Desert Research Institute (DRI) is the nonprofit research campus of the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), the organization that oversees all publicly supported higher education in the U.S. state of Nevada. At DRI, approximately 460 research faculty and support staff engage in $43 million in sponsored research each year. DRI's environmental research programs are divided into three core divisions (Atmospheric Sciences, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, and Hydrologic Sciences) and a robust K-12 STEM education program. Established in 1988, the institute's Nevada Medal awards "outstanding achievement in science and engineering".