The Desert Research Institute (DRI), Sierra Nevada College (SNC), and RAND have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop a Tahoe Basin Environmental Science and Policy Center located on the Incline Village, Nevada, campus of SNC, DRI President Stephen G. Wells and SNC President James L. Ash, Jr., announced.
Wells said the new center will work to develop a unique teaching and research program and facilitate research efforts by the three organizations, as well as other groups interested in Lake Tahoe issues. He said the new center is the one of three essential integrated research facilities for the Tahoe Basin that were agreed upon last year by DRI, the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of California, Davis.
SNC President Ash said the College's environmental science program will benefit greatly from the focus created by the new center and be positioned at the leading edge of undergraduate education in environmental science. "This collaboration will be a great new day for bringing together environmental science and public policy here in the Tahoe Basin. We are delighted to be the host site for this new center at our lake campus."
Wells said the program will demonstrate how the environment can be improved when scientific researchers and public policy agencies cooperate to advance the state of knowledge and education about the Lake Tahoe Basin.
"The center should greatly boost the efforts already underway by SNC, DRI, UNR and UC-Davis researchers and educators. Most important, we hope the center would create a strong link between the environmental research efforts in the Tahoe Basin and the development and implementation of policy to preserve the area's ecological health," said Wells.
RAND, the world's most famous think tank, is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. RAND has a long-established research program in California issues and has recently expanded its environmental and energy agenda.