Postdoctoratal researchers in renewable energy will be targeted with grant money

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 13, 2011

RENO — DRI announced today the establishment of The Nell J. Redfield Foundation Post Doctoral Fellowship in Renewable Energy. With the $500,000 support of the Nell J. Redfield Foundation, DRI will create a nationally competitive fellowship for recent Ph.D. graduates involved in renewable energy research, science or engineering.

“DRI is deeply grateful to the Redfield Foundation for helping the institute meet its critical mission of recruiting new talented faculty to DRI and Nevada,” said Dr. Stephen Wells DRI President. “One of DRI’s great success stories is our ability to retain postdoctoral researchers and provide them with opportunities to grow and develop new programs as well as establish collaborations with current DRI faculty.”

One of the other benefits of the new fellowship is that it will support DRI’s expanding renewable energy research by bringing creative researchers to Nevada. The current focus of DRI’s renewable energy research is on wind, solar, and geothermal energy, hydrogen applications, biomass-to-energy systems, and energy conservation.

Dr. Alan Gertler serves as the Senior Director for the Clean Technologies and Renewable Energy center, as well as the program director for the Nevada Renewable Energy Consortium (NVREC), a collaborative program involving the three Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) research institutions along with participating Nevada community colleges.

“These highly qualified postdoctoral researchers will join other scientists in contributing to a focus on clean technologies, and most importantly, they will build our intellectual capital and contribute to the state’s future success by building a strong renewable energy program that can provide a resource for enterprises seeking to move to Nevada,” Gertler said.

The Nell J. Redfield Foundation has been a major NSHE benefactor for decades, including substantial support of the arts, and the medical and nursing programs at the University of Nevada, Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College.