As representative, she will be responsible for coordinating U.S. participation in information exchanges and joint activities on the development of profitable crop-based biomass energy systems. Other countries represented in the task include Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Wright has worked at ORNL since 1974. She received her bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Washington in Seattle. However, the first two years of her undergraduate study took place in Tanzania, East Africa at the University of Dares Salaam while her father was helping to establish an agricultural college in Morogoro, Tanzania. She received her master's degree in ecology from Ohio State University.
She is a member of the Association of Women in Science, the Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry and Sigma Xi, an organization of scientific research professionals that promotes science and funding for science.
Wright and her husband, Paul, live in Knoxville. They have one daughter, Michelle.
ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation.