Dawn J. Wright

Dawn Wright is currently Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), and also an affiliated professor of Geography and Oceanography at Oregon State University. She has completed oceanographic fieldwork in some of the most geologically-active regions of the planet, including the East Pacific Rise, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge, the Tonga Trench, and volcanoes under the Japan Sea and the Indian Ocean. Dr. Wright is the first African-American woman to explore the deep ocean floor, having dived three times in the deep submergence vehicle "Alvin" and twice in the "Pisces V.” She is also the first person of African descent, of any gender, to dive to Challenger Deep, the deepest place in the ocean (aboard the “Limiting Factor”). Dr. Wright is an elected member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Engineering, as well as a former Oregon Professor of the Year.