Sprint Vice President and General Manager Lou Emmert will receive the Desert Research Institute President's Medal in recognition of her success in developing the DRI Research Foundation during her three years as the foundation's chair. DRI President Stephen G. Wells will present the award as part of the institute's annual Nevada Medal Award dinner at Caesars Palace March 30.
"Under Lou's guidance," said Wells, "the foundation has been able to raise funds that have gone to furnish and equip laboratories, provide field analytical equipment, and generally flesh out critical aspects of DRI's research infrastructure that are not covered by any other source of funding."
Wells said Emmert, who is very active in southern Nevada community service, has also worked hard to introduce DRI's research and technology capabilities to Nevada's business and government sectors. "Her direct personal involvement on our behalf is unquestionably the most important contribution she has made to the institute."
DRI is the environmental research division of the University and Community College System of Nevada and awards the President's Medal in lieu of granting honorary doctorates or similar acknowledgments common among the state's teaching campuses.
The institute, which receives only about 15 percent of its operating and administrative expenses directly from the state, depends on philanthropic supporters to keep its research equipment updated to remain current with scientific standards. Wells said the foundation enables the institute's research faculty, which must raise the remaining 85 percent of DRI's annual $22 million budget, to compete effectively with other research organizations nationally and internationally.