The Great Basin and Eastern Sierra Nevada have inspired countless writers, artists, poets, musicians, and scientists who strive to understand the place we call home.
This Science Distilled event welcomes Kendra Atleework, author of the acclaimed book and 2021 Nevada Reads selection, Miracle Country: A Memoir of a Family and a Landscape, in conversation with two Desert Research Institute scientists who have dedicated their careers to the study of the Great Basin.
Join us for a special evening filled with rich conversation about the relationships between people and their places. Through science and storytelling, we’ll delve deeply into the environment around us. Learn more about how art, life, and science intersect here among the rugged ridgelines and open skies of our wondrous region.
Location: Patagonia Outlet, 130 S. Center Street, Downtown Reno
Times: Doors open at 7 pm, presentation begins at 7:30 pm
Ages: 21+ (ID Required)
Tickets: $10 members, $15 nonmembers at sciencedistilled.org or at the door.
Masks required for all attendees, regardless of vaccination status.
Kendra Atleework was born and raised on the dry edge of California at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. She moved away for a decade, mostly spent being homesick and researching the place she left behind—the product of which is Miracle Country. She is the recipient of the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award and was selected for The Best American Essays, edited by Ariel Levy. She received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota and now lives in her hometown of Bishop, California.
Mary Cablk, PhD has been faculty at DRI since 1999. She is a remote sensing scientist with expertise in canine detection and image analysis. For twenty years she has been collecting data using detection dogs, and simultaneously studying their capabilities outside of laboratory conditions. This led her to learn about humans and human perception, as the relationship between handler and dog adds complexity to research. She pioneers methods to reduce the complexity inherent in using dog-handler teams, to be able to document the capability of detection dogs. A Navy brat, she grew roots upon landing in the American West, where the vast landscapes provided a nexus for study, adventure, and fed her passion for the outdoors. She cannot imagine living anywhere else.
Jesse Juchtzer was born and raised as a fifth-generation Nevadan originating from the Carson Valley, Nevada. His Angelo-Germanic family immigrated to Genoa, Nevada in the early 1800’s following the appearance of Halley’s Comet in the night sky as a sign of change and have never had the desire to leave these snow crested Sierras. In 2013, he joined DRI, and over the past eight years, has worked his way to the position of Principal Research Technician within the Division of Atmospheric Science. Currently he assists with the enhancement of our community’s water resources by using scientifically proven cloud seeding technologies during specific winter storm conditions to increase ice nucleus generation and boost snowpack reserves within targeted mountaintop watersheds to extend the spring runoff.
