RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) -- The Desert Research Institute signed an innovative Memorandum of Understanding with China's Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2002.
That initial collaboration has since led to more than 10 years of successful scientific endeavors between Nevada's top scientists and China's leading academic institutions, including the preservation of one of China's national treasures - the Terra-Cotta Warriors.
This week Dr. Stephen Wells, DRI President, and Dr. Judith Chow, an internationally renowned air quality expert in DRI's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, will return to Asia to build on that collaboration with prestigious Chinese representatives such as Dr. Junji Cao, current President of the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Wells and Chow will be traveling as part of a delegation led by Governor Brian Sandoval on a trade mission to identify business opportunities for Nevada companies and to encourage Chinese and South Korean investment in Nevada.
Dr. Chow, who has been instrumental in leading DRI's ground-breaking collaborative work with Chinese scientists, most recently focusing on preservation techniques used to maintain remnants of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Terra-Cotta Army, notes the Governor's trade mission has the ability to tout more than business for Nevada.
A critical component to the success of such scientific undertakings as the Terra-Cotta preservation, said Dr. Chow, is the international exchange of researchers and ideas. When students and scientists travel abroad, she explains, their presence can have both positive cultural and economic impacts in the communities they call home while learning and training with their international counterparts.
