Melissa Miller
Melissa is also a teaching faculty member for the Marshall School of Business, Master of Management in Library and Information Science (M.M.L.I.S.). As an Assistant University Professor, she teaches research and professional leadership applications for the internship program and project management. Prior to USC, she worked in the corporate sector for nearly two decades (1991-2009), where she held several leadership positions.
Melissa is a first-generation college graduate who earned her Doctorate in Educational Psychology, with a focus in Cognitive Science (Ed.D.) from USC Rossier School of Education, a Master of Management in Library and Information Science (M.M.L.I.S.) from USC Marshall School of Business, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (B.A.) from USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences which she completed as a non-traditional transfer student.
Melissa’s research areas and interests intersect through the fields of Heritage Conservation and the Digital Humanities, with a focus in medieval manuscripts and rare books, to the advancement of knowledge, access, and diversity of cultural heritage material; and a Cognitive Science approach to instructional design; and, Information Science, particularly in an online environment. These research areas and interests have led to many presentations, and successful grant funded collaborative projects.
She was awarded several grants in support of her work and research resulting in co-authored and collaborative projects:
Four USC Provost Arts and Humanities Initiatives - Visions and Voices grants (2015-2020):
2019-2020: Emotionally Intelligent Robots: More Human Than Human?
The success of Emotionally Intelligent Robots resulted in an additional full day symposium, Technology, Agency, and Values: A Polymathic Exploration of Autonomy in Humans and Machines with the USC Ahmanson Lab, Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study.
2018-2019: Dreaming With Eyes Open: The Art, History, Philosophies, and Practices of Virtual Reality;
2016-2017: Uncanny Valleys: Thinking and Feeling in the Age of Synthetic Humans;
2015-2016: Microlibraries in the Everywhere;
Two USC Libraries’ Dean’s Challenge grants (2018-2020):
2019-2020: USC Illuminated Medieval Manuscripts (a work in progress)
2018-2019: Alexa for Business and USC Libraries
Funding for Two USC Libraries’ Research Pilot Projects (2018-2019).
Most recently Melissa was awarded the California Rare Book School (CalRBS), Zamorano Club Scholarship for an intensive week-long professional development and training course in one of her primary research areas of interest, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts taught by Dr. Melissa Conway.
In Melissa’s pursuit of polymathic lifelong learning she is inspired by Blaise Pascal, who was a seventeenth century French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, theologian, and philosopher, a true polymath. Pascal stated, “Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.” Translated in English means, "The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." This quote inspires her to follow her heart in all things.