Karl J. Niklas is the Liberty Hyde Bailey

Liberty Hyde Bailey

Liberty Hyde Bailey was an American horticulturist, botanist and cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science.-Biography:...

 Professor in the Department of Plant Biology

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 at Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

. He is best known for his work on plant biomechanics

Biomechanics

Biomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems, such as humans, animals, plants, organs, and cells. Perhaps one of the best definitions was provided by Herbert Hatze in 1974: "Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems by means of...

, allometry, and functional morphology, and for his long-standing contributions to understanding plant evolutionary biology, particularly early land plant evolutionary diversification patterns and morphospaces.

Education

Niklas completed his undergraduate studies at the City College of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

. He earned his Ph.D. in paleobiology

Paleobiology

Paleobiology is a growing and comparatively new discipline which combines the methods and findings of the natural science biology with the methods and findings of the earth science paleontology...

 from the University of Illinois in 1974. He carried out his post-doctoral work at Birkbeck College

Birkbeck, University of London

Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow

Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...

.

Career

Niklas was curator for the New York Botanical Garden. He joined the faculty at Cornell in 1978. In 1985 he was named full professor and appointed to his current chair in 2000. He is the author of over 290 peer-reviewed scientific papers and three major books, all published by the University of Chicago Press

University of Chicago Press

The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...

. He is a member of the Botanical Society of America

Botanical Society of America

The Botanical Society of America represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world...

 and served as its President (2008 – 2009) and Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Botany

American Journal of Botany

The American Journal of Botany is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which includes research papers on all aspects of plant biology. It is published by the Botanical Society of America on a monthly basis since 1914....

(1995 – 2004).

Books

• Plant Biomechanics, 1992 (ISBN 978-0226586311)
• Plant Allometry: The Scaling of Form and Process, 1994 (ISBN 978-0226580814)
• The Evolutionary Biology of Plants, 1997 (ISBN 978-0226580838)

Awards and distinctions

• John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
• The Botanical Society of America’s Centennial Medal
• Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung prize for senior USA scientists