Todd A. Miller, Ph.D.

Todd A. Miller is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Exercise Science.

As a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a USA Level 1 weightlifting coach, Professor Miller brings a tremendous amount of field experience to his research into muscle physiology. His early focus on the influence of strength training on athletic performance evolved into an interest in how human beings respond to long-term space travel. To learn more, Dr. Miller has used animal models to investigate the deleterious effects of microgravity on physiology, and how those effects can be countered, and participated in an ongoing NASA project that included flying an experiment on the ill-fated Columbia shuttle in 2003. Since coming to GW in 2005, Dr. Miller has refocused his research on the study of athletic performance, and is responsible for the development of the Master of Science concentration in Strength & Conditioning. As an emerging leader in the field of strength and conditioning, Dr. Miller was recently selected by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as one of three individuals from a membership of 35,000 to travel to Shanghai, to help educate China's elite regional and national sport coaches on proper training techniques. A four-time winner of GW's Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Miller's teaching has been very much shaped by his own curiosity and enthusiasm for new avenues of inquiry. "I try to point out the most interesting and unique areas of our field to students, in the hope that they too will discover a lifelong passion they want to pursue," he says. Dr. Miller has developed several courses in his areas of expertise, and received an award for meritorious research from the American Physiological Society. He directs the Strength and Conditioning concentration of the M.S. degree in Exercise Science, and is the department's Graduate Programs Coordinator.

Bachelor of Science (Exercise and Sport Science), Pennsylvania State University, 1995 PhD (Exercise Physiology), Texas A&M University, 2000 Postdoctoral training (Dept. of Microbiology), University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2000-1.

ExSc 264-Current Topics in Strength and Conditioning ExSc 261-Science and Theory of Resistance Training, Department of Exercise Science ExSc 252-Cardiovascular Exercise Physiology, Department of Exercise Science ExSc 110-Anaerobic Exercise Testing and Prescription, Department of Exercise Science ExSc 109-Aerobic Exercise Testing and Prescription, Department of Exercise Science

Dr. Miller's research centers on the physiological adaptation of skeletal muscle in response to exercise and disuse. His particular focus is on the physiological responses to exercise training in elite athletes. Secondary areas of research include factors affecting health club usage in the American public, as well as the emerging role of interactive video gaming on physical activity.

Professor Miller is a member of the American Public Health Association, the American Physiological Society, the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1990.