FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 26, 2007

Joanne Heslop named Science Student of Month

Incline Village student receives award

            RENO – Joanne Heslop from Incline Village, Nev., has been named Science Student of the Month for September.

            “I have been very interested in working with Joanne in her research of the relationship between atmospheric temperature and carbon dioxide release rates from the soil since it is an issue that receives a lot of attention within the international scientific community,” said associate research professor Paul Verburg, who studies effects of climate change on natural ecosystems at the Desert Research Institute and has been Heslop’s mentor. “I continue to be particularly impressed by her scientific maturity that goes well beyond her age. She has done all of the work herself and my involvement was limited to giving her pointers regarding the design and experimental protocols of her research.”

            Verburg was referring to Heslop’s project, which earned her a second place overall at the 2007 Western Regional Science and Engineering Fair and an entry into the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, NM.

            “I have been working with Paul Verburg on this project and tested weekly for how much carbon dioxide is present in the soil to see how it contributes to global warming,” Heslop said during an interview on KOLO-TV in Reno on Sept. 25. “I’m looking at environmental studies as a possible major in college.”

            Heslop is a senior in high school and home schooled by her mother Kathy in Incline Village.

            The Science Student of the Month program is sponsored by KOLO-TV, the Desert Research Institute and the Western Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair. The students are selected by a panel of teachers, scientists and community leaders after being nominated by teachers, advisors, parents and other community leaders. The program recognizes outstanding K-12 students in the Northern Nevada region for their science, technology, engineering and mathematics research, activities and accomplishments. DRI pairs up the student with a faculty member as a mentor and KOLO-TV awards one of the students a $2,000 prize.

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Note to Reporters and Editors: DRI, the nonprofit research campus of the Nevada System of Higher Education, strives to be the world leader in environmental sciences through the application of knowledge and technologies to improve people’s lives throughout Nevada and the world.