Alumnus Establishes Scholarship for Geography Students

September 20, 2005

Dr. Don Richardson, a 1977 graduate from the Penn State Department of Geography recently established the Dr. G.D. Richardson Scholarship in Geography.

The purpose of this scholarship is to provide recognition and financial assistance to outstanding undergraduate students enrolled in geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

"I am happy to be able to help undergraduate students in geography at Penn State," says Dr. Richardson. "I know that without financial support during my undergrad years, I would have never been able to afford to go to college."

Consideration for this scholarship will be given to all full-time undergraduate students enrolled in geography in the College who have achieved superior academic records. Recipients of this scholarship will be selected by the Department of Geography Scholarship Committee.

After earning a bachelor's of science degree in geography from Penn State, Dr. Richardson went on to the University of California, Santa Barbara for graduate school. At UCSB, he received a master's degree in geography, and was then granted the first Ph.D. in geography from UCSB in 1982. Since 1984, he has been a research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). IDA is a federally funded research and development center that provides scientific and technical expertise to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other defense agencies. While at IDA, he has been involved in operationally testing and evaluating several very high profile defense programs. Some of his responsibilities have required him to be deployed with and fly onboard U.S. military aircraft that were conducting military operations overseas.