Duane Moser

I have conducted scientific research mostly focused on aquatic or underground environments on the U.S. Great Lakes and inland waters in Wisconsin and Washington State, North Atlantic, Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Dry Valleys and the deep subsurface in South Africa, Canada, and the United States. The underground work employs mines, natural caves, and boreholes from surface. I have published over 90 peer-reviewed papers, have appeared in the scientific and popular press many times and have numerous technical reports, white papers, and other works. My work has been cited over 7,700 times, with an h-index of 39 and i10-index of 63 (02/26/2026). Currently, my work focuses on life in extreme environments, astrobiology, emerging contaminants, using environmental DNA as a conservation tool, and molecular archaeology.

I have been an associate professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at Desert Research Institute since 2017. Prior to that I was an associate or assistant professor in the Division of Earth and Ecosystems Sciences at DRI (appointed in 2005). I am adjunct professor in the UNLV School of Life Sciences, Department of Geosciences, and Water Resources Management. I did postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University in Geosciences and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. I obtained a Ph.D. (With Distinction) in Limnology and Oceanography from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the Center for Great Lakes Studies and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and an associates degree in Reclamation/Geology from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville.

Philippe Vidon

Executive Director for the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

Philippe obtained his PhD in Geography from York University, ON, Canada in 2004, and subsequently occupied professor positions at Indiana University – Purdue University in Indianapolis (IUPUI) and at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry a.k.a. ESF, in Syracuse, NY. There he served as Director of the Hydrological Systems Science Council, among other leadership appointments. His most recent research has focused on a broad range of topics including (but not limited to): watershed management, water quality, soil biogeochemistry (e.g., N, P, C, Hg cycling and soil N2O, CO2, and CH4 emissions), bioenergy, and the impact of beaver dam analogues on floodplain hydrogeomorphology and landscape resiliency.

Mustafa Hadj-Nacer

Dr. Mustafa Hadj-Nacer is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). Dr. Hadj-Nacer’s research is focused on applying and developing experimentally benchmarked computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for several applications ranging from Nuclear Packaging to Enhanced Heat Transfer and Cooling systems.

Dr. Hadj-Nacer received a Ph.D. from Aix-Marseille University, France. His research included gas-surface interaction in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and the measurement of the mass flow rate through micro-tubes of different cross-section shapes and materials. He also developed analytical and numerical approaches to calculate the mass flow rate in the slip, transitional and free molecular flow regimes.

M. Rashed Khan

Khan Lab@UNR aims to study, design, and develop soft materials, unconventional processes, and reconfigurable micro/nanodevices that can be harnessed and optimized further for advanced biochemical, biomedical, and physicochemical applications. The lab is also keen to establish a multidisciplinary smart-manufacturing research group, including researchers from various backgrounds. Through short and long-term active collaboration, Khan Lab@UNR would like to address fundamental challenges associated with soft micro-device fabrication, 3D/4D (bio)printing, and patterning, advanced hybrid sensor manufacturing, biomedical device development – which are still unnoticed and under-explored, and need further investigation.

Additionally, our group also focuses on computational neuroscience and neurobioengineering. Under this research direction, we study human brain, brain functions, brain structure so that the established knowledge can be broadly applicable to general biomecical science and knowledge of the brain and brain-diseases.

Jacque Ewing-Taylor

As the Institutional Grants Coordinator, Jacque Ewing-Taylor brings together interdisciplinary research teams to respond to high-profile grant Requests For Proposal (RFPs) and coordinates the support for proposal review.

Ewing-Taylor also holds the position of associate director of the Raggio Research Center for STEM Education. The Raggio Center is focused on the educational aspects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) such as professional development for educators and improving instruction for students.

A major function of the center is supporting the evaluation portion of the grant process and this correlates to Ewing-Taylor’s primary research interest—studying professional development strategies that best increase teacher effectiveness. Ewing-Taylor points out that, “kids are natural scientists” and she is focused on finding the best ways to develop those tendencies.