The Desert Research Institute is establishing a $5,000 annual award to recognize excellence in science and technology by a Nevadan in honor of Rudolf W. Gunnerman, the Reno area inventor and engineer who has developed low-emission fuels based on petroleum and water mixtures. DRI President Stephen G. Wells said the Rudolf W. Gunnerman Silver State Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, underwritten by Rudy Gunnerman and the Gunnerman Foundation, will be presented for the first time this fall.
"This award will recognize achievement that clearly satisfies a societal need either through fundamental science or its application," Wells said. "Nevada abounds with scientific achievement everyday, and it is important to highlight these efforts as widely as possible." Among other criteria for the award, Wells said the work leading to the achievements recognized by the Gunnerman Award must have been primarily conducted within Nevada.
The award's namesake, chairman of Clean Fuels, Technology, Inc., in Reno, first came to the United States from Germany in 1945. Dr. Gunnerman is actively involved in promoting A-55 Clean Fuels, a water-bearing emulsified fuel for use in utility and industrial power generation that produces lower emissions than conventional fuels. Gunnerman holds seven U.S. patents and more than 70 international patents in the area of energy-related sciences.
"In a career that has spanned four decades, Dr. Gunnerman has made significant contributions to our global quality of life and the air that we breathe," Wells said. "As an environmental inventor and scientist, he has devoted a major part of his life to studying the effects of pollution and to finding technological responses to these effects. This award is a means of stimulating further effort by Nevadans in these directions."
The nominations deadline for the first Gunnerman Award is August 1, 2000 and DRI will be actively soliciting nominations from the academic community, government agencies, Nevada's business sector, professional groups, research organizations and private individuals. Nomination forms and information on selection criteria can be obtained from DRI's web site at: www.dri.edu/Gunnerman/nomination.html or by contacting Dr. James Coleman, DRI's Vice President for Research and Business Development, at (775) 673-7322 or jcoleman@dri.edu
Nominees must demonstrate the highest quality of research, work accomplished and commitment to both their professional field and to research, be doing or have done work that will have a direct favorable impact on the greater population, have received recognition from peers in the field, be doing work that reflects favorably on the state of Nevada, i.e., improvement of quality of life or economic contribution, and be Nevada-based or have done a majority of their work in the state.
Gunnerman has been recognized by several distinguished international science academies through inclusion in their ranks, among them the International Scientific-Executive Hall of Fame and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
Most recently, he was inducted into the New York/American Academy of Science. He is also leading efforts through his chairmanship of the Gunnerman Foundation to create a global awareness and dialogue about the dangers of NOx (oxides of nitrogen) pollution, including the threats it presents to human respiratory health and the protective ozone layer.