DRI Awards Maxey Fellowship to Marija Grabasnjak
The Desert Research Institute has awarded the $12,000 George B. Maxey Fellowship to DRI Graduate Research
Assistant Marija Grabasnjak. Her fellowship will involve statistical simulations of the movement of
pollutant particles through the soil of complex groundwater systems to improve advanced modeling
techniques. Grabasnjak is working toward her M.S. in hydrology/hydrogeology at the University of Nevada,
Reno.
Maxey, a pioneering ground water scientist, was a prominent early director of DRI's ground water research
program and established the first Ph.D. program in Nevada's university system. He and his wife, Jane,
also provided considerable extracurricular support and guidance for hydrology and hydrogeology graduate
students.
The fellowship was established by Elizabeth "Betty" West Stout, a paleontologist who is a longtime
supporter of DRI and a friend of the late Maxey's. Mrs. Stout has underwritten numerous research and
fund-raising activities, and the institute's conference center at the Northern Nevada Science Center in
Reno is named in her honor.
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 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150
research projects at DRI annually. More than 85 percent of DRI's annual $33 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.