Donor Stories

This Giving Season, Please Consider Supporting the IRP Endowment

This giving season, please join us in supporting bright minds and their best ideas by donating to the IRP Endowment, which was established earlier this year to ensure that innovative science continues for generations to come. Your gift will bring us one step closer to our goal of raising $5 million to fully fund this endowment. To date, this program has supported more than 20 research teams and several successful research programs have grown out of IRP-supported preliminary research.

Ray of Sunshine Ministry Uses Green Boxes to Bring STEM Education to Foster Children and Homeschool Families

Tiffany Morales, Founder and President of Ray of Sunshine Ministry, is bringing STEM education to foster children and homeschool students in Southern Nevada. This year, Ray of Sunshine is utilizing DRI STEM Education Program’s Green Boxes to provide STEM and robotics programs to these groups. Morales said, “With DRI’s service, we’re able to provide excellent robotics programs to homeschool groups and foster care facilities, absolutely free of cost to us and to them.”

Peter B. Wagner Memorial Endowment Honors the Work of Exceptional Women Graduate Students for 26th Year

Twenty-six years since it was first awarded, the Peter B. Wagner Award for Women in Atmospheric Science remains the only award in the United States for female graduate students in the atmospheric sciences. Thanks to the generosity of Sue Wagner, the exceptional work of women graduate students in the atmospheric sciences will continue to be recognized and honored in perpetuity.

Nell J. Redfield Foundation Supports Hands-On Computer Science, Math, and Literacy Classroom Lessons Through DRI’s Nevada Robotics

The Nell J. Redfield Foundation recently made a three-year commitment to support Nevada Robotics’ Books and Bots Teacher Trainings, which will provide classroom lessons in Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms using robots and storybooks.

Donors Fund Endowment that Transforms Big Ideas into Groundbreaking Environmental Solutions and Offer a Dollar-for-Dollar Match up to $2 million

Earlier this year, thanks to generous matching commitments from the Tom and Mary Gallagher Foundation and the Bretzlaff Foundation, DRI established the IRP Endowment, ensuring funding in perpetuity. To maximize the impact of the IRP Endowment, the Gallagher Foundation and Bretzlaff Foundation have made their commitments a dollar for dollar match up to $2 million with a goal of raising a $5 million endowment.

DRI Donors Value Hard Work, Integrity, and Service to Their Community by Establishing an Endowment

Betty Gallifent recently established the Elizabeth and John Gallifent Endowment, which will provide unrestricted support for DRI.

DRI Celebrates World Environment Day

World Environment Day is June 5. “Everybody alive now is part of the generation that is the first to witness the devastating effects of environmental degradation.” - United Nations World Environment Day Announcement 2024 The 2024 global theme for World...

Community Support for Nevada Robotics

Proceeds from Click Bond’s Valentine candy-gram employee fundraiser, which were matched through its Employee Charitable Giving Match program, were donated to Nevada Robotics to help ensure students have equitable access to computer science and STEM education.

MGM Resorts Funds STEM Educator Professional Development Trainings

At the end of 2023, the DRI STEM Education Program received generous funding from MGM Resorts International to host four STEM Co-Lab teacher trainings in southern Nevada. The first training, which took place in January at the southern Nevada DRI STEM Co-lab, focused on the use of photon robots in K-12 classrooms to teach coding.

The DRI Foundation Welcomes New Trustees for 2024

The DRI Foundation is pleased to welcome the new members to its Board of Trustees, each serving a four-year term. These board members were formally approved at the December NSHE Board of Regents meeting and will serve alongside existing DRI Foundation Board Members.

Duane Moser, Ph.D., Receives the 2023 Harold J. Kruse Farming and Environment Award

Moser’s research, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, focuses on the development and implementation of environmental DNA (eDNA) tools for tracking endangered and invasive aquatic species on historic ranch properties on the headwaters of the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River.

E.L. Cord Foundation Funds First Diversity Graduate Research Assistantship

The E.L. Cord Foundation Diversity Graduate Research Assistantship (DGRA) advances the educational and research pursuits of a DRI graduate student that shows high potential for achievement and is from a community that has been traditionally underrepresented in the sciences.

Supporting a Lifelong Passion for Science

Philanthropy is a multigenerational Lewis family tradition. During his childhood, Robert Lewis wanted to be a scientist. He has supported DRI for almost 15 years and was part of an instrumental group of donors that provided philanthropic support to launch the Innovative Research Program (IRP) in 2018.

Remembering Peter Wagner

The Peter Wagner Memorial Endowment was established in 1981 by Sue Wagner, his wife and former longtime Nevada legislator and Lt. Governor, family, and friends. We thank Sue Wagner for establishing this endowment in Peter’s memory and their continued support.

DRI Foundation Trustee Honors Father by Establishing Farming & Environment Award

Stephanie Kruse, DRI Foundation Vice-Chair and Trustee, established the Harold J. Kruse Farming & Environment Award in 2022 to honor her father’s memory and recognize his farming business sense.