Behind the Science Blog
DRI’s “Behind the Science” blog featuring our people and projects
Read the stories below to learn more about the amazing people and projects happening at DRI.
Featured Research: DRI scientists analyze origins of the Saharan dust plume
On June 18, 2020, NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured this visible image of the large light brown plume of Saharan dust over the North Atlantic Ocean. The image showed that the dust from Africa’s west coast extended almost to the Lesser Antilles in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Credit: NASA Worldview. In late June 2020, a phenomenon known as the Saharan dust plume made headlines...
Meet Sandra Brugger, Ph.D.
Sandra Brugger, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Researcher with DRI's Division of Hydrologic Sciences, and a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Fellow. DRI: What brought you to DRI? Brugger: I started at DRI in October 2019 with an Early Postdoc...
Meet Gai Elhanan, M.D.
Gai Elhanan, M.D., is a health data scientist with the Division of Earth and Ecosystems Sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno. He specializes in health care informatics, and is a physician with more than 12 years of experience in...
New donor-powered research underway to address climate adaptation, water resources, and more
The DRI Foundation has just awarded the next round of seed grants to six teams of researchers through the Innovation Research Program (IRP). The IRP provides the start-up funding DRI scientists need to test new ideas and produce initial data, which...
Meet Tiffany Pereira, M.S.
Meet Tiffany Pereira, M.S.7MAY, 2020Botany Research Scientific IllustrationMeet DRI scientist Tiffany Pereira and learn about her work in botany and scientific illustration in this interview with DRI's Behind the Science blog.Tiffany Pereira, M.S.,...
Meet Ben Hatchett
Benjamin Hatchett, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno. Ben has been a member of the DRI community since 2005 when he began as an undergraduate lab assistant. He...
Why scientists are studying stories during the COVID-19 pandemic
The family dinner table. The water cooler with coworkers. Your social media feed. Bedtime with your toddler. What do all these places have in common? They’re full of stories. Look closely at your day and, chances are, you’ll notice that stories...
Meet Steve Bacon, M.S.
Steve Bacon, M.S., P.G., C.E.G. is an associate research scientist of geomorphology with the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno. Steve...
Meet Ken McGwire, Ph.D.
Ken McGwire, Ph.D., is an associate research professor of geography with the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at the Desert Research Institute in Reno. He specializes in environmental mapping, monitoring and modeling using satellite imagery...
People-powered research: Citizen science makes microplastics discovery at Lake Tahoe possible
Take a moment to picture a scientist who has made a groundbreaking discovery. What does that person look like? Perhaps it’s a person in a white coat standing in a lab with microscopes and test tubes, or a distinguished professor accepting an award...
Meet Julie Albright, DRI’s Technologist of the Year
The cutting-edge scientific research that happens at DRI wouldn't be possible without the Institute's many technologists: non-faculty employees who have special technical experience and training to support instrumentation design, laboratory and...
Using Machine Learning to Address Land Subsidence in Pahrump Valley
As populations in the southwestern United States continue to grow, the demand on water resources also increases. One region experiencing this stress on its groundwater resources is Pahrump Valley in southern Nye County, Nevada. Pahrump Valley is...
New DRI projects for 2020 include luminescence dating, fracking, and groundwater
Three new research projects sponsored by the Desert Research Institute in 2020 will explore new methods in luminescence dating, groundwater contamination around fracking operations, and the movement of groundwater through rocks and soils. DRI...