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Education
1984 Ph.D., Marine Science, North Carolina State University, North Carolina
1980 Master of Applied Statistics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
1980 M.S. in Marine Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
1977 B.S. in Zoology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
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Research Interests
My general research interests are centered on the role that estuaries and coastal margins play in global biogeochemical cycles. Specifically, I am interested in determining whether coastal margins, especially river-dominated coastal margins, are short or long-term repositories of carbon and terrestrially-derived materials such as nutrients, sediments, and particle-bound contaminants.

I am interested in terrestrial inputs (especially sediments and sediment-bound contaminants) to the ocean (via rivers), and the influence that these inputs have on regional-to-global conditions. Specific research questions are: (a) how are riverine materials sequestered and/or biogeochemically transformed in the land margins adjacent to rivers; (b) how do the resultant inputs to the ocean impact global biogeochemical cycles; and 3) what are the major consequences of human impacts on local-to-regional scale coastal waters.

I develop innovative remote sensing technologies that support coastal research. These technologies include remote sensing, and field and laboratory bio-optical instruments. These new technologies help investigators apply remote sensing to coastal environments in order to support basic science, applied research, and operational measurements.
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Brown, M. M., R.L. Miller and R.P. Mulligan, R. P. 2013. The impact of rainfall and runoff from Hurricane Irene (2011) on the transport and concentration of dissolved organic matter in the Neuse River and Neuse River Estuary, NC, USA, Estuaries and Coasts. Submitted.

Brown, M.M., R.P. Mulligan and R.L. Miller. 2013. Modeling the transport and distribution of freshwater and dissolved organic carbon in the Neuse River Estuary, NC, USA following Hurricane Irene (2011). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. Submitted.

Mitra, S., S.A. Wozniak, R.L. Miller, P.G. Hatcher, C. Buonassissi and M. Brown. 2012. Atlantic hurricanes as a source of marine dissolved organic matter onto land. Marine Chemistry, Submitted.

Lopez, R., C.E. Del Castillo, R.L. Miller, J. Salisbury and D. Wisser. 2012. Examining organic carbon transport by the Orinoco River using SeaWiFS Imagery. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 117, G03022, doi:10.1029/2012JG001986.

Miller, R.L., C.J. Buonassissi and M. Belz. 2011. A Portable Fiber Optic System for Measuring Particle Absorption Using the Quantified Filter Technique (QFT). Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 9, 554-564.

Lee, ZP, V. Lance, S. Shang, R.Vaillancourt, S. Freeman, B. Lubac, B.R. Hargreaves, C. Del Castillo, R. Miller, M. Twardowski, G. Wei. 2011. An assessment of optical properties and primary production derived from remote sensing in the Southern Ocean (SO GasEx). Journal of Geophysical Research. doi:10.1029/2010JC006747.

Del Castillo, C. E. and R.L. Miller. 2011. Horizontal and Vertical Distributions of Colored Dissolved Organic Matter During the Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment. Journal of Geophysical Research. 116, COOFO7, doi:10.1029/2010JC006781.

Miller, R.L., C-C. Liu, C.J. Buonassissi and A-M. Wu. 2011. A Multi-sensor Approach to Examining the Dynamics of Total Suspended Matter (TSM) in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System, NC USA. Remote Sensing, 3(5), 962-974; doi:10.3390/rs3050962.

Liu C-C. and R.L. Miller. 2008. Spectrum matching method for estimating the chlorophyll-a concentration, CDOM ratio, and backscatter fraction from remote sensing of ocean color. Can. J. Remote Sensing, 34(4),343-355.

Del Castillo, C.E. and R.L. Miller. 2008. On the use of ocean color remote sensing to measure the transport of dissolved organic carbon by the Mississippi River Plume. Remote Sensing of Environment, 11, 836-444, doi:10.1016/J.rse.2007.06.015.

D’Sa E. J., R.L. Miller and B.A. McKee. 2007. Suspended particulate matter dynamics in turbid coastal waters from ocean color: Role of optical backscattering. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L23611, doi:10.1029/2007GL031192.

D’Sa E. J., R.L. Miller and C.E. Del Castillo. 2006. An Assessment of Short-term Physical Influences on the Bio-optical Properties and Ocean Color Algorithms in Coastal Waters Influenced by the Mississippi River. Applied Optics, 45(28), 7410-7428.

Liu, C-C, R.L. Miller, K.L. Carder, Z. Lee, E.J. D'Sa, J.E. Ivey and I-I Lin. 2006. Estimating the underwater light field from remote sensing of ocean color. Journal of Oceanography, 62, 235-248.

Miller, R.L. and B.A. McKee. 2004. Using MODIS Terra 250 m Imagery to Map Concentrations of Total Suspended Matter in Coastal Waters. Remote Sensing of Environment, 93(1-2), 259-266.

Slade, W., H, Ressom, M. Musavi, and R.L. Miller. 2004. Inversion of Ocean Color Observations Using Particle Swarm Optimization. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 42(9), 1-10.

Yuan, J., R.L. Miller, R.T. Powell, and M.J. Dagg. 2004. Storm Induced Injection of the Mississippi River Plume into the Open Gulf of Mexico. Geophysical Research Letters, 31, LXXXXX, doi:10.1029/2003GL019335.

D’Sa, E. and R.L. Miller. 2003. Bio-optical Properties in Waters Influenced by the Mississippi River during Low Flow Conditions. Remote Sensing of Environment, 84(4), 538-549.

Yuan, J. and R.L. Miller. 2002. Seasonal Variation in Precipitation Patterns to the Global Ocean: An Analysis of the GPCP Version 2 Data Set. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 16(4), doi: 10.1029/2001GB001458, 2002.

Miller, R.L., Belz, M., C. Del Castillo and R. Trzaska. 2002. Determining CDOM Absorption Spectra in Diverse Coastal Environments Using a Multiple Pathlength, Liquid Core Waveguide System. Continental Shelf Research, 22(9), 1301-1310.

Liu, C-C., K. Carder, R.L. Miller and J. Ivey. 2002. A Fast and Efficient Model for Simulating Underwater Scalar Irradiance. Applied Optics, 41(24), 4962-4974.

Booth, J.G., R.L. Miller, B.A. McKee and R.A. Leathers. 2000. Wind Induced Sediment Resuspension in a Microtidal Estuary. Continental Shelf Research, 20(7): 785-806.