On October 23, Science Distilled welcomes back author Kendra Atleework. Kendra will be joined by DRI scientist Ben Hatchett, Ph.D., and Reno-based artist Megan Berner. The evening will center around a conversation about witnessing the changing landscape in our region through each panelist’s lens of expertise and experience. The program will include a panel discussion followed by audience Q&A. Admission: Members $10, Nonmembers $15.

FEATURED PANELISTS

Kendra Atleework is the author of Miracle Country: A Memoir of a Family and a Landscape, winner of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award and the 2021 Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction. Kendra received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. Her writing has appeared in Best American Essays, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Los Angeles Times, and she is the recipient of the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award. She now lives in her hometown of Bishop, California.

Ben Hatchett, Ph.D. is an Assistant Research Professor in atmospheric science with DRI. Ben holds a B.S. in geography with a minor in hydrogeology, an M.S. in atmospheric sciences, and a Ph.D. in geography, all from the University of Nevada, Reno. Ben specializes in hydrometeorology and hydroclimatology of dryland and alpine regions spanning the past, present, and future.

Originally from the high desert, Megan Berner is a visual artist living and working in Reno, Nevada. She graduated with her MFA in Intermedia from the University of Iowa in 2008 with a minor in drawing. Megan works with digital and experimental techniques such as instant film, digital transfers, and cyanotypes. Her work is greatly influenced by the landscape of her native Nevada home as well as the vast prairies of the Midwest.