[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E758-E759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR F. JAMES ROHLF

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. TIMOTHY H. BISHOP

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 5, 2004

  Mr. BISHOP of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Professor 
F. James Rohlf, for his outstanding career as a scientist and professor 
at Stony Brook University, who was elected a Fellow of the American 
Academy of the Arts and Sciences in 2001.
  Professor Rohlf's current research is concerned with the development, 
evaluation, and application of new statistical methods for use in 
geometric morphometrics. Over the last few years he has written papers 
demonstrating how standard statistical methods such as principal 
components analysis, canonical variates analysis, multiple regression, 
and other methods can be adapted for the analysis of shape.
  His work also emphasizes the development of interactive computer 
software to perform the unique computations needed in geometric 
morphometrics. This software also provides the special interactive 
graphical displays to enable users to visualize shapes and has made it 
possible for these new methods to be applied routinely by many 
biologists.
  Due to the unfamiliarity of most biologists with the types of 
mathematics needed to understand the methods used in geometric 
morphometrics, many one to two week workshops have been held in cities 
and universities around the world, which Professor Rohlf has organized 
or in which he has been the principal lecturer. These programs are to 
teach the necessary techniques and to give potential users a chance to 
collect data, learn how to use the software, and to interpret the 
results.
  Professor F. James Rohlf is also author and co-author of many 
publications. Early in his career he received fellowships from U.S. 
Public Health Service to conduct predoctoral research in 1959-1962, and 
a National Science Foundation postdoctoral appointment in 1962. He has 
received many honors including: W.J. Eckert Visiting Environmental 
Scientist; IBM T.J. Watson Research Center; Professor Visitant, 
Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina; Visiting 
Professor University of Rome ``La Sapienza,'' Dipartimento di Biologia 
Animale e dell'Uomo; and the election to the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences.
  Professor Rohlf held positions such as research assistant in 1958-59, 
teaching assistant in fall of 1959 and research associate in the summer 
of 1962 at the University of Kansas. He was visiting assistant 
professor of entomology in the spring of 1965 and associate professor 
of statistical biology, 1966-69. And, he was an assistant professor of 
biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara 1962-1966.
  Professor F. James Rohlf is interested in and has been involved in 
the applications of mathematical methods and statistics (especially 
multivariate statistics) to problems in biology with emphasis on 
morphometrics and

[[Page E759]]

the theory of systematics. I am proud to recognize and honor Professor 
F. James Rohlf for his outstanding career as a scientist and professor 
and for all the many accomplishments and services he has provided to 
the community of biological science.

                          ____________________