Washington think tank with ideas for the West starts UNLV partnership

Las Vegas Sun
By Emily Richmond (contact)
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009

Last summer the Brookings Institution identified Nevada as one of five Western states — along with Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah — poised to become a new American heartland.

Scholars and researchers at Brookings, a preeminent nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, concluded that Nevada needs significant investments and cooperation at the local, state and federal levels to develop the human capital, diversified economy and infrastructure needed to support growth.

A year after its study, Brookings is setting up shop in Las Vegas to help achieve those goals, launching what it says is its most comprehensive operation in the United States outside of its Washington, D.C. headquarters. It’s also the first endeavor that will bring together all five of the institution’s existing research programs.

Brookings will dispatch some of the nation’s leading scholars on issues critical to Western states — including growth, energy and economics — for rotating residencies in Las Vegas, as part of a new joint endeavor with UNLV.

The think tank’s leadership and UNLV President Neal Smatresk will announce the Brookings Institution’s new Mountain West Initiative today. The program will focus on addressing infrastructure, public policy and quality of life challenges in Las Vegas as well as the broader western region. UNLV faculty and staff will interact with the Brookings scholars.

“We’ll become a hub for the Intermountain West states to develop policy,â€