UNLV President Carol C. Harter announced the establishment of the Harry Reid Silver State Research Award during half time of the UNLV/Texas basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday and presented Sen. Reid with the inaugural award medallion.

The award will be given annually to a member of the UNLV faculty who is engaged in research activity that meets at least one of three criteria:

-- Directly and positively affects the economic growth and development of Nevada.
-- Addresses a pressing social need in the community.
-- Demonstrably advances significant scholarship in an academic field of knowledge.

In addition to the medallion, the award will include a $10,000 cash prize.

"Because Sen. Reid has done so much to support research activities at UNLV, it is appropriate that this prestigious new award be named in his honor," Harter said. "He has been instrumental in securing both public and private funding, which is helping UNLV become a major research university. We are grateful to the Senator for his belief in what UNLV is doing, and we are pleased to present him the first award medallion."

Sen. Reid said, "UNLV has always been the home of world-class research programs. This award will honor the brilliant educators who are here, and will encourage more innovative research in the future. I am deeply honored to be associated with this program. I am grateful to UNLV and President Harter for choosing to name this award after me, and to the UNLV Foundation for providing the funding."

Award recipients will be selected by a committee and will be announced each year at the UNLV Foundation's annual dinner. The first award will be presented at the 2002 dinner in April.