My name is Megan Miller - I have training in molecular biology with a primary research background in genetics and bioinformatics, but an education that was intentionally diversified to cover the areas of organic chemistry, geology, and environmental science to ultimately pursue paleobiology. Going forward, I aim to investigate the environmental, ecological, and developmental drivers of physiological evolution across the tree of life by integrating cross-disciplinary methods. Currently, I am a PhD graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University Earth and Planetary Sciences Department in Dr. Jasmina Wiemann’s PaLEO lab.

I grew up in Wisconsin - a little bit in the middle of nowhere - where I had the freedom to catch frogs, find feathers, and collect rocks as I pleased. This spurred me to become a curious individual, passionate about the life I saw around me. I graduated from the South Dakota School of Mines in May 2023 where I performed undergraduate research in microbiology, worked in museum collections, and prepared fossils small and large; thereafter, I worked as a research assistant at Case Western Reserve University in the genetics department. Thus, I have tried to understand life and the Earth it inhabits from many angles: from the enzymatic capabilities of microbes and genetic inquiry of the Drosophila brain in organismal decision-making, to studying petrographic thin sections and the local geology of the Badlands National Park. As a result, techniques I have learned include genome sequencing and annotation, protein docking and modeling, confocal and scanning electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and infrared spectroscopy.

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