May 1, 2006

NSLS Biophysicist Lisa Miller Awarded Tenure

Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) granted tenure effective May 1 to six BNL scientists: Wolfram Fischer, Collider-Accelerator Department; Frithjof Karsch, Physics Department; Lisa Miller, National Synchrotron Light Source Department; Peter Steinberg, Chemistry Department; Daniel van der Lelie, Biology Department; and Vitaly Yakimenko, Physics.

Lisa Miller

At the NSLS, Miller was awarded tenure for her outstanding research in the application of spectroscopic synchrotron imaging probes in the biomedical field, her leadership in building a new synchrotron user community, and her extensive outreach activities.

Miller earned her Ph.D. in biophysics from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she is still a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Medicine. She joined the NSLS as an assistant biophysicist in 1999, rising to biophysicist by 2003. Since then, she has most fully developed her research in the areas of mineralization in bone and aberrant protein folding, which are of central importance respectively in osteoporosis and in neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and scrapie. Concerning the scientific impact of her bone research, for example, she is recognized as having provided unique insights into the site-specific chemical composition of bone that are important for both industrial and academic researchers.

Said NSLS Chair Chi-Chang Kao, “Lisa has made major contributions to research in bone and protein-folding diseases and to the development of synchrotron-based biomedical imaging techniques. She is widely recognized for the creativity and originality of her work, which has resulted in a superb record of publications, invited talks, and funded proposals. The very active user program in biomedical imaging that she has developed at infrared beamline U10B is being emulated at other facilities. Her leadership, educational supervision, and outreach activities are outstanding, and she is truly a valuable member of the NSLS staff.”

Miller was honored in 2002 with a DOE Outstanding Mentor Award and in 2005 by Brookhaven Town for outstanding contributions to science and the community. She is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University.

ARTICLE BY: Liz Seubert