Lyna Wiggins, Ph.D.

December 22, 1948 - November 10, 2024

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New Cedar Ridge Cemetery

Jacksonburg Road

Blairstown, NJ 07825

9086255261 |

Lyna Wiggins, Ph.D., age 75 years, of Clinton, NJ, died on Sunday, November 10, 2024, at her home.

She was an Associate Professor, Emerita in the Urban Planning and Policy Development Program at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

Since the early 1970s, she has been involved in the development and application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Lyna’s GIS research focus includes: (1) studying the use and diffusion of the technology, particularly within U.S. planning agencies; (2) examining the institutional issues in GIS implementation, with a focus on issues of data sharing; (3) designing and implementing appropriate GIS for regional planning agencies; and, (4) integrating GIS technology with traditional urban and regional models.

Dr. Wiggins retired from teaching in June, 2020, after having received her B.S. from California Polytechnic Institute (San Luis Obispo), her M.S. from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. from the University of California (Berkeley).

Interment at New Cedar Ridge Cemetery, Blairstown, NJ, was private under the care and direction of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ.

You are encouraged to visit Lyna’s permanent life celebration site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a candle of hope, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of her life.

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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”

New Cedar Ridge Cemetery

Jacksonburg Road

Blairstown, NJ 07825

9086255261 | Map

Lyna Wiggins, Ph.D., age 75 years, of Clinton, NJ, died on Sunday, November 10, 2024, at her home. She was an Associate Professor, Emerita in the Urban Planning and Policy Development Program at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Since the early 1970s, she has been involved inContinue Reading

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Dr. Wiggins was a member of my PhD thesis committee at Stanford. I specifically asked her to serve in that role after taking a graduate level course on the optimal siting of power plants. During that class, she used a number of acronyms that have stayed with me during my entire professional life in the power industry. A NIMBY, of course, is Not In My Back Yard, which is now widely known. More obscure were LULU and BANANA. The former stood for Largely Useful, Locally Unwanted, which power plants (and nuclear waste facilities) certainly are, while the latter stood for Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere at Near Anyone, which accurately describes the attitude of so many members of the public when it comes to power generation facilities. I was not aware that Dr. Wiggins was such a pioneer in the use of GIS. I regret that I lost touch with her after leaving Stanford, but her knowledge has stayed with me. My sincere sympathies to all those who were lucky enough to know her.

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.