Brian Miller received his PhD from the University of Wyoming in 1988 with a focus on behavioral ecology and conservation of the endangered black-footed ferret. In 1989, he was awarded a Smithsonian Institution Fellowship at the Conservation and Research Center of the National Zoological Park centered on preparing captive-raised black-footed ferrets for reintroduction onto the western prairies.From 1992 to 1997, Miller lived and worked in Mexico as a post-doc and then professor at the National University of Mexico. He was part of a team starting a protected area in the high plains of Chihuahua, Mexico before beginning an ongoing research project on jaguars and pumas in the dry tropical forest of Jalisco, Mexico. In 1997, Miller and Rich Reading started the Conservation Department at the Denver Zoological Foundation. While there, Miller examined the trophic impacts of wolf reintroduction on coyotes and the small mammal community in Grand Teton National Park.Miller's main research interest concerns the role of highly interactive species in regulating ecosystem processes and how to improve protection for those species when designing reserves. In 2005, he became executive director and founding scientist of the Wind River Ranch Foundation, an NGO located on a private ranch owned by Eugene and Clare Thaw and dedicated to conservation of native species, conservation research, and environmental education. In 2012, the land officially entered the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge.Miller has co-authored or edited five books and has published over one hundred scientific articles. He has served on the board of directors for five NGOs and as a scientific advisor for several more. He has received outstanding service awards from the Colorado Division of Fish and Wildlife for co-heading the Lynx Advisory team and from the USFWS for his work on black-footed ferret conservation. In 2009, he received the Conservationist of the Year Award from the Denver Zoological Foundation.
