Cole Miller was raised in Michigan, where his love of mathematics combined with his awe at pictures of other planets brought back from the Pioneer, Viking, and Voyager missions to stimulate a lifelong interest in astrophysics. After receiving undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics from Hillsdale College in Michigan, he did his doctoral work in physics at the California Institute of Technology, with a Ph.D. on X-rays from neutron stars. He then did postdoctoral work at the University of Illinois with Fred Lamb, and at the University of Chicago with Fred's identical twin brother Don Lamb, with a midway stop at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Copenhagen. Since 1999 he has been a professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland, receiving tenure in 2004. An outstanding teacher, Cole Miller is the recipient of the Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award. He is currently on sabbatical at Goddard in the gravitational wave astrophysics group.