Reno, NV -- The Board of Regents appointed today Dr. Stephen G. Wells as president of the Desert Research Institute.
"I am pleased to have Dr. Wells accept this position with the prestigious Desert Research Institute," said Dr. Jill Derby, Board chair. "His excellent scientific background and leadership skills will help propel DRI's reputation as a premier research institution well into the next century."
Dr. Wells will replace Dr. Peter Barber, who has been serving as interim president since June when President James Taranik resigned to take a position as the Arthur Brant Chair of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Board created the ad hoc DRI Presidential Search committee, chaired by long-time Regent Dorothy Gallagher, to interview and select candidates for this position.
"Dr. Wells, throughout his scientific career, has demonstrated outstanding leadership. I am sure he will be most successful in this new role," said Regent Gallagher.
Since 1995, Dr. Wells has served as the executive director and research professor of DRI's Quaternary Sciences Center in Reno. Prior to joining DRI, he was a professor of geomorphology for the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California-Riverside and was professor and chair of the geology department at the University of New Mexico.
Dr. Wells' primary research interests are focused on geomorphology and quaternary geology of arid and semiarid regions in the southwestern United States as well as geomorphic and hydrologic responses to quaternary climate change. He has also studied landscape evolution in tectonically active areas and in volcanic terranes; and the application of geomorphology to land management, hazardous waste disposal or natural hazards.
Dr. Wells has authored 91 scientific abstracts and more than 50 journal and 40 guidebook articles. He is also the recipient of the Geological Society of America Kirk Bryan Award and the Gladys Cole Research Award in Arid Lands Geomorphology.
He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in geology from the University of Cincinnati and a B.S. in geology from Indiana University.
Dr. Wells will receive an annual salary of $172,000.
For a complete curriculum vita on Dr. Wells, please contact the UCCSN Office of External Relations in Las Vegas at 889-8426.
The Desert Research Institute is a nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada that pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on local, national and international scale. DRI's 400 scientists, technicians and support staff conduct some 140 research projects annually.
Comprised of two doctoral-granting universities, four comprehensive community colleges and one environmental research institution, the University and Community College System of Nevada serves the educational and job training needs of the nation's fastest growing state. As Nevada's only system of higher education, the UCCSN provides educational opportunities to more than 82,000 students.
