Robert H. Wright Fund

 

History: The Robert H. Wright Fund for the Earth & Planetary  Sciences was established by EPS alum Robert Harvey Wright, who  earned his Ph.D. at UC Santa Cruz in 1982. In his over 56-year career, he was a practicing engineering geologist who benefited greatly from working with geotechnical engineers. He benefited greatly from the field courses and fieldwork experiences he participated in as a student, and wants to ensure that similar experiences and opportunities are available to future generations of geoscientists. 

Robert believes that having an M.S. is the "sweet spot" and opens doors to a wide variety of careers. One M.S.-level research topic of interest to him is the distribution, origin, and age of mima mounds in California and Oregon. During his career, I studied mima mounds located along the west side of the Sacramento delta, in the Sacramento Valley around Cottonwood Creek, and in the foothills on the west flank of the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mima mounds have also been identified in Oregon, and occur in the vicinity of UCSC. The origin of mima mounds is uncertain and one of the mysteries of geomorphology.

Photo of mima mounds near the West Entrance to the UCSC campus.