The first African American woman to dive in Alvin

In the effort to map the world ocean, Dawn Wright is a fearless leader. As an early adopter and researcher into Geographical Information Science (GIS), she has worked with communities around the world to utilize GIS and other mapping tools to survey and analyze seafloor and coastal terrain, ecosystems, and habitats.Known as @deepseadawn on social media, Wright is no stranger to deep-sea diving. Not only was she the first African American woman to dive in Alvin (as a PhD. student in 1991), but one of the first scientists to make the connections between mid-ocean ridge volcanism, plate tectonics, hydrothermal circulation, and vent ecosystems. In 2022, she became the first Black person to dive to the Challenger Deep-the deepest part of the Mariana Trench-as part of a Caladan Oceanic research mission.In addition to her many leadership roles, Wright is the Chief Scientist at the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), a world-leading GIS software, research and development company. She served as a scholar-at-large in the MIT-WHOI joint program and has been a WHOI Corporation member since 2022! Get to know Deep Sea Dawn: go.whoi.edu/dawn-wright