ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GLOUCESTER POINT
SOURCE: RICHARD STRADLING (NEWPORT NEWS) DAILY PRESS
THE MARINE GEOLOGIST loves being in the surf or in a marsh when his research equipment is deployed.
At times, Don Wright sounds more like someone fresh out of graduate school than a seasoned scientist.
Wright's been a researcher and teacher for 26 years, published numerous research papers and books and studied beaches and river mouths all over the world, from the Arctic to the Amazon.
Last summer, he became director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. But Wright says he still has much to learn.
``I would expect that between now and the time I retire, I'm going to learn a lot of new things, I hope, and steer in some new directions that I haven't quite thought of yet,'' he said.
Wright was asked last year to guide VIMS while it looked for a successor for Dennis Taylor, who stepped down in August 1995 after it was learned his resume included a degree he had not received. After a nationwide search, the institute chose Wright.
Now Wright is trying to clarify VIMS' mission. The institute has to anticipate the problems brought on by increasing coastal development, he says, and build the scientific framework for questions that will come up 10 years from now.
``There are going to be conflicting needs, and they can only be reconciled by very sound science,'' Wright said. ``We have to play a leadership role not only for the commonwealth of Virginia, but also worldwide. We cannot isolate ourselves here in Chesapeake Bay.''
But VIMS remains first and foremost a branch of state government, with all the obligations and financial constraints that entails. About 53 percent of the institute's $24 million budget this year is state tax money; the rest is federal grants and contracts. Tuition and private donations account for less than 2 percent.
To help ensure that the institute meets its obligations, Wright has forced VIMS to identify its core research priorities. This process has made some scientists nervous, especially those who find themselves outside the cores, said research director Eugene Burreson.
``There are probably some who feel threatened, but we have to do this,'' Burreson said.
The process might have been much worse if people at VIMS didn't like and respect Wright so much. They describe him as approachable, straightforward and unwilling to compromise the integrity of the science done at VIMS.
Wright isn't self-serving, added John Milliman, dean of graduate studies. When Wright publishes a book, it may be months before his colleagues find out, because he doesn't go around crowing, Milliman said.
``In oceanography as a whole, you get an awful lot of big egos,'' he said. ``In fact we tend to stumble over our own egos. He's a man almost without ego.''
J. Donelson Wright was born far from seawater, in Nashville, Tenn., but his earliest memories are of growing up in Mobile, Ala. His affinity for the sea began to bud after his family moved to Jacksonville, Fla., when he was 16. There, he took up scuba diving.
``It was a hard thing to resist in Florida,'' he said. ``It's exciting. Just a completely different kind of environment that you can't see on land. Quite a bit different, of course, in the Chesapeake Bay, where you can't see anything.''
That hasn't kept Wright from diving in the bay or anywhere else when his research calls for it. Wright is not the kind of scientist who sends other people to do the work, said Linda Schaffner, a VIMS biologist.
``He's a kind of go-for-the-gusto kind of guy. He's always really actively involved,'' Schaffner said.
Wright loves being in the surf or in a marsh when his research equipment is deployed, said Peter Cowell, Wright's first doctoral student at the University of Sydney, Australia, and now a senior lecturer there.
``This is not a pastime for the faint-hearted,'' Cowell said. ``And I'm amazed that Don hasn't met with some horrible accident yet, dealing with large and cumbersome equipment on the bottom of the ocean.''
Wright decided he wanted to get into marine geology as an undergraduate at the University of Miami, where he crossed paths with Milliman, then a graduate student.
``It was obvious, even in his early 20s, that here was a guy that really wanted to get on with life and do well at it,'' Milliman said.
Wright took a semester off from Miami that included one cruise as a crew member on a freighter, just for the experience. Eventually, he decided to attend graduate school in Australia.
``I wanted to work on coastal environments, and Australia is a coastal country,'' he said.
Wright was accepted into a master's program at the University of Sydney. He did his doctorate at Louisiana State University, where he was hired as an assistant professor.
In 1974, one of Wright's professors at Sydney sent him an advertisement for a tenure-track faculty job at the university.
Wright might still be teaching at Sydney had he not spent a few months on sabbatical at VIMS in 1981. He was so taken with the working environment here that when a job came open the following year, he went after it.
``I liked the team spirit of the place,'' he said. ``I was really torn over whether to stay in Australia or come here.''
Wright believes that team spirit is crucial to the institute's future and has made it a priority in identifying its core research programs.
Scientists traditionally have worked alone or with others in their own field, he said, but the questions faced by marine scientists today require them to cross those boundaries. The person who can answer a niggling question of biology may, in fact, be a geologist.
Working with scientists from other fields also makes life interesting, Wright said. He's learned a lot from his colleagues at VIMS, and says if he were working in a university geology department surrounded by a lot of geologists, he'd be bored stiff.
``I try to pass that on to students. Especially if you're a scientist, the learning process only starts when you get your Ph.D.,'' Wright said. ``That's the entree into a lifetime of learning.''
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Don Wright is trying to clarify VIMS' mission ofby CNBanticipating the problems brought on by increasing coastal
development and has forced the center to identify its core research
priorities. KEYWORDS: PROFILE