FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 24, 2008                                 

Hauger elected executive director of group studying sustainable living in drylands
DRI scientist will head up Global Collaboratory for Drylands and the City for two years

RENO – J. Scott Hauger from the Desert Research Institute has been elected to a two-year term as executive director of The Global Collaboratory for Drylands and the City, which is a joint venture of six strategically located and internationally known research institutions concerned with sustainable living on drylands.

The Collaboratory was established to provide its participating institutions an organizational vehicle for more effective research and problem solving on a global scale. 

“The goal of this research collaboration is to create economic opportunities and improve the quality of life in arid lands through science and technology-based, environmentally sustainable urban development,” said Stephen Wells, DRI President. “Global phenomena, including climate change, population growth, urbanization, and rapid economic and technological development of previously underdeveloped drylands, have crucial implications for quality of life, global security, and economic stability.  We understand that arid lands also have special resources that, when well understood, can be tapped to achieve their prosperous and sustainable economic development.”

Hauger is a Research Professor for Science, Technology and Policy in DRI’s Division of Hydrologic Sciences. His current work includes program management of DRI’s Laboratory for Advanced Environmental Modeling and Visualization, and leadership on a National Science Foundation Project in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno that evaluates recent changes in State-sponsored research and development within the American federal system of government.

The Collaboratory includes: Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA), National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina; Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China; Desert Research Centre (DRC), Ministry of Agriculture, Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt; Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR), Ben Gurion University, Sede Boqer, Israel; Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN), Windhoek, Namibia and DRI.

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