Miller Environmental Science
Ernest Babin
Steve Miller combines tools from computer science and economics to study
1) the effective management of shared natural resources (e.g. fisheries)
2) how environmental policies stimulate the development and deployment of new technologies and processes that reduce environmental impact, and
3) the impacts of changing temperatures on natural resource use and economies.
I am currently recruiting both MS and PhD students to work with me on research that integrates quantitative methods from environmental and natural resource economics with tools from other disciplines. Please see my personal website for up-to-date information on current opportunities.
Emphasis: teaching undergraduate marine and environmental science courses; ecophysiology of aquatic plants and harmful algae; toxin production in HAB species; community outreach and education
My research interests understanding the ecophysiology of problematic primary producers (e.g., invasive species, harmful algae, etc.) and how that drives their biology, ecology, and toxicology. I am also interested in understanding environmental drivers influencing the occurrence and distribution of these organisms throughout the coastal mixing zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Lastly, I am interested in community outreach and education to effectively communicate the important work we do.
Dr. Miller has a diverse academic and professional background that comes together in her primary interests of teaching, and researching and facilitating environmental solutions. She has a BA in Anthropology and Sociology, a Masters in Environmental Studies, and a PhD in Biology. The first half of her professional life included community organizing on social and environmental issues, non-profit environmental advocacy and policy, and environmental program implementation and education. Mid-career she broadened her understanding of the context of these experiences through graduate studies and research in conservation and ecology. Kate has taught environmental studies, ecology, biology and scientific evaluation and writing at a variety of institutions, in addition to holding administrative roles as coordinator for various educational grants (US EPA, US DOL). She has held leadership roles in developing science education content and providing educator training with a focus on teaching early science and non-science students. Kate is active on local environmental issues, and incorporates opportunities for community service and engagement in her teaching. Significant awards include: Recipient System-Wide Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award from the CT Board of Regents April, 2017; National Academies Education Fellow in the Sciences, National Academies, 2015-2016; Switzer Fellow, Switzer Foundation, 1998-1999, Best Municipal Recycling Program from CT Recyclers Coalition, 1995.
My work advances the quantitative evaluation of spatial variations in environmental processes that effect the distribution of soil properties, with special consideration for how those variations impact environmental quality and sustainable crop production. My research integrates geographic information science and soil science to develop, improve, and curate high quality, publicly available soil geodatabases.
The topics of landscape evolution, geomorphology, and environmental science are integral to my research. Quantitative spatial analysis of landscape structure (patterns) improve understanding of our natural environment. Through the use of digital terrain analysis and other non-invasive data collection techniques, this work is producing more accurate and higher resolution soil maps. In turn, these maps improve land management decisions and environmental modeling applications as the spatial variability of the soil is a highly influential factor in environmental systems.
Marc L. Miller is the Dean & Ralph W. Bilby Professor of Law at the University of Arizona College of Law. Dean Miller taught at Emory University Law School from 1988-2005, where he served as Associate Dean for Faculty and Scholarship (2003-2005). He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Pomona College, and grew up in Los Angeles.
Dean Miller writes and teaches about environmental law and policy and criminal law and policy. He is the author of more than 70 articles and essays on a wide range of environmental, criminal justice, immigration, and legal theory topics. He is editor of several casebooks on criminal procedure and sentencing and co-founded the Federal Sentencing Reporter, the leading journal on sentencing law and policy and a joint project of the Vera Institute of Justice and the University of California Press.
Dean Miller's scholarship addresses the nature of law. On the criminal side, current work includes a series of articles on the role and regulation of prosecutorial discretion, including a multi-year empirical evaluation of prosecutorial decision-making. At a more general theoretical level, this work deals with policymaking within executive branch agencies, especially in those areas not readily amenable to external judicial or legislative review. His environmental work highlights topics at the intersection of environmental science, policy, and law with special attention to the concept of sustainability and to the relationship between science and environmental policymaking. Much of his environmental work is done in collaboration with natural and social scientists.
Before teaching, Dean Miller served as law clerk to Chief Judge John Godbold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, as Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as Special Counsel at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York. Dean Miller has been a visiting professor at Stanford Law School and Duke Law School. Dean Miller is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI), and an advisor to various criminal justice and environmental publications and organizations.
A degree in environmental science provides the background, training, and experience to pursue many career paths. Our graduates have successful careers with private environmental consulting firms, in environmental education, and with local, state, and federal environment and resource agencies.
The Analytical Sciences Option is designed to produce chemists who are particularly interested in the chemical pollutants that are being released into the air, earth, and water environments of our planet.
They may find jobs with local and state health departments, state and national environmental protection agencies, and local testing laboratories, as well as in the private chemical-producing industries. Typically graduates work as laboratory and field technicians who sample and analyze chemical pollutants.
Thus, contamination of surface and underground waters, pollution of the soil, and construction of dams and other large structures all require earth science environmental specialists to either help alleviate the problem created by misuse or avoid environmental problems during project development.
The Geography and Planning Option is primarily designed to produce local and regional planning specialists who have a good understanding of environmental problems. Anytime humans change the nature of the landscape by constructing new housing developments, highways, shopping centers, etc. a potentially negative environmental impact on the natural landscape exists. Today planners who are environmentally sensitive are in great demand to help avoid the common confrontations that arise between developers and those groups that are affected by the project.
These include working as pollution monitoring technicians for various public agencies such as county and state health departments, as well as state and national environmental protection agencies; students may also find themselves attracted to jobs with local, regional, and national nature conservation agencies, both public and private.
The environmental science program gives the student the broad multi-disciplinary subject matter and analytical tools necessary to be successful in such professions as consulting, industrial environmental management and environmental protection. Students from diverse science backgrounds apply their knowledge and skills to environmental problems, such as air pollution and control; water pollution and treatment; groundwater protection, contamination and remediation; solid and hazardous waste management.
Admission Requirements Applicants should follow the admissions process described in this catalog or at the Graduate Admissions website: www.marshall.edu/graduate/admissions/how-to-apply-for-admission.
In addition to the general requirements all students entering the graduate Environmental Science program must have completed prior to admission the following courses or their equivalent:
Students must complete 36 graduate credit hours at the graduate level, including at least 24 credit hours at Marshall University. The degree consists of 12 credit hours of core courses; 12 credit hours of required courses; and 12 credit hours of electives.
To fulfill the Core requirement, 6 credit hours must be satisfied by the TE 698/TE 699 sequence (to complete a comprehensive project) OR six hours of ES 680 (to complete a thesis). Comprehensive projects and the resulting write-up tend to be based on the application of the Environmental Science degree to professional projects, whereas a thesis is written as an output of a research project.
On completion of the MS Environmental Science degree program the student should have the requisite scope of knowledge and competency in specific environmental subject matter. Students are required to take 12 credit hours of elective courses and use them to satisfy proficiency courses:
This conversation comes at an especially difficult time for our economy. People across our country are struggling to pay more for just about everything. Since President Biden was inaugurated in January 2021, the food price index has increased by 21%, and the energy price index has increased by 41%. Rising costs are unchecked.
c80f0f1006