Russ Miller
UB Distinguished Professor

Dept of Computer Science & Engineering
State University of New York at Buffalo

Biography

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Biography
Photos/Videos
Media Coverage
Research
Major Results
Shake-and-Bake
Music/Philosophy
Publications
Presentations
CI Lab
Projects
Equipment
Publications
News
CCR
Teaching
Personal Info
Contact Info
Bios/CVs: Complete Vita


Education


Academic Ancestry


Recent Positions

Selected Honors & Awards

  • Senior Teacher of the Year Award, School of Engineering, SUNY-Buffalo, 2023.
  • Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), 2021.
  • Senior Teacher of the Year Award, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SUNY-Buffalo, 2020.
  • Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) for ``contributions to theory and practice of parallel algorithms and architectures,'' January, 2012.
  • Inducted into Amherst (NY) Avenue of Athletes for ``outstanding contributions in the area of youth sports,'' June, 2005.
  • Certificate of Recognition, Career Services Office, University at Buffalo, based on survey of Graduates of the Class of 2003, 2005.
  • SGI Innovator Award, one of six in the inaugural class, 2003.
  • Listed in HPCwire 2003 Top People & Organizations to Watch, 2003.
  • International Scientist of the Year, International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England, 2003
  • Best Practices Award, Bio-IT World, 2003.
  • Michael Dell presented CCR with its first Dell Center in Research Excellence, September, 2002.
  • Elected as member to the European Academy of Sciences (Computer Science) with the citation ``for an outstanding and lasting contribution to parallel algorithms and computer science education,'' August, 2002.
  • Designated as UB Distinguished Professor, State University of New York at Buffalo, April, 2002.
  • Recognized as a Top 100 Federal Grantee, University at Buffalo, 2002.
  • Shake-and-Bake was mentioned on the poster ``The Top Ten Algorithms of the Century,'' published in Computing in Science & Engineering, Nov/Dec, 2000, produced in cooperation with the IEEE and The Computer Museum History Center.
  • Best Presentation Award for the 1987 International Conference on Parallel Processing, St. Charles, Illinois, August 17-21, 1987.

Scientific Accomplishments

Please refer to the Results section for an overview of major research results and interests.

Publications and Presentations

A selection of Publications and Presentations is available.

Cyberinfrastructure Laboratory

Cyberinfrastructure sits at the core of modern simulation and modeling, which allows for entirely new methods of investigation that allow scholars to address previously unsolvable problems. Specifically, the development of necessary software, algorithms, portals, and interfaces that will enable research and scholarship by freeing end-users from dealing with the complexity of various computing environments is critical to extending the reach of high-end computing, storage, networking, and visualization to the general user community. Miller's Cyberinfrastructure Laboratory focuses on such issues and is responsible for the creation of the ACDC-Grid, WNY Grid, and NYS Grid.

Accomplishments at CCR (1998-2006)

In 1997, Provost Headrick established the Ad-Hoc Task Force on High Performance Research Computing at UB. This committee was chaired by Prof. Russ Miller and included faculty and staff from across campus.  The final report from the committee was submitted in April of 1998.  Shortly thereafter, Provost Headrick established the Center for Computational Research, naming Dr. Miller as its founding director. In establishing the goals and mission of CCR, Dr. Miller followed the precedence set by the national supercomputing centers, which he played a role in establishing.  This included the insight that in the 21st century, leading academic institutions will need to embrace the coming digital data-driven society and empower students to compete in this knowledge-based economy.  With an extensive background in high-performance computing (HPC), as well as input from faculty and staff across campus, and with the support of President Greiner and Provost Headrick, Miller set the course for CCR as follows:
  • support capability- and capacity-based computationally-intensive research
  • support high-end visualization
  • provide high-end data storage
  • support work that requires high-end networking (grid computing)
  • support traditional and non-traditional areas of research and scholarship that require HPC
  • develop close working relationships with faculty who can take advantage of HPC
  • support education, outreach, and training both on and off campus
  • build bridges to the Western New York community, including K-12 students, local industry, academic and research institutions,  government agencies, and the general community in WNY
  • build strong relationships with our elected officials
CCR was enormously successful in all of these areas.  Highlights of CCR during Dr. Miller's tenure as Director include the following:
  • supporting a wide variety of high-end visualization devices
  • supporting ~140 projects on an annual basis, primarily in areas of simulation & modeling, which includes data-driven tasks and visualization
  • supporting work in non-traditional areas including media study, classics, architecture, law, anthropology, management, animation, urban planning and design, and so forth
  • providing 30 FTEs to support the user community, including
    • computational scientists who worked directly with the users
    • visualization specialists who worked with traditional and non-traditional users, companies, and agencies inside and outside of UB
    • database administrators and storage support personnel who worked with users on significant storage issues of acquisition, management, and processing of data
    • programmers who worked with the staff and users to create and maintain software
    • system adminstrators who worked to keep the systems operating at maximum capabilities
    • administrative personnel who served as the interface between CCR, the users, companies, government agencies, et., in managing grants & contracts, budgets, payroll, travel, training, and so forth
  • developing and supporting special purpose systems in areas that include bioinformatics, data storage, and data mining
  • supporting projects involving a variety of local and national colleges, universities, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and private sector companies and organizations
  • creating private sector jobs in Western New York
  • supporting traditional and high-end (Access Grid) video conferencing
  • supporting summer workshops for WNY high-school students
  • developing and supporting programs for a diverse group of area high-schools
  • supporting a large number of WNY projects involving visualization of urban planning and design
  • serving as the backbone for the establishment of the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics
  • supporting a local company and providing national visibility for UB through efforts that included producing nearly 30 videos for MTV
  • supported highly visible projects in New York State including visualization of new options for the Peace Bridge, new options for toll plazas on the Thruway, new options for Main St in Buffalo, new options for the Medical Campus, and new options for Buffalo's Olmsted Parks, to name a few  
  • supporting the efforts of a variety of New York State agencies
  • establishing excellent relationships with our elected officials and the city of Buffalo
  • serving to bring together users from across campus to work on interesting projects
The financial impact that CCR had on UB and the region during this period was substantial:
  • CCR was leveraged to bring in ~$170M of external funds to the University
  • CCR was leveraged to bring in ~$140M of in-kind contributions to the University
  • CCR was leveraged to bring in ~$500M of funds (grants, appropriations, in-kind, etc.) into Western New York
Dr. Miller and CCR were internationally recognized in a variety of ways during this period, bringing national prominence to UB:
  • CCR was routinely ranked as one of the top supercomputing centers in the world and viewed as the template of what universities needed to do to support 21st century discovery as well as supporting local and regional efforts of economic development
  • Dr. Miller was listed in HPCWire as one of the Top People & Organizations to Watch in 2003
  • Dr. Miller served the national community:
    • Chair of the NSF Committee for TeraGrid (ETF/Core) Panel Review, 2004
    • Chair of the NSF review committee for Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
    • Chair of the NSF panel for Extensible Terascale Facility (ETF) for the Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), 2002, 2004
    • Member of the NSF panel for the Distributed Terascale Facility, 2001
    • Member of the NSF review committee for Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), 1999, 2000
  • Dr. Miller received the Best Practices Award from Bio-IT World in 2003
  • Dr. Miller was a member of Dell’s HPC Board, 2004-2005
  • Dr. Miller was inducted as a member of the European Academy of Sciences in 2002
  • Dr. Miller was awarded International Scientist of the Year; Cambridge, England in 2003
  • Dr. Miller served on the infoTech Niagara Board of Directors from 2002-2005
  • CCR was awarded the first Dell Center of Research Excellence in 2002
Dr. Miller is most grateful to the talented and energetic staff at CCR.  He is also appreciative of the support provided by Pres. Greiner, Provosts Headrick, Triggle, and Capaldi, Gov. Pataki, Senator Clinton, and Congressman Reynolds, to name a few.  In addition, the efforts of UB's Goverment Relations division, including Janet Penksa and Mike Pietkiewicz, were absolutely critical to the success of CCR.