DRI
Sand Dune Researcher Wins Farouk El-Baz Award from Geological
Society of America
Dr.
Nicholas Lancaster, winner of the 2001 Farouk El-Baz
Award, stands in a dune field in Tunisia, on the eastern
edge of the Grand Erg Oriental. |
Dr.
Nicholas Lancaster, a Desert Research Institute scientist
who is regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on
sand dunes, has received the Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert
Research from the Geological Society of America. The international
award recognizes outstanding achievement in arid lands studies.
Lancaster
has studied dune fields and blowing sand processes from
Africa to Antarctica, including major deserts in Mexico
and the United States. He is credited with developing landmark
concepts for understanding the movement and development
of dunes on a daily basis, as well as the response of dunes
to climate change and other environmental influences over
the span of centuries or millennia.
A research professor in DRI's Division of Earth and Ecosystem
Sciences, Lancaster has worked at the Institute since 1991.
His current research also focuses on the influence of vegetation
on wind transport of sand and dust and on the use of radar
remote sensing to assess sand dune evolution and evidence
of ancient environments in arid regions.
Lancaster is also looking at the impacts of climatic and
sea level change on wind-driven dune formation, and on the
role of blowing sand in dust emissions. Earlier this year,
dust blown from a Chinese desert created a noticeable haze
in the western U.S., and dust from the Sahara Desert periodically
crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Florida and the Caribbean.
2001
Gunnerman Awarded to Lake Tahoe Inventor Peter S. Guilfoyle
Peter S. Guilfoyle |
Peter
S. Guilfoyle, founder and president of OptiComp Corporation
of Zephyr Cove, Nevada, has been awarded the 2001 Rudolf
W. Gunnerman Silver State Award for Excellence in Science
and Technology. Guilfoyle's selection was based largely
on his development of a new type of optical crosspoint switch
which improves data transmission from fiber-to-fiber across
network junctions on optical fiber networks. It also allows
for networks to be implemented in new ways within the data
and telecommunications industry.
Governor
Kenny Guinn will present the award's medallion and $25,000
prize to Guilfoyle at the Govenor's Industry Appreciation
Luncheon in November. Earlier this year, Guilfoyle received
Nevada's 2001 Inventor of the Year award.
Guilfoyle
graduated from Carnegie-Mellon with a MSEE and a BSEE and
is acknowledged for developing the first digital optical
computer as well as numerous advances in optoelectronics
and laser applications. OptiComp Corporation is a research
and development firm specializing in optoelectronic technologies
involved in optical computing, fiber optic networks, and
telecommunications. Under Guilfoyle's direction, OptiComp
was the recipient of R&D magazine's 1994 Top 100 award,
and it was also named a recipient of a Roland Tibbets Small
Business Innovation Research Award in 1996, 1998, and 2000.
The Gunnerman Award was established in 2000 by Rudolf Gunnerman
to recognize scientific achievement and technology development
in Nevada and to showcase the state as a strong supporter
in key areas of innovation. Nominees must demonstrate the
highest quality of research, work accomplishment, and commitment
to the field and be involved with work that will have a
direct and favorable impact on the greater population. The
majority of the work cited for the award must have been
completed in Nevada.
Gunnerman is an environmental inventor and scientist who
came to the United States from Germany in 1945. His firm,
Clean Fuels Technology, Inc. of Reno, is actively involved
in promoting the use of A-55 Clean Fuels, a water-bearing
emulsified fuel that reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides
and particulates.
Gunnerman holds seven U.S. patents and over 70 international
patents in the area of energy-related sciences and has devoted
a significant portion of his life to studying the effects
of pollution and the technological responses to these effects.
He serves as a trustee of the DRI Research Foundation.
For information on the Gunnerman Award and nomination materials,
see DRI's web site at www.dri.edu.
Long-Time
Supporter Aileen Maki Receives DRI President's Medal
Pictured are President Wells, Aileen
Maki (seated), Margaret Ball, standing, and Marian
Burrows. |
In the late 1960s,
long before the building of DRI's Southern Nevada Science
Center, the Institute rented a converted restaurant, across
from what was then the Nevada Southern University, from
Aileen Maki and her late husband, Sulo Maki. DRI then moved
to a duplex complex also owned and leased from Mr. and Mrs.
Maki. The couple later donated one of the duplexes and land
to DRI, beginning a long tradition of support for DRI building
and education projects. In presenting the Medal to Mrs.
Maki, Wells noted that "The gifts of Sulo and Aileen
Maki will continue to enrich the Institute and Nevada for
generations to come."
2001
Wagner Medal of Excellence Awarded to Two Scientists at
DRI
Groundwater
scientist Dr. David Benson and polar ecosystem biologist
Dr. Chris Fritsen this year sharedthe Desert Research Institute's
2001 Peter B. Wagner Medal of Excellence. Benson's
research has focused on developing more accurate mathematical
models to describe the movement of pollutants in groundwater,
and Fritsen's
work examines how environmental and climate conditions affect
microorganisms inhabiting polar ice, and whether similar
life-forms may be found on other planets.
The award, which recognizes achievement by DRI faculty in
the early stages of their careers, was established by Sue
Wagner in memory of her husband, Peter, a DRI scientist
who died in the crash of a DRI research aircraft in 1980.
Mrs. Wagner, who later served as a special assistant to
three DRI presidents, has also held elected office as a
state legislator and lieutenant governor, and is currently
a member of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
