Amanda Miller
Department of Natural Resources Management / Conservation Graduate StudentAS A CONSERVATION policy biologist, Amanda Miller's professional goal sounds simple. "I want to have a lasting impact," she says. But it took a complicated series of events to lead the 23-year old graduate student in Texas Tech University's Department of Natural Resources Management to her current research post and set her on a policy path toward making those career impacts a reality.
Active in FFA. Born into an Army family, Miller's first 12 years were spent in military posts across the globe, including Germany, South Korea and Massachusetts. In her teens Miller's parents, Connie and Dewey Owens, settled in the Texas hill country in the rural community of Bulverde, some 20 miles north of San Antonio, where they began raising horses, goats and cattle.
In high school, Miller was active in FFA and interested in agricultural business and wildlife studies. "I found that studying wildlife wasn't just hook and bullet biology," she says. "I found that it could be conservation oriented and that's when I decided to be wildlife major."
Tech Experience. During her senior year Miller began a review of the seven universities in Texas that offer wildlife programs. Each has its own strength and weakness, Miller says.
"But Tech had the professors with the experience that I was looking for," she says. "They had a diversified faculty offering everything from fire ecology to raptor work. I knew there was the opportunity to do a lot of different things here."
Conservation Tract. Miller came to Tech in 2002, following a conservation tract. In addition to her academic studies while at Tech, she married animal science major and 2005 Texas Tech gradate Douglas Miller.
In 2006, Miller received her bachelor's degree in wildlife science. These days she's working toward her master's degree in wildlife science with plans to graduate in August 2008.
Wind Farms. Her current research program focuses on the impact of wind farms on wildlife, particularly birds and bats. Texas leads the nation in wind-generated power, and numerous proposed projects are under way.
Led largely by Texas, the United States grew its wind-power capacity faster than anyone in the world in 2005 and 2006, and wind farms now operate in 36 states.
"I don't want to be a field biologist per se where you're out tramping about looking for stuff," Miller adds. "I'm interested in policy, working with the federal and state agencies trying to coordinate different management goals."
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