Robert Rush Miller, Professor of Biological Sciences and Curator of Fishes, Museum of Zoology, retired from active faculty status on August 31, 1986, following 44 years of association with The University of Michigan.

Professor Miller was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He received his B.A. degree in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1938 and his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Michigan in 1943 and 1944, respectively. At that time he began a productive collaboration with Carl L. Hubbs and Frances Hubbs Miller. Together, the Hubbs Miller family has been a major nucleus for the scientific study of fishes, both at The University of Michigan and in the ichthyological world.

In 1944 he became associate curator of fishes at the Smithsonian Institution, but returned to The University of Michigan as associate curator of the Museum of Zoology in 1948. His scholarship, graduate teaching, tireless fieldwork, and service since that time have contributed greatly to both the university and the field of evolutionary biology. He is the world's foremost authority on the systematics of a number of groups of fishes and on the fishes of Mexico and the American West. In addition to his pioneering work in the biogeography, paleontology, genetics, and evolution of fishes, he is a world leader in the conservation of rare and endangered species and in the analysis of historical changes in freshwater fishes of arid regions.

Professor Miller has served as editor of Copeia, the major journal in his field, and of the publication series of the Museum of Zoology. He was president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in 1965 and was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1973-74. In 1975 he received the Award of Excellence of the American Fisheries Society. He is especially well known for the excellence of his publications, which currently total over 292 papers, books, and reviews. He plans to continue his active research program at the Museum of Zoology, where he will concentrate on finishing a major, comprehensive monograph on the fishes of Mexico.

Professor Miller's outstanding contributions to scholarship at The University of Michigan have always had graduate education as a central focus. He has devoted much of his energy to guiding diverse students in cooperative fieldwork, curatorial work, analysis, and writing. Fifteen doctoral students have completed their dissertations under his direction.

The Regents now salute this distinguished scientist and educator for his dedicated service by naming Robert Rush Miller Professor Emeritus of