Dawn Wright grew up on Maui — surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and Hawaiian volcanos. It's only fitting she's now the top geologist and oceanographer overseeing the world's most valuable set of ocean data.
As a young scientist, Wright explored the world's oceans. She earned the nickname "Deep Sea Dawn." Now Wright is the expert in the use of GIS (geographic information systems) — "smart maps" of the sea floor. Scientists, governments and companies that need to know what's happening in the ocean call Wright. She's also the first Black female to dive to the ocean's depths in the deep submersible Alvin in April 1991.
All this is because for more than a decade, Wright, 60, has been chief scientist of Esri. Based in Redlands, Calif., Esri pioneered research and development of GIS software. And those maps unlock clues about climate change, ocean warming, pandemic hot spots and more. In fact, Wright played a key role building a model of the ocean floor using the data.
Wright's rise in the field was no accident. The ocean fascinated her from a young age. She said she "always knew that she wanted to be a scientist." Wright says a "steady diet" of Jacques Cousteau's TV series fed her passion for ocean exploration.
But her career is also one full of setbacks she's fought to overcome. Among them: Wright, the world's leading oceanographer, gets seasick.
Master Your Field Like Dawn Wright
It's easy for scientists to hole up in an office and bury themselves with research. But Wright knows sharing scientific knowledge makes it more valuable.
She actively spreads knowledge by sitting on numerous boards. That includes the director's council of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation board of directors and the National Academy of Sciences Geographical Sciences Committee.
But Esri's most notable current partnership is with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Together, they develop and refine global ecological maps. This project guides the use of ocean resources. It uses detailed maps to preserve marine environments. More than 100 nations from 110 organizations tap the results. "Dawn is a remarkable person ... a real breath of fresh air these days," said Roger Sayre, senior scientist for ecosystems in the Land Change Science Program at the USGS.
"The model helps us to decide what parts of the oceans we can protect ... and to look at the most important drivers for ecology," said Wright. "So many species are getting wiped out before we can understand."
"Dawn really had the vision to see how GIS could be applied ... and how it can link the scientific community," said Susan Roberts, director of the Ocean Studies Board at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
Wright: Read, Write And Persevere
Wright prioritizes education. And that's served her well in a competitive field.
She says her fourth grade teacher, Sue Okada, "was the best teacher I ever had." Okada inspired her to follow her love of science and to read voraciously. Wright says reading "helped me become a better writer," a key skill for a scientist. Scientists must "communicate well with the media and fellow scientists," she said.
Not all teachers helped her, though. Wright graduated from Texas A&M with an M.S. in oceanography. Her master's studies, however, were challenging. She was her advisor's first graduate student. And yet, he didn't make time for her. In fact, he barely met with her.
Wright turned to other students. That included two "senior Ph.D. students in other departments," for guidance. The graduate committee eventually passed her. But her advisor told her she should "consider getting out of oceanography ... be a lawyer or something."
Use Criticism As Motivation, Listen To Lead
Her advisor's lack of support didn't stop Wright. Instead, it drove her to prove him wrong. "Throwing down that gauntlet actually made me even more motivated," she said.
She applied to an NSF-funded (National Science Foundation) program. It's aim? "Exploring all of the world's oceans, using a former oil drilling vessel as a floating laboratory to take cores from the ocean floor," Wright said.
She was accepted into this program. Wright worked as a technician on the ship for 10 two-month deployments. That meant 12-hour shifts. She participated in studies in the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. And core samples from the journey enabled scientists to "read the history of the ocean basins," said Wright.
But another challenge would arise: One that's particularly serious for an ocean scientist. Before taking this job, she'd only been on one short ocean cruise. Turns out, she suffers from sea sickness. Wright gets ill the first two days of every sea voyage. That didn't stop her either. "To be able to do that science and travel all over the world was fantastic," she said.
Sail Past Major Setbacks Like Wright
After her tours on the ship, Wright completed an individual interdisciplinary Ph.D. in physical geography and marine geology at U.C. Santa Barbara. Fortunately, this time her major advisor "was a great role model," she said.
From her advisor, she learned leaders should listen. "Often times the person in power does not acknowledge how much can be learned from the person working under them," she said. "My advisor was a very good listener." And that's powered her mission of scientific sharing.
"Dawn is one of the most generous scientists in terms of sharing science and sharing scientific ideas and connecting people," said Margaret Leinen, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and vice chancellor at U.C. San Diego.
NOAA (the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) hired Wright as a research associate after she finished her Ph.D. In 1995, she began teaching as an assistant professor in the department of geosciences at Oregon State University. She became a full professor in 2002. Esri hired her as chief scientist in 2011, which she said was "an immediate piercing of the glass ceiling for me."
Determination, Diversity And Embracing Change
Wright knows a big part of her job is helping fellow scientists overcome setbacks. Science can be slow and maddening. "The history of science is full of all these examples of people who just wouldn't give up," she said.
Wright, a basketball player, says athletics taught her discipline, self-confidence and drive. As a young woman, surrounded by male basketball players in her neighborhood, she refused to let them brush her off. "I would say 'just give me the ball and watch me,'" she said.
Success in science also requires recruiting diverse team members. "The more diversity you have in the data or in the types of people working on a problem then the better the probability of getting closer to the answer," she said.
And leaders in science must constantly avoid old patterns and embrace change. "I want to avoid getting stuck ... I want to keep an open mind," she said. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how scientists analyze data. Wright says she wasn't initially "a believer in AI." But now "we are all learning how machine learning can be effective in automating processes," she said.
Reaching Out And Paying It Forward
Wright also prioritizes encouraging oceanography students, especially in underserved communities: "I try to fulfill as many of those requests as I can," she said. And she's active on Twitter. Her Twitter name? Deep Sea Dawn, of course.
"I've found out about all these young scientists in Africa and in the Caribbean doing all these amazing things and that leads to me doing seminars and webinars," Wright said. "A lot of exciting things are happening with young people being agents of change," said Wright.
Dawn Wright's Keys
- Chief scientist at Esri and leading global expert in ocean geology, oceanography and mapping.
- Overcame: Negative feedback from her master's degree advisor to obtain her M.S. in oceanography.
- Lesson: "The more diversity you have in the data or in the types of people working on a problem then the better the probability of getting closer to the answer."
