About

Andrew Miller is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research areas include Programming Languages, Formal Methods, Software Engineering, Security, and Privacy, as well as Systems and Networking. He has contributed to the development of platforms and protocols for confidentiality-preserving, trustworthy, and performant smart contracts, and has conducted empirical analyses of blockchain privacy and linkability. His work also encompasses the design of robust asynchronous distributed protocols, decentralized identity systems, and privacy-preserving health applications for COVID-19. Miller has authored numerous articles in journals and conference proceedings, focusing on topics such as secure blockchain protocols, cryptography, and decentralized systems. He has been recognized for his contributions with awards such as the Public Service Honors Distinguished Reviewer Award from IEEE Security & Privacy in 2018. Additionally, he teaches courses related to algorithms, computer security, and cryptography, and actively participates in research and outreach activities within his field.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Ecology
• Evolutionary biology
• Zoology
• Botany
• Computational biology
• Fishery
• Horticulture

Selected publications

• Post-fire Quercus mycorrhizal associations are dominated by Russulaceae, Thelephoraceae, and Laccaria in the southern Appalachian Mountains

  Mycological Progress · 2025-02-19 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Following disturbances such as wildfires, oak seedlings must form a symbiotic association with mycorrhizal fungi to survive. Wildfires, however, reduce available mycorrhizal fungal propagules in the soil. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi on oak seedlings sampled in severely burned (7 sites), moderately burned (7 sites), and unburned areas (8 sites) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were evaluated 21 months after the 2016 Chimney Tops 2 Wildfire by Sanger sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (nrITS; fungal barcode). Sequences were aligned and grouped into Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) based on well-supported phylogenetic clades and 98–100% nrITS sequence homology with sequences in GenBank. One hundred seventy-nine root-associated fungi comprising 124 OTUs were recovered after removing duplicates (the same fungus on two or more roots of the same plant). The ECM genus Russula was the most diverse genus (25 OTUs), followed by the Thelephora / Tomentella clade (18 OTUs), Lactifluus (8 OTUs), Lactarius (4 OTUs), and Laccaria aff. laccata (2 OTUs). Russula OTUs were identified more frequently on oak roots from burned areas and in burned soils, suggesting that some Russula taxa may have a selective advantage in burned areas. High alpha diversity occurred within each of the burn categories, but little overlap of taxa occurred between burn categories (high beta diversity). Approximately half of the recovered OTUs (100/179 total root-associated fungi = 55.9%) were found on a single plant. Oak seedlings growing in moderately and severely burned areas 21 months after a fire were capable of forming root associations with available fungi. In contrast to the expectation that root-associated fungal diversity would be reduced after a wildfire, diversity 1 year after the Chimney Tops 2 Fire was high with ectomycorrhizal Laccaria , Russulaceae , and Thelephoraceae dominating. This study suggests that the availability of ECM fungi post-fire is not a barrier to oak re-establishment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Inocybe swatensis (Agaricales), a new species of the Inocybe grammata group and first report of Inocybe sect. Albodiscae from Asia

  Pakistan Journal of Botany · 2025-06-25 · 1 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• New Species of Ascomycetes from Two Hypersaline Endorheic Lagoon Complexes in Zaragoza Province (Aragon Community, Spain)

  Journal of Fungi · 2025-02-12 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Although certain hypersaline endorheic lagoons in Spain have been investigated to evaluate the composition, spatial structure, and ecological roles of their macro- and microbiota, the fungi inhabiting these niches remain largely unexplored. In this study, we isolated several microfungi from the Salada Grande de Chiprana and La Playa lagoons, located in the Saladas de Chiprana (Directed Natural Reserve and Ramsar Wetland) and the Saladas de Sástago–Bujaraloz (Ramsar Wetland), respectively. As a result of morphological characterization and phylogenetic analysis using four informative molecular markers, we report the discovery of two new species of the genus Montagnula (M.), M. globospora and M. terricola, as well as one new species of Monosporascus (Mo.), Mo. auratispora. Montagnula globospora, isolated from a sediment sample from Salada Grande de Chiprana lagoon, is the only species of the genus producing unicellular, globose ascospores inside cleistothecial ascomata with a cephalothecoid peridium. Montagnula terricola was originally isolated from a soil sample in Malawi (ex-type strain). However, we have also identified another strain of this species from a sediment sample collected at La Playa lagoon. The remarkable features of M. terricola are the production of non-cephalothecoid cleistothecial ascomata and bicellular, bi-cupulate ascospores. Regarding Mo. auratispora, it was isolated from sediments of Salada Grande de Chiprana and is characterized by the production of golden-brown ascospores that do not turn black with age. Also, due to the results of our phylogenetic analysis, we transferred Herpotrichia striatispora to the genus Montagnula, as M. striatispora, and Montangula jonessi to the new genus Neomontagnula (N.), as N. jonessi.

  PublisherDOI

• Phylogenomic insights into the taxonomy, ecology, and mating systems of the lorchel family Discinaceae (Pezizales, Ascomycota)

  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2025-01-07 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A revised circumscription of Marthamycetales based on a complete sampling of the types of genera, Propoliaceae, fam. nov., and placement of <i>Cryptomycina pteridis</i> in Leotiomycetes

  Mycologia · 2025-09-10

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  PublisherDOI

• Studies in Gyromitra III: the Gyromitra brunnea lineage including G. japonica sp. nov.

  Mycological Progress · 2025-01-24

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• New genera, species, combinations, and synonyms of saprobic Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes from subtropical Texas, USA

  Mycologia · 2025-09-04

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  PublisherDOI

• Circumscribing Propolis farinosa (Fungi, Ascomycota) I: Typification and notes on the identity of Propolis alba, a synonym

  Muelleria An Australian Journal of Botany · 2024-06-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Volume: 42

  PublisherDOI

• Circumscribing Propolis farinosa (Fungi, Ascomycota) II: Typification of Tremella saligna, a synonym, based on a study of original material of Albertini &amp; Schweinitz

  Muelleria An Australian Journal of Botany · 2024-06-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Volume: 42

  PublisherDOI

• Phylogenomic Insights into the Taxonomy, Ecology, and Mating Systems of the Lorchel Family Discinaceae (Pezizales, Ascomycota)

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Digitization TCN: Collaborative: The Macrofungi Collection Consortium: Unlocking a Biodiversity Resource for Understanding Biotic Interactions, Nutrient Cycling and Human Affairs

  NSF · $231k · 2012–2016

• Digitization TCN: Collaborative: The Microfungi Collections Consortium: A Networked Approach to Digitizing Small Fungi with Large Impacts on the Function and Health of Ecosystems

  NSF · $997k · 2015–2021

• Collaborative Research: A Survey of post-fire Ascomycete and Basidiomycete Fungi in an Eastern Deciduous Forest

  NSF · $44k · 2017–2019

• A Survey of Wood-inhabiting Pyrenomycetes of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

  NSF · $377k · 2005–2009

Frequent coauthors

• P.W. Crous

  Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute

  41 shared

• Sabine M. Huhndorf

  Field Museum of Natural History

  41 shared

• Huzefa A. Raja

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  39 shared

• Andrew S. Methven

  36 shared

• Daniel B. Raudabaugh

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  29 shared

• Conrad L. Schoch

  National Institutes of Health

  26 shared

• Carol A. Shearer

  University of Illinois System

  25 shared

• Kevin D. Hyde

  Mae Fah Luang University

  24 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Computer Science

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  2005

• M.S., Computer Science

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  2001

• B.S., Computer Science

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  1998

Awards & honors

• Public Service Honors Distinguished Reviewer Award, IEEE Sec…