[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19464]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF DR. RORY COOPER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 27, 2009

  Mr. MURTHA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Rory A. Cooper, 
Ph.D. for his outstanding achievement of winning a gold medal at the 
2009 National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
  While winning a gold medal is an exceptional achievement by itself, 
Dr. Cooper has proven himself again and again. Madam Speaker, Dr. 
Cooper has won a total of five gold medals at the National Veterans 
Wheelchair Games and has previously held the world record for the 
10,000-meter wheelchair race. He has participated and won medals almost 
every year since he first started competing in 1987. In 1988 he won the 
bronze medal at the Paralympic Games in Seoul, Korea. He continued to 
stay active in Paralympic competition by serving as a member of the 
Steering Committee for the 1996 Paralympic Scientific Congress. He was 
also the Sports Scientist for the 2008 United States Paralympic Team. 
In recognition of his achievements at the National Veterans Wheelchair 
Games, he was featured on a 2009 Cheerios cereal box.
  When Dr. Cooper is not competing, he is a researcher in the field of 
assistive technology design at the University of Pittsburgh's School of 
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. He is also the Director and 
Veterans Affairs (VA) Senior Research Career Scientist for the VA 
Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence, 
Codirector of the National Science Foundation Quality of Life 
Technology Engineering Research Center, a member of the United States 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics and Special Disability 
Programs Advisory Committee, and a Director of the Paralyzed Veterans 
of America Research Foundation. He has published over two hundred peer-
reviewed journal articles and two books, Rehabilitation Engineering 
Applied to Mobility and Manipulation and Wheelchair Selection and 
Configuration. Dr. Cooper is also a recipient of the Department of the 
Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for ``exceptional leadership, 
service, and advocacy of severely injured service members at Walter 
Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) and other military medical facilities 
from October 2004 through May 2008.''
  Madam Speaker, Dr. Cooper is truly an inspiration to all to us. I 
conclude my remarks by commending him for his outstanding achievements.

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