Senior Scientist comes from USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center in Las Vegas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 9, 2012

RENO – Dr. K. Bruce Jones has been named the Executive Director of the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences (DEES) at the Desert Research Institute (DRI). He is currently a Senior Scientist in the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center in Las Vegas coordinating research on climate change vulnerability assessments across regional centers.

“We are both pleased and excited that Dr. Jones has accepted the executive division director position at DRI,” said Dr. Stephen Wells, DRI President. “I believe he has the right background in pursuing both a research and business agenda in our Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences Division, which has such a rich history in solving complex environmental issues related to ecological, earth, social and cultural sciences.”

In his current position, he helped establish an inter-organizational working group on Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments, producing a first-of-its-kind handbook on vulnerability assessments. The group received the Department of Interior’s Partners in Conservation Award last September. From 2008 until 2011, Jones served as the Chief Scientist for the Biology Discipline in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Reston, Virginia.

“Dr. Jones has a long and impressive history of building innovative and large-scale interdisciplinary projects, which fits right into DRI’s research model,” Wells said.

Jones earned his Ph.D from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Environmental Biology in 1995. He has a Master’s degree in Ecology from New Mexico State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Jacksonville University.