Candidate for
Board Member; Otay Water District; Division 5

Dr. Richard Wright grew up in Loogootee, a small town in Southern Indiana. Even today the Loogootee high school gymnasium is large enough to accommodate the entire town%s population for basketball games. After graduating from high school Richard attended Indiana University where he majored in geology for his undergraduate degree, and geography with emphases on municipal water supply and cartography for his Masters degree. After completing his Masters program, he studied geography, with emphases on cartography and geomorphology, at the University of Kansas, another great basketball school. There he completed the requirements for the Doctoral degree in 1967.

In 1964, Richard began teaching in the Department of Geography at San Diego State University (SDSU), and retired as professor emeritus in May 2002. During his 38 year career at SDSU he developed specialties in geographic information systems(GIS), cartographic visualization and spatial database development. In recent years he has been involved with the integration of GIS education and contract research and the application of GIS to land use modeling, sensitive lands identification, watershed management, and environmental monitoring along the United States-Mexico border.In recognition of his educational accomplishments and innovative research on the use of geographic information systems, cartography, and remote sensing for helping to solve water problems in the United States-Mexico border region, Richard has received many significant local, state, and national awards.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Achievement Award
For significant accomplishments in developing a watershed management decision support system
for addressing pollution and flooding problems in the San Diego-Tijuana border region.

National Partnership for Reinventing Government Award
For demonstrating how government can be more efficient in environmental problem solving through
the proper application of geospatial technologies. This project, which focused on modeling flood
events, was one of six community demonstration projects chosen through a national competition.

Phi Beta Delta International Honor Society
Selected as International Scholar of the year in 2001 for accomplishments in the use of geographic
information systems for facilitating cross border cooperation in addressing United States-Mexico
border water and air pollution problems.

Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
Each year the officers of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society at SDSU selected one or two distinguished
scholars for induction into this national organization. It was quite an honor for me to be selected for
membership in 1998.

SDSU Presidential Award
Each year a small group of faculty are recognized by the President of SDSU for extraordinary
accomplishments. I received this award in 2000.

CGIA Award
I was selected through a statewide competition to receive this award which was given for the
innovative GIS certificate program I developed to meet the training needs of GIS professionals
in the San Diego area.

James R. Anderson Medal of Honor
This medal was received for the most distinguished service to the profession of geography. The
medal is so distinctive an honor that it is bestowed only if the accomplishments are truly outstanding.

Richard D. Wright Spatial Analysis Laboratory
Last year the Department of Geography at SDSU renamed a computer-based teaching facility in
my honor. This was done in recognition of my academic accomplishments and many years spent
in improving our educational infrastructure for the improved education and training of our students.

Richard and his family moved from San Diego to Jamul in 1979 after he and his wife Penny became enamored with the boulder strewn hills of East County during a trip to Tecate, Mexico to run a 10k race. After moving to Jamul, Richard quickly became actively involved in the community principally through his participation in the Jamul -Dulzura Community Planning Group. His involvement in the community and concern for its quality have continued to the present. Richard and Penny are immensely proud of their six children and 13 grandchildren. It is an exhausting, but highly rewarding experience when the entire gang converges on the Jamul home during holidays and other festive occasions. His favorite recreational activities are hiking in East County and watching college basketball.