An economic engine for Nevada

Stephen G. Wells

Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

The Nevada Legislature was visionary in 1959 when it created the Desert Research Institute — now known as DRI — as the environmental research campus of the state’s university system. Today, that vision is threatened by the proposed budget reduction to higher education, which equates to a decrease in the state’s research investment. DRI has flourished as an entrepreneurial campus of 500 scientists, engineers and technicians who leveraged the state’s $8.2 million allocation last year into $45.5 million in revenue.

It is very heartening that Gov. Brian Sandoval has made economic development a top priority for Nevada. As successfully demonstrated in other states, higher education plays an important role in job creation and commercialization.

For years some visionaries have said Nevada should emulate what Georgia has done to attract a superstar research faculty. More recently others have used Utah as a model describing how that state has managed to move in new companies with high-paying jobs. Utah is experiencing incredible success with its USTAR program, which uses state investments to hire an innovative and entrepreneurial research faculty in higher education.

DRI has built a USTAR-like model in Nevada with great success by hiring and supporting outstanding research professionals who are entrepreneurial, have no tenure, and live on soft (non-state) money.

What may not be clear to people is that DRI is an example of how a state’s investment in research and development has already worked in Nevada. DRI uses its state funding to help offset operating expenses so that indirect cost recovery generated by the faculty can be used to build and maintain research projects, create startup packages to attract new faculty members and provide matching funds for competitive research grant applications. In addition, DRI’s research faculty are self-supported and do not receive state funding or tenure.

The basic premise of both the Georgia Plan and USTAR is that an investment in top-notch research faculty will result in impressive returns.

Here are a few examples of how DRI has demonstrated that this concert works with the appropriate level of state support:

• Judith Chow leveraged $130,000 in laboratory renovations and equipment into more than $46 million in projects related to air quality studies through DRI’s Environmental Analysis Facility, and built a remarkable research staff of 24 highly trained employees, all living in Nevada.

• Eric McDonald received $97,000 in startup funding in 1997 from DRI and has received $22 million in defense funding to support innovative research to protect our soldiers and aid our missions in the Middle East. He has created 10 faculty jobs, and along with his team has earned the highest level of respect and trust from the U.S. Army’s Research Office.

• DRI has also invested a few hundred thousand dollars in research seed funds to compete nationally and internationally for projects that have resulted in more than $70 million dollars coming primarily from outside Nevada through DRI.

However, since budget cuts to higher education in Nevada began in 2008, DRI has lost 21 research faculty members to institutions in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and California. These budget cuts have contributed to the departure of two key research personnel in Las Vegas.

• Michael Young, the only full professor faculty member at DRI’s Las Vegas campus, was recruited to the University of Texas, Austin, to become the associate director of the Bureau of Economic Geology. Prior to leaving DRI in August, he consistently supported several students through his research grants while also developing new projects that ultimately supported other faculty from the Division of Hydrologic Sciences. Beyond the significant financial impact of his departure, Young was an intellectual leader among the faculty at DRI’s Las Vegas campus.

• Mark Stone, a very successful up-and-coming faculty member, was recruited to the College of Engineering at the University of New Mexico. After his departure, he received a National Science Foundation grant based on work started at DRI. This grant would have clearly come to DRI rather than the University of New Mexico if Stone had remained at DRI. He was very active in teaching and advising students at UNLV. He also successfully established professional relationships with multiple federal agencies and several Las Vegas entities.

Georgia and Utah have demonstrated that higher education research is a critical component to successful economic development. I hope these examples of what DRI has accomplished with a small but critical investment demonstrate the potential of what a commitment from the state could accomplish and what will happen if we don’t invest in higher education.

Stephen G. Wells is president of DRI.