Masters in Science in Water Resources Management at UNLV.

Lynn Schwaebe

Lynn is currently working on Quagga mussel project mostly focusing on veligers.

Visiting Ph. D Students

Binquan Li

Binquan got his Bachelor in Hydrology and Water Resources from Hohai University, China. He has continued his study in a Master-through-Doctor program of hydrology. His research areas are distributed precipitation-runoff modeling and Bayesian-based uncertainty assessment in flood forecasting for Chinese basins such as Yellow River and Nen River. In September 2010, Binquan joined the Ecological Engineering program at Desert Research Institute as a visiting scientist. Currently, his research interests at DRI include watershed hydrological model, multi-source precipitation data assimilation and effects of climate variations and human activities on runoff.

Lili Zhao

I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Hydraulic and hydropower engineering from Agricultural University of Hebei, China in 2008. Afterwards, I continued my further study in a Master-Doctor combined program of Hydrology and water resources at Hohai University. In 2010, through a rigid academia evaluation process organized by the China Scholarship Council, I was awarded as a joint Ph.D student to pursue my study in the Ecological Engineering Program of Desert Research Institute. Currently, my research interests include evaluation on potential climate change impacts on lakes hydrodynamics and water quality. I am also interested in developing coupled hydrological and atmospheric models.

Undergraduate Summer Student

Trea LaCroix, University of Nevada Reno

Assisting on various research projects, e.g. Tamarisk and Quagga Mussles, and Algae Biofuel projects.

High School Summer Students

Matthew Pohlmann, Coronado High School

Jessica Joseph, Valley High School

Allen Yu, Coronado High School

Past Students

Amina Lodhi

My work at DRI began November of 2007 after earning my bachelors from UC Irvine. I graduated with a major in Environmental Analysis and Design and a minor in Biology. Currently, I do phosphorus analysis for sites such as Walker Lake, Walker River, Las Vegas Wash and Devils Hole. I am also involved with building an ecological model for the Walker Basin Project. In the near future I hope to earn a masters from UNLV and to continue with research in academia.

Carolyn Link, UNLV (currently with Marrone Bio Innovations)

Carolyn's research interests include aquatic ecology and chemistry. As an undergraduate student at Northern Arizona University, Carolyn worked in an aquatic ecology lab studying the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon, and also researched U-series disequilibria using ICPMS. After finishing her B.S. in Environmental Chemistry while abroad at the University of Hull, England, Carolyn began working in aquatic animal husbandry and life support monitoring. As part of beginning a master's program in Water Resource Management, she currently studies the ecology of the Quagga Mussel in Lake Mead.

Candi Schulman, UNLV (currently graduate student at University of Minnesota)

NSF REU Summer Fellows

2011, Trea LaCroix, University of Nevada Reno

2009, Christine Simmons, Villanova University

2008, Susan O'Neill, Washington State University