Campus Environment

DRI has campuses located in both Northern and Southern Nevada, providing a wide variety of opportunities in research science.

Campus Environment

DRI has campuses located in both Northern and Southern Nevada, providing a wide variety of opportunities in research science. Faculty members are nontenured and responsible for their own salaries through external grants and contracts.  Through this blend of academic rigor and private-sector pragmatism, DRI has earned a reputation for delivering high-quality scientific information in an efficient, transparent an accountable fashion.  DRI’s culture provides an inclusive and supportive structure for researchers of all levels and backgrounds.  Junior research faculty and graduate students attend learning sessions on research business development and work with senior researchers as mentors.  Administrative faculty also work closely with the researchers in a team environment to provide exceptional service to clients.

Life at both campuses is enhanced by easy access to a wide range of recreational activities, entertainment, and local art and music festivals.

Diverse Community Partnerships

DRI is committed to building relationships with the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) and the communities which it serves. A key component to DRI’s diversity strategy is to involve the community through education, outreach, and partnerships with a variety of constituency organizations.

DRI’s education and outreach programs include higher education student programs in cooperation with the UNR and UNLV, involvement in the K-12 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs, and community education and involvement in our research.

Outreach programs include:

DRI proudly supports and sponsors the following diversity-focused organizations:

Chambers

• Henderson Chamber of Commerce
• Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce
• Las Vegas Asian Chamber
• Reno/Sparks Chamber of Commerce
• Urban Chamber of Commerce

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibly (IDEA) Committee 

2020 Charter – IDEA Committee Charter 2020

Overview and Purpose: DRI’s mission is to excel in basic and applied research and the application of technologies to improve people’s lives in Nevada and throughout the world. Diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility are critical components within the fabric of the institute to excel in basic and applied research, solve complex environmental issues, and advance DRI’s mission. However, data show the earth sciences are among the least diverse science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in the United States and racial diversity in PhD-level earth scientists has not improved over the past four decades. The purpose of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) committee is to help build a more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and accessible environment for all institute community members. 

Scope: This committee is targeted towards promoting the advancement and improvement of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibly at DRI as pertain to both internal and external-facing functions. The Committee will seek broad representation across the institute. For clarity, this group is not an advocacy group and will not engage in discussions on national, state, or local politics, political figures, or political movements. This group does not handle personnel issues; these must be directed to Human Resources. For topics that are actionable within HR, the Diversity Officer will be the conduit between the committee and that department.  

Objectives:  

• Promote the advancement and improvement of IDEA at DRI, including recommendations on evidence-based best practices for the advancement of IDEA. 
• Inform DRI policy related to IDEA.  
• Identify shortcomings within DRI culture and provide education, raise awareness, and recommend actionable solutions to address those shortcomings. 
• Create mechanisms that alleviate the burden of on underrepresented groups to advocate for IDEA issues (e.g., the ‘cultural taxation’ imposed on those from under-represented groups2).   
• Identify barriers for IDEA and recommend breakthrough points.   
• Support the DRI Diversity Officer by channeling ideas, providing an additional outreach mechanism to identify areas of concern and employee input on IDEA recommendations, broadly engaging faculty in professional development/training initiatives, and reviewing/providing input into the Diversity Office Strategic Plan. 

DRI values a diverse workforce and reviews data annually to ensure we are reaching applicants from diverse and underrepresented groups.  We believe that a diverse workforce creates an environment that increases creativity, drives new research, and improves the workplace culture.

DRI’s strategic plan for diversity and inclusion is focused on outreach to a more diverse group of applicants as well as improving efforts to support historically underrepresented groups within DRI and NSHE.  DRI is continuously reviewing and updating this plan to ensure best practices are being implemented in order to recruit and retain a diverse group of employees dedicated to environmental research.

DRI Diversity Strategic Plan

DRI Diversity data summaries are shown below for 2012 to 2019.

NSHE Diversity Data, Committees, and Summits

• NSHE Faculty and Staff Diversity Data
• NSHE Diversity and Inclusion Information