  Models of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) specified at the
electroweak scale are systematically matched to effective theories at hadronic
scales where WIMP-nucleus scattering observables are evaluated. Anomalous
dimensions and heavy quark threshold matching conditions are computed for the
complete basis of lowest-dimension effective operators involving quarks and
gluons. The resulting QCD renormalization group evolution equations are solved.
The status of relevant hadronic matrix elements is reviewed and
phenomenological illustrations are given, including details for the computation
of the universal limit of nucleon scattering with heavy $SU(2)_W\times U(1)_Y$
charged WIMPs. Several cases of previously underestimated hadronic
uncertainties are isolated. The results connect arbitrary models specified at
the electroweak scale to a basis of $n_f=3$ flavor QCD operators. The complete
basis of operators and Lorentz invariance constraints through order $v^2/c^2$
in the nonrelativistic nucleon effective theory are derived.
