UC Professor Chosen to Lead Paleontological Society

University of Cincinnati professor Arnold Miller has been named as president-elect of the Paleontological Society, an international organization devoted to the advancement of the study of paleontology. Miller will actually serve three consecutive two-year terms; first as president-elect, then as president, and finally as past-president. Miller was elected by members of the society who voted via electronic ballot over the summer.

Arnold Miller has been a professor at UC since 1986, teaching in the fields of paleontology, geology and environmental studies. He is also adjunct curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. Miller’s research focuses on biodiversity throughout geological time and in the present day. In particular, much of his study has centered on

mass-extinction events

and

patterns of evolutionary diversification

. He has been a prolific contributor to the signature journal in his field,

Paleobiology

, which he also co-edited from 1992 to 1995, and has published several papers in the journal

Science

.

Miller has received a “Best Paper” award from the

Journal of Sedimentary Petrology

, is a member of the Fellows of the Graduate School at UC, an organization he chaired from 2010 to 2012, was elected Centennial Fellow of The Paleontological Society in 2007, and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2013.

Miller, who came to UC after receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Chicago, has served in editorial roles for numerous geology and paleobiology journals, and as member or chair of a number of related professional committees. He was chair of the organizing committee for the

Ninth North American Paleontological Convention

, which attracted more than 500 paleontologists from 26 countries to the UC campus in the summer of 2009.

The Paleontological Society

is an international nonprofit organization representing scientists, scholars, students and educators from 40 nations. Founded in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, and incorporated in 1968 in Washington, DC, the Paleontological Society is devoted to the advancement of the science of paleontology through the dissemination of research by publication, and funding researchers worldwide through numerous grant programs.

Miller is the second UC faculty member to be chosen to serve as president of the society. Kenneth Caster, formerly a professor of geology and Fellow of the UC Graduate School, served as president of the organization in 1960. Miller will assume his new position as president-elect when the Paleontological Society meets in conjunction with the Geological Society of America in Vancouver in October.