James M. Miller

James M. Miller, associate professor of industrial and operations engineering, retired from active faculty status on May 31, 1997.

Professor Miller received his B.S. degree in 1963, his M.B.A. degree in 1965, and his Ph.D. degree in 1971, all from The Ohio State University. He began his career at the University of Michigan as an assistant professor of industrial and operations engineering in 1971 and was promoted to associate professor in 1976. Professor Miller developed new courses in safety management, occupational and product safety engineering, safety engineering research, and legal and labor issues in industrial engineering. He co-founded the IOE Occupational Health and Safety graduate program and traineeship, and with another faculty member, initiated the University’s multi-disciplinary program in rehabilitation engineering. Within the Dental School, he initiated the application of work measurement and methods engineering to operative dental practices.

Professor Miller’s work on motor carrier safety is well-known, and he has also contributed greatly to the field of recreational boating safety. His two volumes that define future directions for the U.S. Coast Guard’s research program in recreational boating safety and human factors are particularly significant, and he continues to be known as the foremost authority in this area. In collaboration with Mark Lehto, Professor Miller also initiated research that led to the publication of the book Warnings: Fundamentals, Design and Evaluation Methodologies, in 1986. This book has gained international recognition and continues to be an authoritative source. The approaches he pioneered are becoming the standard in the design of on-product labeling.

During the Carter administration, Professor Miller was appointed to act as the director of safety standards for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). He has also assisted the Consumer Product Safety Commission on numerous occasions. He was asked to conduct user research and develop the safety labeling that will appear on every all-terrain vehicle sold in the United States after 1997.

More recently, Professor Miller serves as an active member of the ASTM F-15 Committee on Consumer Products and a participating author of new safety standards. He also continues to serve as an industrial, governmental and forensics consultant in the occupational, transportation and consumer product areas.