Alex Miller applies multidisciplinary engineering and science skills to research glacier remediation as well as sensors and actuators for the cryosphere and beyond.
Alex investigates whether passive thermosiphons in West Antarctic glaciers may be used as a remediation to reduce the possibility of marine ice shelf instability. Alex has done significant work in developing sensors and actuators for the cryosphere and other extreme environments, including the siesmo-geodetic ice penetrator (SGIP), an air-dropped system to deliver a high-sensitivity seismometer to an Antarctic ice shelf for obtaining high-time-resolution data of resonant forcings from ocean waves. Alex has also developed a new generation of electrostatic motors suitable for use in extreme environments, including the world’s first macro-scale origami rotary motor, and electrostatic induction motors with frequency-dependent rotor dynamics.
As an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Alex majored in electrical engineering and computer science as well as physics, researching deployable lunar tower infrastructure and signal processing for physical oceanography. Alex has pursued internships at Wing (formerly part of Google X), Microsoft Research’s Applied Sciences Group, DeepMind Robotics Team, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Science Helicopter autonomy team, cultivating technical skills in controls, digital electronics design, reinforcement learning, embedded systems, and space systems engineering.
While at MIT, Alex studied cello through the Emerson Scholarship program, Chamber Music Society, and the New England Conservatory’s Continuing Education program. Outside of research activities, Alex enjoys bicycling, designing whimsical objects, thinking about intentional community and baking.
