Charles Miller

College of Engineering

Biological Engineering

I am an Associate Professor in the Biological Engineering Department at USU. My research applies synthetic biological engineering principles to help alleviate environmental issues, such as producing biodegradable plastics and using algae to remediate wastewater. While my laboratory typically has MS and PhD students, I also always have and enjoy mentoring undergraduate students. An important link between research and teaching is the advising of undergraduate students in research. I have had 30 undergraduates working on independent research projects in my laboratory. These students have been awarded numerous Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunity (URCO) and Engineering Undergraduate Research Program (EURP)awards. This number does not include students that only participated on the international genetically engineered machine (iGEM) competition teams, nor senior design teams. I have published eight manuscripts with undergraduates as co-authors and have 60 scientific presentations with undergraduates at regional and international meetings. These undergraduates presented their research at the National Council for Undergraduate Research meetings, theUtah Council for Undergraduate Research meetings, and were awarded USU’s PEAK summer fellowships, and the American Society for MicrobiologyUndergraduate Fellowships (a first for USU’s College of Engineering). Two students that I mentored were awarded Honorable Mention for the prestigiousGoldwater Scholarship.