EDUCATION
• DRI researchers Andrey Khlystov, Ph.D. and Nathan Chellman, Ph.D., were recently recognized by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents with researcher awards.
— Dr. Khlystov is this year’s recipient of the Regents’ Distinguished Career Award. He is a research professor in DRI’s division of atmospheric sciences and director of the organic analytical laboratory, who has been with DRI since 2014. A pioneer in developing artifact-free, high-time resolution instruments for aerosol characterization, Dr. Khlystov’s innovations have been commercialized and deployed in air-pollution-monitoring networks worldwide. His groundbreaking research encompasses electronic cigarette emissions — where his team first demonstrated the link between flavoring compounds and toxic aldehyde production — and wildfire aerosol characterization, including the first quantification of individual compound contributions to light absorption and brown carbon effects on snow albedo.
Dr. Khlystov’s wildfire research addresses one of the country’s most pressing environmental challenges. His group was the first to quantify individual compound contributions to light absorption by biomass burning aerosols and their atmospheric transformation. Working with toxicologists, his group demonstrated that wildfire smoke impacts on human lung cells vary by fuel type. His work contributed to the discovery that brown carbon reduces snow albedo, potentially accelerating snowmelt, which has profound implications for Nevada’s water resources and the broader mountain west. This work positions Nevada at the forefront of understanding wildfire impacts on air quality, climate and public health.
— Dr. Chellman was awarded the 2026 Jason Geddes Rising Researcher Award in recognition of his outstanding early-career accomplishments and potential for advancing scientific knowledge in the field of hydrologic sciences.
Dr. Chellman is an assistant research professor in DRI’s division of hydrologic sciences and director of the ice core lab. His research is focused on the collection and analysis of ice cores from ice sheets, glaciers and ice patches from around the world. Dr. Chellman utilizes state-of-the-art tools developed at DRI over the past 30 years to analyze the chemical composition of ice cores and then uses those results to infer climatic and environmental conditions over different historical timescales ranging from as recent as a few decades to as long as more than 100,000 years ago. This work also involves linking events in human history with evidence of changes in the environment, such as volcanoes or fires, trapped in the ice. Closer to home, Dr. Chellman has put his instrumentation and analysis skills to use to create subsurface radar surveys of historic Nevada cemeteries to identify the locations of unmarked or lost gravesites.
DRI is a Nevada nonprofit research institute, founded in 1959 to empower experts to focus on science that matters. Scientists at DRI are encouraged to follow their research interests across the traditional boundaries of scientific fields, collaborating across DRI and with scientists worldwide. All faculty support their own research through grants, bringing in nearly $5 to the Nevada economy for every $1 of state funds received. With more than 600 scientists, engineers, students and staff across Reno and Las Vegas campuses, it has conducted more than $59 million in sponsored research in 2025 alone.
GOVERNMENT
• Tom Zumtobel, CEO of Teachers Health Trust has been named by Gov. Joe Lombardo to serve on the Board of the Public Employees’ Benefits Program. He will serve a three-year term.
Zumtobel has served as CEO of THT since 2021. As CEO he manages a $200 million budget and provides health benefits to more than 34,000 members. His leadership resulted in an initial $41 million and $12 million sustained annual operational improvement, notably securing $61 million in unpaid claims to ensure continued provider access. As a result, the findings of an independent audit show that THT is in the strongest financial position in over a decade.
NONPROFIT
• Communities In Schools of Nevada, part of the nation’s leading evidence-based stay-in-school nonprofit organization serving 117 Nevada schools with regional offices in the Clark, Elko, Humboldt and Washoe County school districts, announces the appointment of Lindsay Montoya and Cheryl Kelton as accounting clerks.
— Montoya brings a strong background in financial supervision and nonprofit accounting to her role as accounting clerk for Communities In Schools of Nevada. Montoya began her career in the medical field, serving as a financial supervisor. She joined the finance office of a nonprofit private school as accounts receivable specialist where she worked for three years, developing a solid foundation in nonprofit accounting, financial coding and organizational fiscal processes.
— Kelton is serving as the accounting clerk for Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada. She has 15 years of experience from UNLV, where she began her career in accounts payable and developed a strong skillset in operational accounting, including accounts payable, accounts receivable and billing.
CIS places full-time and professionally trained site coordinators in 117 Title I and high-needs schools across Nevada to support nearly 100,000 students in grades K-12 who face barriers to their success; increasing the likelihood of students staying in school and graduating on time. The organization taps into a statewide network of more than 120 community nonprofits, partners and agencies, bringing the community into the school to get students whatever they need to overcome the barriers they face that prevent them from achieving academically. From eyeglasses, dental care, health care and professional counseling to food, school supplies, clothing and housing, CIS identifies student needs and finds a way to address them, closing the gaps they experience in their everyday lives. CIS’s long-term vision is for every child enrolled in a Title I or high-needs school to access a CIS site coordinator and their evidence-based model of integrated student support, otherwise known as wraparound services. The graduation rate for CIS case-managed high school seniors in Nevada for the 2024-2025 school year was 97 percent.
