DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

PhD, Northwestern University 2013
Phone: 847-491-7003
Office Location: 1810 Hinman Avenue #A63
e-mail: a-miller@northwestern.edu

Areas of Specialization and Research Interests

Human biological variation and adaptation, human energetics and nutrition, reproductive ecology, breastfeeding, biocultural determinants of health, field and laboratory methods, assay development.

Biography

Aaron Miller is a biological anthropologist.  He is currently an Anthropology instructor for courses at Northwestern University and the Technical Director for the Laboratory of Human Biology research at Northwestern University.  His research examines the plasticity of human biology and investigates how aspects of biology respond to the environment in adaptive ways. He has over 10 years of experience in the analysis of biological samples, adapting biological collection techniques so that they may be conducted in a more field-friendly way, and instructing in field- and lab-based methodologies.  He has done field work in Chicago, Bolivia, Colorado, and Indonesia.  These projects have focused on a variety of topics including broad health and nutrition surveys, the impact of living a hunter and gatherer lifestyle, biological variation in metabolic hormones across ecological settings, and the health consequences of stress. 

 Recent Courses:

 Anth 101: Going Paleo: Ancestral lifeways and their modern implications

Anth 306: Evolution of Life Histories

Anth 312: Human Population Biology

Anth 386: Methods in Human Biology Research

Anth 390: Introduction to Public Health

Select Publications:

Miller AA, Indriati E, Leonard WR. 2018. Influence of nutritional status on basal metabolic rates among rural agriculturalists of Ngilo-Ilo, East Java. American Journal of Human Biology. 30:e23169

Hoke MK, McCabe KA, Miller AA, McDade TW. 2018. Validation of endotoxin‐core antibodies in dried blood spots as a measure of environmental enteropathy and intestinal permeability. American Journal of Human Biology. 30 (4): e23120.

Miller AA, Sharrock KCB, McDade TW. 2006. Measurement of Leptin in Dried Blood Spot Samples. American Journal of Human Biology. 18(6): 857-860.

Vitzthum VJ, Spielvogel H, Caceres E, Miller A. 2001. Vaginal bleeding patterns among rural highland Bolivian women: Relationship to fecundity and fetal loss. Contraception. 64: 319-325.

Select Conference abstracts:

Hoke M, Miller A, McDade TW. 2017. An examination of endotoxin core antibodies from dried blood spots as a marker of environmental enteropathy and intestinal permeability. American Journal of Human Biology. 29(2).

Hoke M, McCabe K, Miller A, McDade T. 2017. Measurement of Endotoxin-Core Antibodies in Dried Blood Spots: A Minimally Invasive Measure of Environmental Enteropathy in Peruvian Infants. The FASEB Journal. 31(1): Supplement 968.12.

Miller AA, Indriati E, Leonard WR. 2016. Basal Metabolic Rates among Rural Agriculturalist of Ngilo-Ilo, East Java. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 159. 230.