Five young scientists from Uzbekistan visited the University of Nevada Reno and nearby areas earlier this summer. Their visit in July was part of a project funded by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Science for Peace program that is investigating the ecology and economic potential of small lakes filled with irrigation runoff in Uzbekistan.

Headed by Laurel Saito, an assistant professor of natural resources and environmental science in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources (CABNR), the project included training of the young scientists in new technologies and applications that will be useful to their future careers in science.

As part of the training in the United States, the young scientists spent seven days at the Castle Lake Research Station in northern California that is co-directed by Sudeep Chandra, an assistant professor of natural resources and environmental science in CABNR, who is a co-investigator on the NATO project.

The students were able to learn about several limnological approaches for studying lakes, as well as participate in the 50-year Castle Lake Reunion that honored the legacy of Dr. Charles Goldman, the director of the Castle Lake Research Station. In addition, the Uzbek scientists visited the Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University, the Tahoe Center for Environmental Science, the Pyramid Lake Environmental Lab, the Numana Fish Hatchery, the McCarran Ranch restoration site on the Truckee River, and the U.S. Geological Survey in Carson City. Because of the similarities in climate and hydrology between Uzbekistan and Nevada, many of the issues and approaches being used here are very relevant for the the -year NATO project in the Khorezm province of Uzbekistan.

Young Uzbek scientists who visited Reno included:

• Bakhriddin Nishonov Senior Researcher, Hydrometeorological Research Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan;
• Marhabo Bekchonova M.S. student, Urgench State University, Urgench, Uzbekistan;
• Farida Kadirkhodjaeva M.S. student, Institute for Water Problems, Uzbekistan Academy of Science, Tashkent, Uzbekistan;
• Akmal Nigmadjanov Ph.D. student, Institute for Water Problems, Uzbekistan Academy of Science, Tashkent, Uzbekistan;
• Diana Shermetova M.S. student, Urgench State University, Urgench, Uzbekistan.