Professor Miller's research focuses on the physics of anisotropic, inherently inhomogeneous media. These systematic studies of the anisotropic properties of the heart have led to fundamentally new insights. In 1998 the NIH Grant supporting this research was awarded MERIT status, which is designed to "provide long-term, stable support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior, and who are likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner." This research has provided the basis for significantly improved diagnostic images of the hearts of patients and has been incorporated into commercially available echocardiographic imagers in widespread use throughout the world. Current investigations include studies of the physics underlying nonlinear ultrasonic propagation and the consequences on generalized dispersion relations of requirements of causality.
James G. Miller joined the Washington University faculty in 1970 as Assistant Professor of Physics. He is currently the Albert Gordon Hill Professor of Physics and Director of the Laboratory for Ultrasonics. Miller also holds the rank of Professor of Medicine in the Washington University School of Medicine and Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science. He was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine in 1986, a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America in1990, a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in 1998, and a Fellow of the American Institute Of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2000. In 2004, Miller was awarded the Silver Medal of the Acoustical Society of America. He has been named as the recipient of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society's 2006 Achievement Award.
For more than two decades, Miller has shared the results of his research with Washington University undergraduates in a course entitled Physics of the Heart. For this course, Miller received the 1989 Faculty Teaching Award from the Council of Students of Arts & Sciences. In 2004, he received the Emerson Teaching Award. Miller has also been a mentor to 25 physics graduate students who have completed the Ph.D. under his direction.
