Professor Wright is prominent in the field, heads a prestigious department, and has very good industry contacts with Boeing Corp. and Ford. He is the nominated 'successor' of coauthor Edward Trent, whose book is a classic in the field.Wright, who was born in England and now resides in Berkeley, Calif., is professor of mechanical engineering and co-chairman of the Management of Technology Program at the University of California/Berkeley School of Engineering.He has written numerous articles for journals, conferences, and symposiums, as well as coauthored "Manufacturing Intelligence," with D.A. Bourne. In addition, he serves as a consultant and is involved in many professional organizations.Edward Moor Trent was born in England and was the first to describe the diffusion wear mechanisms in tungsten-carbide-cobalt cutting tools. This work was the foundation for new grades of carbide for cutting steels, and subsequently for the development of coated cutting tools. Trent was a prominent lecturer in the Industrial Metallurgy Dept. at Birmingham University and was awarded the "Hadfield Medal" by the Iron and Steel Institute in recognition of his contributions to metallurgy. His accomplishments are highly regarded among professionals in the field today.