Helping the public understand the importance of DRI's environmental research during four decades

Recollections of working with John "John and I have interacted on the public information aspects of cloud seeding for at least 10 years. He trained me well in conversing with the media, and hopefully I imparted as much to him on the scientific side. He has always been a great listener. When cloud seeding is involved, we both get our share of some of the stranger calls coming into DRI. Some of my favorite conversations with John started with, "You're not going to believe the call I got this morning ..." So, there's the humorous side, but there have also been some really serious issues where John's help was a tremendous benefit to me. Luckily he's departing in the summer, so I won't have to be asked, as he goes out the door, if I remembered to post the cloud seeding status on our Web page." Arlen Huggins Associate Research Scientist, Division of Atmospheric Sciences "John was great to work with at the DRI. He was punctual with everything, responded directly to what was needed and, refreshingly, was always enthusiastic and eager about the people and work he represented. If abstract science is to come alive for ordinary people—and it should—then it needs promoters like John, whose excitement rubs off so easily on the people they meet. But more than promoters, science needs people who can explain it in terms that average people can understand. And at this John was so wonderfully good that I was always both grateful and amazed. He would come into my editorial office and in half an hour—an hour at most—would translate complex ideas into clear patterns that I could grasp, and that I could make the newspaper's readers grasp when I wrote about them. Of course, it helped that John came from my professional world—we worked together as reporters back in the '70s—but not everyone with a newspaper background can successfully manage the transition to the straightforward clarity required of a good publicist—the skinny without the bull. You could trust him absolutely, which to any news person is criteria Number One ... he could always make clear what the research and discoveries meant to the lives of individual Americans and to the future of their land, especially the arid West—make clear why the work of DRI matters so very much to all of us. While understanding John's wish to retire after all these years, I regret his departure because he has been so good both for DRI and the community around it. We have all been fortunate to have him around for so long." Bruce Bledsoe Former opinion page editor, Reno Gazette-Journal

Director of Public Information John Doherty Retires

Understanding one area of science is difficult enough—but try keeping tabs on the scientific research of 450 faculty and support staff spread among two campuses, three divisions and three centers.

Welcome to John Doherty's world. But he's not complaining one bit—nor has he for the last 29 years.

"The best part of my job has been coming to work everyday and playing with scientists," says Doherty, who retires this month. "Far and away the best part is the time I spend talking with our scientists and hearing about the new approaches they are employing to solve problems or advance their fields of science. After about 30 years, I still find myself forgetting to take notes as I get wholly consumed with the excitement of what they're trying to do."

Those who have taken a tour of DRI's Northern Nevada Science Center with Doherty can see it, and his excitement is infectious.

"We've never had much of a budget for communicating our message; we don't have a basketball team and we're such an odd duck of an organization when it comes to university campuses that the public does not intuitively understand our story. They may know us as the organization that does cloud seeding or as the group that does studies at the Nevada Test Site or works on Lake Tahoe or Truckee River water quality—but they seldom have a clear, coherent idea of our true entrepreneurial, multidisciplinary nature," Doherty says.

"But when I have an audience that can't run away, I almost always experience a response of amazement from listeners after I get through explaining the types of things we're working on."

While one of DRI's strengths is its research on environmental climate change worldwide, Doherty has watched the institute's own environment change dramatically, beginning with the move from the University of Nevada 's campus to the Dandini Research Park in 1977.

Then came the opening of the Southern Nevada Science Center in Las Vegas in 1991, followed by the opening of the Northern Nevada Science Center expansion in 1999 and the Frank H. Rogers Science and Technology Building in Las Vegas last year.

As DRI's environment evolved, so did Doherty's position. When he first joined DRI, his job was split evenly between being assistant to the president and public information officer. For about a year and a half, he was also the institute's affirmative action officer. By the mid-1980s, his role was dedicated to the public information officer position.

"This place is brand new practically every day," Doherty says upon reflecting on his career. Many times, he is the voice for the scientists who are immersed in their studies, getting the word out about their accomplishments.

John Watson, research professor for the Division of Atmospheric Sciences, recalls dispatching Doherty to Mexico City in 1997, where DRI was conducting an air-quality study and Doherty landed in the middle of a news media feeding-frenzy.

"He rounded up the photographers," Watson says. "He didn't speak much Spanish and they didn't speak much English. He was hopping in vans, using hand signals to communicate and nothing stopped them-not even red lights. It was like Mr. Toad's wild ride at Disneyland. John's work resulted in the best media coverage we've seen on our projects-14 million residents saw it-that was seven times the population of Nevada at the time. When I went to drop off some clothes at the dry cleaners the man behind the counter recognized me from the news the night before!"

The exemplary work of DRI's scientists has put DRI on the map as one of the top environmental research organizations in the world, but its reputation can also be attributed to Doherty's public affairs role, according to DRI President Dr. Stephen G. Wells.

"John has worked tirelessly for nearly 30 years to spread the word about DRI's many achievements. DRI is grateful to John Doherty for setting a great example about the importance of DRI's environmental research and its relevance to everyone's health and quality of life," Wells says.

— Heather Emmons