HR Profile: Allan Wright, Research Computing Center
By Kevin Hinchey
August 8, 2007
Some people graduate from college and then never do anything in their working
career that is even remotely associated with their major course of study. Others
pursue that field and turn it into their livelihood. Allan Wright is a sterling
example of the latter.
Wright graduated from UNH with a computer science degree in 1989. After working
at the Research Computing Center (RCC) as a student employee, he spent almost
3 years working in private industry for Prime Computer / Computervision. Deciding
that "the academic work environment and particularly the challenges of
working for RCC were far superior to those offered by private industry" he
returned to UNH as soon as a position became available. As luck would have
it, that position just happened to be in the RCC.
Some of the main responsibilities of Wright's job are designing and implementing
web-based database applications for researchers and university departments.
He's been the lead designer and primary programmer for the housing-online system
(which includes on-line damage viewing, on-line maintenance requests, on-line
room assignments and on-line help request modules that student residents use)
and has also done extensive programming for the admissions office (including
on-line systems that allow prospective students to sign up for tours and request
information about UNH with data about those requests directly available to
the admissions internal student tracking system.) In addition to all of that,
Wright has done websites for research projects such as BITC, GRANIT, R-Arcticnet,
R-Hydronet and several WSBE research programming projects.
"Working at RCC allows me to work in the company of a very highly-skilled
team," Wright says. "Being able to always tell researchers and UNH
departments 'Yes, we can do that for you' and knowing that when they receive
the product we produce that it will meet or exceed their expectations is very
rewarding. UNH allows me to expand my skills in areas that interest me. My
job continues to evolve as researcher's needs change and as part of the RCC
team I'm often allowed to let my interests dictate my duties."
Wright is also the project manager for the USNH Events Registration System,
and WSBE's PIPR-Net while also providing project management assistance to Patrick
Messer on the CRMS (Crash Records Management System) system that RCC is creating
for the State of New Hampshire's Department of Transportation.
Messer, Wright's supervisor, says "Allan's primary responsibility for
RCC is software development. He works on a variety of projects each year, many
of which he serves as the project lead. In addition to his IT skills, Allan
has the ability to communicate effectively with both customers and colleagues.
This has proved helpful since it is essential that we can effectively communicate
with our customers in non technical terms. Allan is organized, competent, and
professional. He is an asset to RCC and UNH."
When asked who at UNH has had a positive impact on his career, Wright says "Bill
Lenharth has always been a strong leader at Research Computing and has instilled
a strong sense of élan to all of the RCC employees, treating them more
as a family than a department. Recently, the addition of Patrick Messer as
associate director of RCC has also reinforced this tradition. It's an environment
that benefits the employees as well as our customers, the researchers here
at UNH."
Outside of UNH, Wright has been flying and designing model airplanes for about
15 years. "I have a strong interest in radio control gliders and I run
a small web-based business in my spare time selling glider kits of gliders
that I have designed and manufactured," he says. (In addition, he has
a personal page with non-business related projects at: http://pease1.sr.unh.edu/aew/rc/).
"I also have a strong interest in military history, particularly the
air war in World War I, the wars of the Napoleonic era and the American Revolution," he
adds. "I was introduced to it by my uncle. I belong to a local club that
hosts monthly meetings, and trips to battlefields and museums."
Wright and his wife, Lori (who works in the Carsey Institute at UNH), reside
in Lee. They enjoy traveling, and recently have been spending vacation time
in the summers seeing the eastern part of the country in their R/V motor home.
"We travel anywhere we can get to in a 7-10 day trip, which is about
as long as either of us can get away from work at one time," Wright explains. "We
travel to Pennsylvania and New York state a lot, with trips as far west as
Sandusky, Ohio, and as far north as Niagara Falls. We hope to travel to Williamsburg,
Virginia, and possibly Florida in the future. Favorite trips include Gettysburg
National Park, and Niagara Falls State Park."
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