Desert Research Institute
Desert Research Institute
President's Messages 2010 Nevada Medalist Named
| 2010 Nevada Medalist Named | | Print | |
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Dec. 3, 2009 Greetings!
Details of Ballard's visits to Nevada will be updated on the Nevada Medal Web page including information on how to attend the dinner events. There are also video links from the 60 Minutes segments featuring Ballard. Ballard earned a Ph.D. in marine ecology and geophysics from the University of Rhode island and spend 30 years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where he helped develop telecommunications technology to create "tele-presence" for his JASON Project and Immersion Learning, which allows hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren to accompany him from afar on undersea explorations around the globe each year. Best known for his archeological and oceanographic explorations, including his 1985 discovery of the TITANIC, Ballard has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship BISMARCK, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the U.S. aircraft carrier YORKTOWN (sunk in the World War II Battle of Midway), and John F. Kennedy's boat, PT-109. While those discoveries have captured the imagination of the public, Ballard believes his most important discoveries were of hydrothermal vents and "black smokers" in the Galapagos Rift and East Pacific Rise in 1977 and 1979 along with their exotic life forms living off the energy of the Earth through a process now called chemosynthesis. In addition to being a National Geographic Society Explorer-In-Residence and a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, Ballard is the founder and president of the Institute for Exploration (IFE) in Mystic, Conn. The Nevada Medal was established by DRI in 1988 to acknowledge outstanding achievement in science and engineering. The annual award includes an eight-ounce minted medallion of .999 pure Nevada silver and $20,000 lecture honorarium sponsored by AT&T. Sincerely, Stephen Wells |
Located in Reno, Nevada
Equipped with laboratory-grade water quality sensors, the 21-foot Mt. Rose provides real-time data for nearshore water quality studies.
Located in Reno, Nevada
The Energy Laboratory is focused on the development and application of renewable resources.
Located in Reno, Nevada
Algae and biofuels research conducted within the Systems Microbial Ecology Laboratory may produce large returns.
It is my pleasure to announce that Robert Ballard, Ph.D. will receive the 2010 Nevada Medal. Ballard will be honored with Nevada Medal dinners in Reno on Tuesday, April 20 and in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 22.