~ for immediate release

news release July 25, 2006

Contact: Heather Emmons, DRI PIO, heather.emmons@dri.edu, Reno (775) 673-7313 (w), (702) 743-3435 (c)

All DRI News Releases are available at: http://news.dri.edu/

DRI’s McConnell earns Regents’ Researcher of the Year Award

Reno, Nev.--In a reception being held at DRI in his honor today, Dr. Joseph McConnell will be awarded the Nevada System of Higher Education Regents’ Researcher of the Year Award in recognition of his landmark work in ice core chemistry, snow hydrology, paleoclimatology and glaciology.

McConnell’s research has resulted in more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, including articles in Nature and Science, and more than $38 million in total research funding. Both the funding and the publications are the result of extensive national and international collaborations, including a recently awarded Fulbright fellowship for research in Argentina.

McConnell joined DRI in 1998 and has since developed a new method of ice core chemical analysis, resulting in a million-dollar, one-of-a-kind ice core laboratory.  In this new method, a continuous ice core melter is coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and a traditional continuous flow analysis (CFA) system. McConnell continued to improve this method including the addition of a second ICP-MS to greatly expand the number of elements and chemical species that can be measured simultaneously on ice cores at high depth resolution.  This work has significantly broadened the utility of ice cores as archives of paleoclimate and industrial pollution.

“Our original objective in developing our ice core analytical system was to maximize the climate and environmental information that can be obtained from a single ice core or an array of ice cores,” McConnell said. “We’ve made a lot of progress toward this but we are always working to expand and improve our research and analytical capabilities.  This opportunity for innovation, the entrepreneurial setting at DRI, and the important environmental results that we’ve obtained so far make my job a lot of fun and very rewarding.”

There will be a reception honoring McConnell at DRI today from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

ABOUT THE AWARD: The Board of Regents established the Regents' Researcher of the Year Award in 1992. This award is bestowed upon faculty members with a substantial record of accomplishments, including a significant amount of research and scholarly work with recognition, clear evidence of the national and/or international stature of the research, and in the case of grants and contracts, must have been competitive on a national or international level. The honoree receives a $5,000 stipend and a medal.

ABOUT DRI: A nonprofit, statewide division of the Nevada System of Higher Education, or NSHE, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale.  More than 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct more than 300 research projects at DRI annually.  DRI generates $50 million in total revenue consisting predominately of competitively won research contracts and grants. The State of Nevada provides critical funding in support of DRI's administration, operations, and maintenance through the NSHE education budget.  While DRI’s portion of the NSHE budget is approximately one percent, the institute leverages these funds to enhance its competitiveness.