James W. Miller, Ph.D.

:: James W. Miller, Ph.D. - Science - 1986

Jim Miller was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He came into the world in 1927 along with Babe Ruth's home run record and Lindbergh's first transatlantic flight. Living in a depression/Word War II era middle class neighborhood, Jim participated in several sports throughout school, specializing in gymnastics and competitive swimming. This helped a lot in later years when he took up diving.

Following early graduation from high school in February, 1945, Jim enlisted in the Navy. After completing boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois, he was sent to Hospital Corps School in San Diego, where he was trained as a combat medic in preparation for the anticipated invasion of Japan later in the year. Following the Japanese surrender, Jim spent the rest of his Navy life working in hospitals as a corpsman in the Oakland, California area until November 1946, when he was discharged and returned to Detroit.

Taking advantage of the G.I. Bill, Jim enrolled in Michigan State University in January, 1947 majoring in music. This seemed a natural thing to do as he had played clarinet and sax in several types of bands all through elementary and high school, including a Polish band where he was the only member unable to speak Polish.

At the end of the first year at Michigan State, after deciding that he would never make a living as a musician, Jim changed his major to experimental psychology and physiology and made music his avocation. While at Michigan State, he completed his B.A. (1949), M.A. (1950), and Ph.D. (1956).

Following receipt of his Master's Degree in 1950 and a short stint as a claims adjuster in Detroit, in early 1952, Jim went to work as a research assistant for the Kresge Eye Institute, also in Detroit. Later that same summer, he was transferred to the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida, where he worked for the next eight years under a contract that Kresge had with the Navy, conducting research on visual problems related to high speed/low altitude and high altitude flight. Jim was involved personally in both laboratory and in-flight experiments, including flights with the Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team who always have been home-based in Pensacola.

Upon completion of the contract in early 1960, Jim joined the Hughes Aircraft Company in Fullerton, California as a Staff Engineer and a Member of the Human Factors Section until June 1963, when out of the blue, he was offered a job as Head of the Human engineering Branch of the Office of naval research (ONR) in Washington, D.C. This job involved the development of new Navy research programs and the monitoring of numerous scientific and technical contracts. At this same time, Jim was experimenting with saturation diving and the development of seafloor habitats. Following the completion of Sealab I in 1964, during which four divers lived on the seafloor for 11 days at a depth of 200 ft, Jim was invited to develop and direct a program for measuring behavior, work performance and various physiological parameters as part of the more advanced Sealab II 600-foot saturation diving experiment schedule for 1969. Regrettably, this program was cancelled because of the death of a Navy diver attempting to enter the habitat at the 600 foot depth.

In the spring of 1966, about six months following the completion of Sealab II, Jim decided that if he was going to continue in the underwater field he had better learn to dive. At age 39, he went through the Navy Diving School in Washington, D.C., and became a certified Navy diver to a depth of 130 feet. Diving in the Anacostia River was an experience in itself. On a sunny day at a depth of 12-15 feet, it was pitch black. Considering what probably was in the water, it was just as well.

Later in 1966, while presenting the results of Sealab II at a NASA meeting on "The Effects of Confinement On Long Duration Manned Space Flight," Jim suggested that, with the recent advances in saturation diving, "prolonged living under the sea is more feasible and cheaper than prolonged spaceflight from an experimental standpoint" and that NASA and the Navy should get together and discuss possible joint programs. Meetings began the following week and they eventually spawned the Tektite I and II programs I (in 1969 and 1970), during which over 50 aquanauts spent two to eight weeks living continuously on the seafloor at a depth of about 50 feet. Jim served as deputy Program Manager of Tektite I and as Program Manager of Tektite II.

Convinced that seafloor habitation had a great future, Jim left the Office of Naval Research in 1969 and joined the Department of the Interior as "Director of Ocean Technology," with the initial assignment of managing the Tektite II program. At the time, NOAA was expected to become part of the Department of the Interior in 1970. For many reasons, NOAA ended up in the Commerce Department and in the fall of 1970, following the completion of Tektite II, Jim was transferred to NOAA with other personnel in the Department of the Interior.

During his 12 years with NOAA, Jim served as Manager and Scientific Director on numerous undersea projects involving experimental diving, diving medicine, seafloor habitats and research submersibles. These wide-ranging projects included diving with NOGI Recipient Bob Wicklund in the tropics and with NOGI Recipient Joe Macinnis near the North Pole.

In addition to managing projects at NOAA, Jim published numerous articles on undersea topics, wrote and edited the first two editions of the NOAA Diving Manual and served as a consultant on the 3rd and 4th editions.

In 1980, Jim was assigned as Associate Director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) (a part of the State University System) in St. Petersburg for a two-year period. His activities and interests branched out there, and in addition to developing a diving program for training marine scientists in undersea data collection techniques, he led an extensive study of offshore oil and gas regulations in use by nine states. In 1982, Jim retired from NOAA and stayed on at the FIO as Associate Director and as an Adjunct Professor in the Marine Science Department at the University of South Florida.

Jim set up his own consulting firm, "Woodell Enterprises, Inc." in 1982 and consulted in areas such as human factors, engineering, undersea science and technology and aquaculture. The corporation was active for 10 years.

In 1984, Jim, together with longtime friend and co-author, Ian Koblick, published a book entitled Living and Working in the Sea. This book details the development and history of all the underwater habitats in the world up to that time. A 2nd updated edition was published in 1995.

In 1985, Jim moved to the Florida Keys where he lived for the next nine years. He remained an employee of the Florida Institute of Oceanography and coordinated and developed joint research projects with the State of Florida and with Seaworld of Florida. As part of these programs, he became thoroughly involved with developing an expanded aquaculture industry in Florida serving as chairman of Florida's "Aquaculture Review Council" and the "Aquaculture Interagency Coordinating Council."

While in the Keys, Jim also became heavily involved in civic and county organizations and served as the Deputy Chairman of the Presidential appointed Advisory Council of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for five years, and as Chairman and member of the Monroe County Planning Commission for four years. In addition to recreational diving in the Keys, Jim, on occasion assisted NOAA Marine Sanctuary personnel in removing cores from coral reefs and implanting anchoring "I" bolts in their place to attach buoys for boaters to tie up to instead of wrecking the reefs with their anchors.

In 1994, Jim and Ardeth, his wife for over 55 years, moved to Melbourne, Florida, where they continue to reside in a community called "the Indian River Colony Club." Jim continues his participation in musical groups and currently plays clarinet and sax in fours different bands in the Melbourne area.

During his career, Jim Miller has received several awards and honors including:

1965-1967 Three separate awards for "Outstanding Performance" from the Office of Naval Research
1966 Department of the Navy "Superior Civilian Service Award"
1967 The "Arthur S. Fleming Award"; and also that year Jim was chosen by the Junior Chamber of commerce as "One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in the Federal Government"
1969- Department of Navy's Highest Civilian Award, "The Distinguished Civilian Service Award"
1973 The "Distinguished Alumni Award" from Michigan State University
1987 NOGI Award for Science
1989 "Charles Shilling Award" for Overall Contributions to Undersea Medicine from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society