Bill Text: NY K00330 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Honoring Calyampudi (C.R.) Radhakrishna Rao upon the occasion of his special designation as recipient of the 2023 International Prize in Statistics
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-04-24 - adopted [K00330 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-K00330-Introduced.html
Assembly Resolution No. 330 BY: M. of A. McMahon HONORING Calyampudi Radhakrishna (C.R.) Rao upon the occasion of his special designation as recipient of the 2023 International Prize in Statistics WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that those who enhance the quality of life in their community and have shown a long and sustained commitment to the maintenance of high standards in their profession, certainly have earned the recognition and applause of all the citizens of this great Empire State; and WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long-standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to honor C.R. Rao upon the occasion of his special designation as recipient of the 2023 International Prize in Statistics, awarded biennially at the International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and WHEREAS, The International Prize in Statistics is modeled after the Nobel Prize and recognizes a major achievement by an individual or team in the statistics field, particularly an achievement of powerful and original ideas that have led to practical applications and breakthroughs in other disciplines; and WHEREAS, One of the most accomplished mathematicians and statisticians of our age, C.R. Rao revolutionized statistical thinking and dramatically influenced the human understanding of science across a wide spectrum of disciplines; and WHEREAS, In 1920, C.R. Rao was born to a Telugu family in Hadagali, Karnataka; his schooling was completed in Gudur, Nuzvid, Nandigama, and Viskhapatam, all in Andhra Pradesh; and WHEREAS, C.R. Rao received an MSc in mathematics from Andhra University and an MA in statistics from Calcutta University in 1943; he also obtained a PhD degree at King's College at Cambridge University, further adding a DSc degree from Cambridge in 1965; and WHEREAS, Cambridge University awarded C.R. Rao with the prestigious Sc.D. degree in 1965, and he has received 31 Honorary Doctoral degrees from universities in 18 countries; additionally the Pennsylvania State University has established a C.R. and Bhargavi Rao Prize in Statistics; and WHEREAS, At the beginning of his career, C.R. Rao worked at the Indian Statistical Institute and the Anthropological Museum in Cambridge; later he held several important positions, as the Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor and National Professor in India, University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and Eberly Professor, Chair of Statistics, and Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis at Pennsylvania State University; and WHEREAS, As a testament to his genius, C.R. Rao has received many honors; he was awarded the title of Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government in 1968 and in 2001, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan; and WHEREAS, C.R. Rao demonstrated three fundamental results that paved the way for the modern field of statistics and provided statistical tools heavily used in science today in his 1945 paper published in the Bulletin of the Calcutta Mathematical Society; combined, these results help scientists more efficiently extract information from data; and WHEREAS, The first result in C.R. Rao's findings is known as the Cramer-Rao lower bound, which provides a means for knowing when a method for estimating a quantity is good; the second is named the Rao-Blackwell Theorem, which provides a means for transforming an estimate into a more optimal estimate; lastly, the third result provides insights that pioneered a new flourishing interdisciplinary field, information geometry; and WHEREAS, Information geometry has recently aided the understanding of Higgs boson measurements at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator; it also has found applications in recent research on radars and antennas, artificial intelligence, data science, signal processing, shape classification, and image segregation; and WHEREAS, C.R. Rao's monumental work has earned such a prestigious award, as his theories and tools continue to exert a profound influence on science; and WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body that when individuals of such noble aims and accomplishments are brought to our attention, they should be celebrated and recognized by all the citizens of this great Empire State; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to honor C.R. Rao upon the occasion of his special designation as recipient of the 2023 International Prize in Statistics; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to C.R. Rao.