Marilyn Miller, crime scene guru and founding forensic science faculty member, retires after 17 years at VCU

June 7, 2021

This focus on the development of civilian scientists is what brought Miller to education. While working in forensic laboratories in Florida, Miller was also teaching chemistry at the community college level, and when she saw a posting for an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of New Haven ("the other university in New Haven"), she jumped on it. “Having a chance to teach something that I love, like forensic science, I grabbed it,” Miller says. “I liked it, I was good at it, I love the students.” "It's more than just following a checklist, taking a couple pictures and packaging a little bit of evidence. [It’s] about understanding how that evidence is left at the crime scene. Civilian scientists bring objectivity, not subjectivity—it’s about finding all the evidence, not just the easily seen evidence.”