Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1983

Professor

211-I Sondheim Hall
410-455-3151
miller@umbc.edu

Research Interests

I am interested in the interaction between watershed form, hydrologic response, and fluvial morphology with particular focus on interactions between flood processes and channel and valley-floor boundary conditions. In recent years this work has focused primarily on small urban watersheds which experience extreme floods relative to watershed size with much greater frequency than is observed in other landscapes. I am also interested in the geomorphic transformation of the landscape associated with urban development, which we can now quantify at much finer resolution than was possible in the past; and with the implications of landscape transformation for hydrologic processes, flowpaths and residence times, including but not limited to floods. Ongoing research in collaboration with colleagues at the UMBC Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education includes work on the connection between patterns of urban development and impacts on the water cycle, including an NSF-funded Coupled Natural and Human Systems project and an ongoing NSF Water Sustainability and Climate project. Current graduate students include Ph.D. candidates Garth Lindner (dissertation topic: Controls on reach scale hydrologic response in urban streams and implications for restoration design) and Laura Merner (dissertation topic: Power and knowledge: flood hazard in the coalfields of southern West Virginia); M.S. student Dan Jones , co-advised with Matt Baker (Examing development-induced geomorphic change using multi-temporal lidar-derived digital elevation models); and M.S. student Mitchell Donovan (Quantifying remobilization rates of legacy sediment from Maryland Piedmont floodplains).  I am also working with colleagues at Johns Hopkins, USGS, NOAA, American Rivers and McCormick-Taylor on a study of the impacts of dam removal on sediment remobilization and channel impacts along the lower Patapsco River in Maryland.

Recent Research Activities

• Quantifying Remobilization Rates of Legacy Sediment from Maryland Piedmont Floodplains (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013; support from Maryland Water Resources Research Center – Mitchell Donovan, M.S. student)
• Collaborative Research: Regional Climate Variability and Patterns of Urban Development – Impacts on the Urban Water Cycle and Nutrient Transport  (NSF Water Sustainability and Climate Program; January 1, 2011 – December 31, 2015) ; with Claire Welty, UMBC (PI) and co-PIs from Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Princeton University, Ohio State University, Penn State University, University of Maryland – College Park, University of Rhode Island, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service
• Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Ecological Research Phase III: Adapative Processes in the Baltimore Socio-Ecological System – From the Sanitary to the Sustainable City ( NSF LTER Program; November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2016;  PI: S. Pickett)

Recent Publications

Miller, A.J., J.A. Smith, M.L. Baeck, P.D. Bates, K.L. Meierdiercks, and T.J. Fewtrell, in revision, Anatomy of an urban flood, Water Resources Research.

Smith, J.A., M.L. Baeck, G. Villarini, C. Welty, A.J. Miller, and W.F. Krajewski, 2012, Analyses of a long-term high-resolution radar rainfall data set for the Baltimore metropolitan region, Water Resources Research W04504, doi:10.1029/2011WR010641.

Lindner, G.A. and A.J. Miller, 2012, Numerical modeling of stage-discharge relationships in urban streams. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 17: 590-596.

Meierdiercks, K.L., J.A. Smith, M.L. Baeck, and A.J. Miller, 2010, Heterogeneity of hydrologic response in urban watersheds. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 46:1221-1237.

Meierdiercks, K.L, J.A. Smith, M.L. Baeck, and A.J. Miller, 2010, Analyses of urban drainage network structure and its impact on hydrologic response. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 46:932-943.

Ntelekos, A.A., M. Oppenheimer, J.A. Smith and A.J. Miller, 2010, Urbanization, climate change and flood policy in the United States. Climatic Change. 99, DOI: 10.1007/s10584-009-9789-6.

Fraley, L.M., A.J. Miller, and C. Welty, 2009, Contribution of in-channel processes to sediment yield of an urbanizing watershed. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 45:748-766.

Recent Presentations

Miller, A.J., G. Lindner, S. Shamer, K. Schmidt, M. Kather, D. Jones, M. Baker, C. Welty, 2012. Watershed hydrologic response and drainage-network topology across a spectrum of urban development patterns. To be presented at Fall Meeting, American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, Cali., 3-7 Dec.

Miller, A.J., G. Lindner, S. Shamer, K. Schmidt, M. Kather, D. Jones, M. Baker, C. Welty, 2012. Storm-event hydrologic response across a spectrum of development patterns and watershed types among Gwynns Falls tributaries. Baltimore Ecosystem Study Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, 24 Oct.

T.  J. Fewtrell, J. C. Neal, J. A. Smith, P. D. Bates, A. J. Miller, M. L. Baeck and G. Villarini, 2012. Flood inundation modeling for urban watersheds. Abstract EGU2012-11150,  European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria 22-27 Apr.

Miller, A.J., G.A. Lindner, J.A. Smith, M.L. Baeck, C. Welty, J. Miller, K.L. Meierdiercks, 2011. Characterization of nested watershed hydrologic response from high-resolution rainfall and runoff data.  Abstract H53J-1549, presented at 2011 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 5-9 Dec.

Courses Taught

Physical Geography, Principles of Geology, Geomorphology, Water Quality, Natural Environment of Chesapeake Bay, Water Resources, Hydrology, Fluvial Geomorphology, Introduction to Geography and Environmental Systems, Water in the Urban Environment, Research Design for the Urban Environment