Shelie Miller

Shelie Miller is the Jonathan W. Bulkley Collegiate Professor of Sustainable Systems and a U-M Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA) and scenario modeling to address environmental challenges in emerging technologies, particularly energy systems, food supply chains, and bioenergy. She holds a PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an ME from Clarkston University, and a BS from Denison University.

Her work proactively identifies environmental impacts of technologies like autonomous vehicles, refrigeration in food systems, and the energy-water nexus. Key grants include NSF funding for food-energy-water nexus modeling ($499,990), a CAREER Award for predictive LCA tools ($403,000), and collaboration on bioenergy sustainability frameworks. Miller has advised on over 15 major research projects since 2009, spanning carbon utilization, cold chain infrastructure, and rural electrification.

Awardees of the Jefferson Science Fellowship (2016–17) and Kavli Frontiers Fellow, she bridges academia and policy through roles like advising the U.S. Department of State. Her research group emphasizes interdisciplinary solutions to global sustainability challenges, combining technical analysis with stakeholder engagement. Miller’s contributions to the Program in the Environment and collaborations with institutions like Argonne National Laboratory underscore her leadership in advancing sustainable systems research.