DRI Sand Dune Researcher Wins Farouk El-Baz Award from Geological Society of America

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.

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.

The international award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in arid lands studies, was won last year by DRI President Stephen G. Wells. It is presented annually by the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America.

A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 400 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 80 percent of DRI's annual $26 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is receivedfrom the state of Nevada for administrative costs.