Two women have been selected to receive the Presidential Achievement Award from the Association of American Geographers.
Dawn Wright, a professor of geography and oceanography at Oregon State University in Corvallis, is an expert in geographic information systems. She is affectionately known on campus as Deepsea Dawn for her work on mapping the ocean floor. She is currently on a two-year leave of absence from the university to serve as chief scientist for the Environmental Systems Research Institute, a leading GIS software firm.
A graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, she holds a master’s degree from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in physical geography and marine geology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Laura Pulido is professor of American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Professor Pulido’s research focuses on race, political activism, and ethnic studies. She studies how various groups experience racial and class oppression, how these experiences differ among particular communities of color, and how they mobilize politically.
Professor Pulido holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.