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Sarah J. Miller

302 Walker Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Telehone: 814.863.2567
FAX: 814.863.7943
E-mail: sjm20@psu.edu

education:

  • San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA - M.S. Ecology and Systematics
  • University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC - B.S. Biology

professional activities:

Ms. Miller conducts collaborative studies on plants, particularly related to the development and validation of bioassessment tools. Current research projects include:

  • Development of a Floristic Quality Assessment Index for Pennsylvania;
  • Relationship between floristic quality and water quality indicators in the upper Penns Creek Watershed; and
  • Relationship between plant community characteristics and HGM subclass.
Ms. Miller has taught both courses and workshops on plant identification. She has developed a number of materials to aid in plant identification, particularly related to grasses, sedges, and rushes. Ms. Miller maintains the Center’s reference collection of more than 200 wetland sites in Pennsylvania, as well as the reference and teaching herbaria.

professional employment:

  • 1999–present: Senior Research Assistant/Research Assistant
  • 1996–1999: Restoration Specialist, ENTRIX, Inc., Wilmington DE
  • 1995–1996: Wetland Ecologist, Wetlands Research Associates, Newark, DE
  • 1992–1995: Graduate Assistant, San Francisco State University, Tiburon, CA
  • 1990–1992: Wetland Specialist, BioSystems Analysis, Inc., Tiburon, CA
  • 1987–1990: Environmental Scientist, Louis Berger & Associates, East Orange, NJ and Washington, DC

professional organizations

  • Society of Wetland Scientists - Certified Professional Wetland Scientist (1995)
  • Pennsylvania Native Plant Society Member
  • Mid-Atlantic Wetland Workgroup
  • Certified PADI Scuba Diver

selected publications:

Miller, S.J. and Wardrop, D.H. 2006. Adapting the floristic quality assessment index to indicate anthropogenic disturbance in central Pennsylvania wetlands. Ecological Indicators 6(2):313-326.

Miller, S.J., Wardrop, D.H., Mahaney, W.M., and Brooks, R.P. 2006. A plant-based index of biological integrity (IBI) for headwater wetlands in central Pennsylvania. Ecological Indicators 6(2):290-312.

Chamberlain, S.J. Comparison of methods to control Spartina alterniflora in San Francisco Bay. Master's Thesis. San Francisco State University; 1995.

Ziska, L.H.; Drake, B.G.; Chamberlain, S. Long-term photosynthetic response in single leaves of a C3 and C4 salt marsh species grown at elevated atmospheric C02 in situ. Oecologia 83:469-472; 1990.