In memoriam: Paul R. Wolf

The world of civil and environmental engineering lost one of its finest this spring. Paul Wolf, one of the leading professors in the country in the field of surveying and photogrammetry, died March 6 from prostate cancer. He was 67.

Wolf taught in UW-Madison's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for 23 years. In doing so, he developed an international reputation in the fields of surveying, mapping, and photogrammetry. Among his accomplishments, he authored three textbooks that are considered the standard texts in their fields: Elements of Photogrammetry (with B.A. Dewitt); Elementary Surveying (with R.C. Brinker and C.D. Ghilani); and Adjustment Computations: Statistics and Least Squares in Surveying and GIS (with C.D. Ghilani). The books have been translated and published in several foreign languages.

In addition, Wolf was well known in the civil and environmental engineering department for his mentoring of students, many of whom went on to earn PhDs in the field and follow his path into teaching and research. His students populate faculties at universities throughout the country, as well as in Africa, Australia and Asia. For his efforts, Wolf in 1993 was awarded a one-of-a-kind award from the North American Surveying Teachers' Conference to recognize the excellence of his training program and the number of students he encouraged to enter the profession.

Colleagues and friends fondly recalled Wolf's career during a memorial service in Madison.

"Paul Wolf changed my life," said CEE Professor Alan Vonderohe. "But then again, I don't think I'm alone in this place. I imagine that Paul changed the life, for the better, of nearly everyone here."

Vonderohe recalled that Wolf lobbied him to come to UW-Madison in 1978 after he had gotten his PhD from the University of Illinois. Wolf took the young professor under his wing, inviting him to his home for meals, taking him on skiing trips, and mentoring him during the pre-tenure years on the faculty. Through those early years, Vonderohe said, Wolf emphasized the importance of students in his work as a professor. His three textbooks, in that sense, are a reflection of his dedication to students, Vonderohe said.

"It is these works, perhaps, in which Wolf took the most professional pride," he said. "He told me last summer that he was content in that he had passed the torch of authorship to his very worthy graduate students and that, through them, his work would continue to live.

"That, I believe, is his greatest professional legacy — his students — and the fact that so many of them have gone on to become educators themselves — many of them stating that Paul was a role model for them and that they try emulate him in many ways."

Others taught by Wolf said his courses influenced their career choice, as did his methods of teaching and relating to students.

"I learned from him a lot more than just the nuts and bolts of engineering, photogrammetry, and surveying," said Michael Duckett, executive director of the Miller Park District in Milwaukee. "I learned the intangibles, too — people skills and treating others with respect, fairness, and honesty. I found him to be a remarkable teacher of the lessons of life."

During his career, Wolf published more than 120 research papers and received numerous citations from professional societies. Among the honors: The Talbert Abrams Research Award from the American Society of Photogrammetry; the Earle J. Fennel Award from the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping; and the Surveying and Mapping Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Wolf grew up on a farm near Mazomanie, WI, and graduated from Mazomanie High School. He attended UW-Platteville and UW-Madison, earning his BS in civil engineering from UW-Madison in 1960. He then earned his MS (1965) and his PhD (1967) in analytical photogrammetry from UW-Madison, and joined the university as a faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1970. While at UW-Madison, he served as head of the Surveying, Photogrammetry, and Remote Sensing Division from 1979 until his retirement in 1993.

During his retirement, he enjoyed fishing, snow skiing, and continuing to work on his lifelong hobby of woodcarving.

In his honor, the College of Engineering created the Paul R. Wolf Professorship. Memorials may be made to the University of Wisconsin Foundation for the Paul R. Wolf Professorship, P.O. Box 8860, Madison, WI 53708 — contact 608/263-4545. Or visit: www.engr.wisc.edu/cee/professorships/Wolf.html