Desert Research Institute August 1 Deadline for $25,000 Gunnerman Science and Technology Award
Nevada's innovators and inventors have until August 1 to submit nominations for the $25,000 Rudolf W. Gunnerman Silver State Award for Excellence in Science and Technology. Administered by the Desert Research Institute, the annual award was established last year by Reno area inventor, engineer and industrialist Rudolf W. Gunnerman and the Gunnerman Foundation to recognize excellence in science and technology by a Nevadan.
DRI President Stephen G. Wells said the Gunnerman Award program includes a selection process involving both private and government sector economic development leaders. "This award will recognize achievement that clearly satisfies a societal need either through fundamental science or its application," Wells said. 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.
Those interested in submitting nominations can contact, Dr. James Coleman, DRI Vice President for Research, at (775) 673-7322 (or jcoleman@dri.edu), or download the nomination form from DRI's web site at: http://www.dri.edu/Gunnerman/nomination.html. The award's formal presentation will beheld this fall.
The 2000 Gunnerman Award was presented to Dr. William A. Zamboni, a professor of surgery at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, for his medical and research advances in using high oxygen environments to reattach limbs.
Gunnerman is founder and chairman of Clean Fuels Technology, Inc., a Reno company engaged in the development and commercialization of A-55 Clean Fuels, which are low-polluting fuel emulsions of water and oil for use in power generation and transportation. Gunnerman also formed SulphCo, Inc., last year to develop and commercialize a process for removing nearly all of the sulfur from petroleum products and reduce vehicle and power plant emissions.
He holds seven U.S. patents and over 70 international patents in the area of energy-related sciences, has devoted a significant portion of his life to studying the effects of air pollution and technological solutions to air pollution.
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 $28 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of Nevada for administrative costs.