Doris Ida Miller

Doris Ida Miller (born 1939) is a Canadian biomechanist and Professor Emeritus at Western University, who is known for her research in sports biomechanics, most specifically diving.^[1] She was the first female council member of the International Society of Biomechanics, a founding member and President of the American Society of Biomechanics (1983-1984), a founding member of the Canadian Society for Biomechanics, a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology,^[2] and a Fellow of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports.^[3]

Doris Ida Miller
Born	1939
Education	University of Toronto (Bachelor of Physical & Health Education) University of Oregon (Masters) The Pennsylvania State University (PhD)
Alma mater	Pennsylvania State University
Known for	Sports biomechanics and diving coaching

Education

Miller earned a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education from the University of Toronto in 1961, a master's degree from the University of Oregon in 1964, and a PhD degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1970 as the first graduate of the university's biomechanics program.^[3]

Her PhD thesis, titled A computer simulation of the airborne phase of diving, was conducted under the supervision of Richard Nelson.^[1][4] Her computational model was accompanied by computer graphics that required more than 3,000 punch cards when implemented as a computer mainframe program.^[3][5]

Separate from her studies in biomechanics, Miller also earned a Master's in Divinity from the University of Victoria in 1990.^[5]

Career

Miller held faculty positions at the University of Toronto (1961-1963), the University of Saskatchewan (1964-1967 and 1970-1973), the University of Washington (1973-1984), and finally the University of Western Ontario (now Western University, 1984–2000) where she is Professor Emerita.^[3]

In addition to her academic career, Miller was engaged in the world of competitive diving. She was a diving coach at the University of Saskatchewan prior to her PhD.^[3] Later, she was a member of USA Diving's Performance Enhancement Team (2003-2009) and biomechanist for the Olympic Medal Program (1983- 2009).^[3][5]

Miller was a member of the first Executive Council of the International Society of Biomechanics (1975-1979) and was the first woman to serve on the council.^[3] She was a founding member of the American Society of Biomechanics, and Canadian Society for Biomechanics, and served as President of the American Society of Biomechanics from 1983 to 1984.^[3]

Research

Miller's research area is sports biomechanics with a primary focus is on the biomechanics of diving^[1], and additional research across a range of sports including figure skating,^[6] sprinting^[7] and amputee running.^[8] As a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, and alongside the biomechanist Micheline Gagnon, Miller manually digitized 16-mm high-speed film recordings of sprinters for her thesis work, and pioneered early computer graphics for animating motion capture data using punch cards^[3]. She completed her PhD, titled "A computer simulation of the airborne phase of diving" in 1970.^[3]

Miller collected live biomechanical data during several international diving competitions, most notably the 1986 World Aquatics Championships^[9][10] and the 1996 Olympic Games, which included embedding force platforms into 10-meter diving towers.^[11] On the topic of Miller's data acquisition methods, Jill McNitt-Gray commented that,

“Few have conquered the many obstacles encountered during competition including those requiring video recording from rooftops in near tropical storm conditions or from flooded underwater window locations.”^[12]

As a result of these efforts, data from the 1996 Olympic Games led to a Diving Video Database analysis program that was a forerunner to later commercial software such as Dartfish.^[13]

During a project with Sport Canada from 1988 up to the 1992 Olympic Games, Miller helped develop analytical programs by collecting a database of national and international-level dives, which she used to create instructional modules for competitive diving coaches.^[14] This meant Miller and her team could equip coaches with a software that provided rapid feedback on the biomechanics their athletes' dives.^[14]

Honors and awards

The National Academy of Kinesiology, formerly the American Academy of Physical Education and the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education, inducted Miller as Fellow #288 in 1982 while she was on faculty at the University of Washington. Her status within the Academy changed to Corresponding Fellow upon her return to Canada in 1984.^[2]

In 2000, she received the International Swimming Hall of Fame's 2000 Paragon Award for Competitive Diving.^[3][15]

The International Society of Biomechanics in Sports named Miller the Geoffrey Dyson Lecturer, the society's most prestigious award, in 1992 and elected her a Fellow in 2002.^[16][17]

The International Society of Biomechanics awarded her Honorary Membership in 2009 and she remains one of two women to have received this honour to date.^[3][18]

Also in 2009, the American Society of Biomechanics awarded her the Jim Hay Memorial Award which recognizes "originality, quality, and depth of biomechanics research" relevant to sport and exercise.^[19]

Selected publications

• Miller, Doris I.; Nelson, Richard C. (1973). Biomechanics of sport: a research approach. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger. ISBN 978-0-8121-0431-8.
• Miller, Doris I. (1975). "Biomechanics of Swimming". Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 3 (1): 219–248. doi:10.1249/00003677-197500030-00011. ISSN 0091-6331. PMID 1175667.
• Munro, Carolyn F.; Miller, Doris I.; Fuglevand, Andrew J. (1987-01-01). "Ground reaction forces in running: A reexamination". Journal of Biomechanics. 20 (2): 147–155. doi:10.1016/0021-9290(87)90306-X. ISSN 0021-9290. PMID 3571295.
• Miller, Doris I. (1980). "Body Segment Contributions to Sport Skill Performance: Two Contrasting Approaches". Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 51 (1): 219–233. doi:10.1080/02701367.1980.10609284. ISSN 0270-1367. PMID 6765896.
• Miller, Doris I. (1987-01-01). "Resultant lower extremity joint moments in below-knee amputees during running stance". Journal of Biomechanics. 20 (5): 529–541. doi:10.1016/0021-9290(87)90253-3. ISSN 0021-9290. PMID 3611127.
• Miller, Doris I. (2021-12-01). "Dr. Richard C. Nelson: Behind the Scenes". Journal of Applied Biomechanics. 37 (6): 585–586. doi:10.1123/jab.2021-0295. ISSN 1065-8483. PMID 34872069.