Ian Miller
National Origin
USA
Current Location
Cambridge, MA
Industry
Energy
Educational Background
BA in Government, Georgetown University
What factors brought you to the Advanced Study Program?
While teaching science in New York City, I became interested in energy technology and started investigating how I could make a career in that field. The answer was a graduate chemical engineering degree, which has many applications, but I had no engineering background. I looked for programs where I could get the prerequisites, and ASP seemed like exactly what I needed. I wasn’t sure I could get in, but [Chemical Engineering undergraduate officer] Barry Johnston was supportive. That first class, Introduction to Chemical Engineering, led to three more semesters in the ASP, a year of lab work, and now my master’s program.
What's different about your professional life post-ASP?
I’m thrilled, because I’m getting into what I hoped to get into, passion-wise and career-wise. I’m doing research on solar and wind generation and energy storage, and I hope and expect it will lead to work at a startup or an existing energy firm or consulting company. Professors whom I studied under in the ASP hired me to assist with research in their labs, which gave me essential experience and income. And Tish Miller of the ASP was a wonderful advisor and supporter; she and the whole program were very flexible and accommodating, and made all this possible.