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Dean Louisa Hope-Weeks:  
And so, this College of Science is very unique, especially because it houses the Mackay School. And considering the community that we are in with the Northern Nevada mining industry, it has some really unique capabilities where we can actually truly impact the state and even the nation going forward.  

University President Brian Sandoval: 
In this episode of Sagebrushers, we welcome the Dean of the College of Science, Dr. Louisa Hope-Weeks. I'm Brian Sandoval. I'm a proud graduate and president of the University, and I'm your host of Sagebrushers. Dean Hope-Weeks comes to the University from Texas Tech University, where she worked for 19 years in various roles, including professor, associate dean of research, department chair, and most recently associate Dean of graduate and postdoctoral fellowships at Texas Tech’s Graduate School. Dean Hope-Weeks, who grew up in the United Kingdom. Graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with her bachelor's degree and Cambridge University with her doctoral degree. She worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for four years before starting at Texas Tech. Today’s podcast is being recorded at the Reynolds School of Journalism on our University’s campus. Dean Hope-Weeks, welcome to Sagebrushers. I'm excited to learn more about you and your plans for the future of the College of Science. 

Hope-Weeks: 
Well, thank you. I'm pleased to be here.  

Sandoval: 
Yeah, absolutely thrilled and I know our audience will be as well. So, before we dive into your work with the College of Science, I'd like to start by talking about your journey to Reno and how your family factored into your decision to come to the University.  

Hope-Weeks: 
God, this question is one that I face a lot and I talk about my family so much, so feel free to cut me off if I go on too long. So we are an academic family. Both me and my husband are academics and we have five children. And so we were at Texas Tech for 19 years because we were settled. Our kids went to the University and we both had administrative appointments. We were very successful faculty there. And a couple of years ago we started to talk about what comes next and where do we go from here. And the thought of leaving Lubbock became leaving Texas Tech became more real and more focused. And so I'm a proud mother of five kids. I have twin boys that left to go to graduate school just over a year ago now, and one's at Georgia Tech, which I'm so proud of. And the other one I'm equally as proud of is at NC State. So our house kind of emptied out and we have just the three girls now, but one of them stayed at Texas Tech to finish her chemical engineering degree. And so we were really kind of movable for the first time. And why Reno? That's the other question you're really asking. And we had looked around for universities where we both felt we could contribute to the University mission. And so here at UNR I could see where we could both have significant impact. And so my husband, I'm very proud of him, he is the associate dean for research over in the college of engineering. And I think having that close relationship with engineering and science is going to be vital for this University as we move forward as an institution over the next 10 to 20 years. So why Reno? Because we can see we can really impact this institution.  

Sandoval: 
So that's fantastic. Dean Hope-Weeks. So, if it's okay, will you talk a little bit about your experience now that you've been in Reno for several months and how the schools are and how you found the community?  

Hope-Weeks: 
Oh gosh, the high school. So, my daughter goes to Reno High and walking through the doors the first day, the history behind that institution and how the people felt was very much like how I felt coming onto this campus that first day. And so she though is flourishing there. She has opportunities to take subjects that she would never have taken back in Texas and psychology being one of them. And she's excelling and doing really well. My middle schooler, she has opportunities to do culinary, I guess culinary arts is what I think they call it. And so she comes home with cookies and very creative items sometimes. Pizza with very different things on it, which they were allowed to just do. But they are doing so well and they're really enjoying being part of this community. They are on a swim team here, and so they get out and about and travel to swim meets. And we were in Carson City last weekend at their pool, which is an excellent facility and I can't wait to see the new pool here when it finally comes online. I drive by and I get very excited that they're in the building stages of it. So yeah, the community here though has been so embracing and we're so pleased to be here.  

Sandoval: 
Well, they’re delightful young ladies. I’ve had the opportunity to meet them and I’m glad they’re having such a positive experience. So now that you've been here and been in the role as Dean for a little while, what would you say are some of the unique strengths of the College of Science?  

Hope-Weeks 
So, I've spent this first semester, I've visited all of the departments in the college and in the Mackay School. And so this College of Science is very unique, especially because it houses the Mackay School and considering the community that we are in with the northern Nevada mining industry, it has some really unique capabilities where we can actually truly impact the state and even the nation going forward. Strengths in the college though, I have faculty that are excited to be here. They are passionate about what they see as the way forward. They’re willing to adapt and change and look for ways to improve things that they’re less resistant than I've thought they might be when I say, “Can we try doing it a different way?” So, I'm really excited about how we will move forward over the next couple of years.

Sandoval: 
I'm glad you feel that way because we are so proud of our faculty and staff. So, I know you have big plans for the growth of the college. How will interdisciplinary research be key to making that happen?  

Hope-Weeks: 
I think it's really important for us as an academic institution to really embrace interdisciplinary research. It is a new way of thinking though that academic institutions traditionally have been very siloed, single PI type of research. That is not how we will actually serve the nation best. We are going to have to adapt and look at interdisciplinary research where we can look to answer big picture questions that need teams of scientists and engineers and people from the arts to actually contribute and actually move things forward. So, my passion is interdisciplinary research. I have been doing interdisciplinary research my entire career. I was actually told when I started as an academic, don't do that. You must do single PI work. Well, I'm coming here to say let's do that and let's really grow and tackle these big problems that are facing the state and the nation and form teams that can do work that you couldn't do as an individual. 

Sandoval: 
No, and I love that approach. Do you have any specific examples of what that would look like?  
 
Hope-Weeks: 
So, that's one of the things we've been looking at with this. Lithium is very important in the state, and so how do we actually serve the state to actually address their lithium needs? And so that would be looking at ways that we as scientists can look at forming teams that can adapt to the needs of the mining industry. And that does mean bringing chemists and mining engineers and geologists together because each lithium deposit that we find is going to be very, very unique. And so, finding ways to extract that lithium effectively and actually characterize what we are doing, maximize our potential. We'll take a team of scientists, but then we could switch and talk about water resources in the state. And then we're going to need geologists. We're going to need hydrogeologists, we're going to need chemists, we're going to need biologists to look at how we actually use water effectively and conserve it.  

So these are big picture items that, and I have focused on teams from my college, but we will be pulling for mechanical engineering, we'll have to work with mining engineering. We will have to look outside psychology. One of the conversations we've had is some of these minds are pretty remote, so mental health is going to be a very important issue when we look at this. And so it's a very big picture that we need to start looking at and how do we serve the people we're meant to serve, which is the citizens of the state of Nevada.  

Sandoval: 
It goes into what I've talked a little bit about is we are an original land grant University, but now we are a land Grant 2.0 and we can't keep doing the things the same way that we've always done them, that we have to have this approach. And I love the interdisciplinary approach that you have. So really enjoyed talking about that. So, I also understand that you have some goals with regard to bringing younger students to campus.  

Hope-Weeks: 
Yes. I have a lot of lofty goals about bringing younger students to campus. I want to start building a culture where students in Washoe County primarily at the moment feel that the University of Nevada is their next home. They come to campus, they see it as, I will graduate high school and I will go to college. I want to try and change that narrative. That is an expectation that they come here, but they have an attachment to this institution so they stay. And so that's the type of thing I want to encourage. I want to bring them on campus. We've talked with our museum directors in the College of Science about maybe doing how it was done here today and in the past. So how mining was done a hundred years ago versus now, and actually having the student organizations do demos and bring those kids to campus where they can actually get some hands-on kind of feel for what it is they do and go and visit several different places.  
 
And so we are kind of excited with the Monster Fish coming that maybe we can use those as kind of a trail where we bring students to campus and we say, go find Monster Fish number one. And number one there will be a mining activity. And then number two, there'll be a water activity, a water conservation, and it'll get them traveling around the campus and actually seeing what's here. I think if we can get students onto campus, they'll fall in love with it. And that's my goal. So yes, I'm really pushing to get students here before they're ready to be students at UNR. So, this will be where they come.  

Sandoval: 
Yeah, I think that's brilliant. And speaking of the next big thing, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk today about the generous donation from the Gillemot Foundation, which will have a substantial impact on the College of Science’s Fleischmann Planetarium. Can you share with our listeners some of the background about this recent announcement and what it means to the beloved Fleischmann Planetarium?  

Hope-Weeks: 
So, what we talked about, what's special about here and Reno, I'll say the planetarium is embedded to almost every person from Reno. They all have memories of being there. So, this gift, well, we've talked about us being a land grant institution 2.0, this gift will allow us to be the planetarium 2.0. It will be exceptional. I actually personally haven't seen the technology, but I do know from Provost Thompson who has, and everybody that went to visit with him when he saw it, that it is beyond impressive. And so, we will be able to do so much more in our outreach with our students bringing those to campus, those K through 12. There's a lot of work to be done though. We have a donation, which will allow us to upgrade to this fantastic LED system. But the planetarium needs an upgrade as well as a whole.  
 
And so, there is some work to be done to make sure that when we bring the planetarium back online after this upgrade, that it really is planetarium 2.0 and will be there for the next a hundred years as an outstanding facility that we will bring people to, not only to the University, but to Reno. It will be something they come here to see. And so, I'm really excited. I want to make sure that we have the best planetarium in the state of Nevada for at least the next hundred years when then maybe we will have to upgrade again. But I'm very excited about this opportunity.

Sandoval: 
And I love your competitive fire. The planetarium is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. And you're right, I mean, every person who grew up in Washoe County in fifth grade, they came to the planetarium and they have those specific memories. But this gift, which is a multimillion- dollar gift, will make that planetarium, and particularly the dome within the planetarium, I won't even say as good, but better than practically anywhere else in the country. So, it will be a destination. 

Hope-Weeks: 
And I actually have to say the foundation, the Gillemot Foundation for giving money that we can bring K through 12 students to campus, is truly exceptional. Their thoughtfulness on doing that will really impact the students of Washoe County going forward. And so, I'm very excited about that as well.  

Sandoval: 
And obviously I want to publicly thank the Gillemot Foundation for its generous gift. So, we've been talking about history, and since we are all about history, the season on Sagebrushers as we celebrate our sesquicentennial year, let's spend a little time on the Mackay School, which you referenced, which has been around since 1888. How do the school and the mining industry fit into the University's 150th anniversary?  

Hope-Weeks: 
I mean, I think they're a fundamental part of the University's history, and they will continue to be. I think the mining industry is undergoing a revolution at the moment, and we are really going to have to adapt. And that means the Mackay School is going to have to look at ways that they adapt curriculum to service the mining community. But the history there has got so many people invested. Their advisory board is truly passionate about what they do. So, there is so much support to grow the Mackay School. So, when I arrived here, I hadn't even been, actually, I hadn't even been in this position and I came for a visit. Annie Huhta, the director of the Mackay School, gave me several books to read on the history of it, which I did. It has an exceptionally rich history. And I think building on that and making sure that it's around for another 150, well, not quite 150 years, but when the University's 300 years old, the Mackay School will still be standing and will be a jewel in the crown of this University.

Sandoval:
And it is. So, we're almost running out of time, but we've been talking about anniversaries and the College of Science is going to be celebrating its 20th anniversary soon. So, I'm curious about what you hope to see in the next 20 years for the college? 

Hope-Weeks:
So, I hope to see in the next 20 years growth, obviously. I want to see growth in undergraduate enrollment and graduate enrollment, but I want to see us actually really committing to looking at interdisciplinary research. I want to see that we have centers on campus, centers of excellence, that people know that this is their destination when they have a problem in X, Y, or Z. And, that we are working as teams and communicating and when something arises that really needs to be addressed either at the state level or the national level or the world level, that we have a team here within the College of Science that is geared up and ready to step in and address those issues. That's what I see for us. I see tremendous growth over the next 20 years.  

Sandoval: 
I think that's fabulous and exciting, but unfortunately that is all the time we have for this episode of Sagebrushers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today, Dean Hope-Weeks.  

Hope-Weeks 
It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me.  

Sandoval: 
It's our pleasure. So please join us next time for another episode of Sagebrushers as we continue to tell the stories that make our University special and unique. Until then, I'm University President Brian Sandoval and Go Pack!