TRIBUTE from Dr Alan Finkel AC FAA FTSE

My mentor, Mike Miller, and I did not see each other for the last few years, simply for the hopeless reason that we were travelling on different courses. Mike’s passing was a terrible shock, accompanied by overwhelmingly personal sadness and deep sorrow for you, Edith, his loving wife, and all of his family.

I first recall Mike’s and my paths crossing shortly after I had been elected as a Fellow of ATSE, the Academy of Technology and Engineering. I had been asked to put together a proposal for a new co-curricular science education resource called STELR, for secondary school students. Having run my own small company all my working life, I knew nothing about large organisations and even less about Learned Academies, but Mike knew it all and took it upon himself to gently introduce me to the nuances of Learned Academies. Even further beyond my ken, Mike knew how governments operate and managed to persuade the federal minister of education to visit one of our STELR schools and express his support.

I joined ATSE with fresh ideas; Mike nurtured them and helped turn them into deliverables. For that, I owe him much gratitude.

Later, when I was President of ATSE, Mike was the Vice President who helped me understand the disparate needs of Fellows and Divisions. Without Mike, my time as President would have been less productive, less satisfying. Mike led with aplomb the single most awkward issue for a Learned Academy — the guidelines and processes for selecting new Fellows and managing the expectations of disappointed Fellows whose nominee did not get elected.

Mike was never one to sit on his hands waiting for other people to generate the good ideas. For example, he established a program of Parliamentary Briefings by ATSE Fellows in South Australia, to update politicians on technology matters that they themselves identified as being of most interest to them. This became the model for similar program in other state Divisions.

Somewhere during those years, on a visit to Adelaide hosted by Mike in his capacity as Chair of the South Australian Division of ATSE, I was fortunate to meet delightful Edith, and I was honoured to enjoy a friendly overnight stay at the Miller family home.

Later, when I was Australia’s Chief Scientist and leading a review of the national electricity market after the whole of state blackout in South Australia, Mike garnered advice on the history and limitations of the operation of the electricity market, all of which was eagerly absorbed by me. And he continued to engage with me and help on the educational activities that I led from my new role.

Mike had boundless skills, so ably recorded for posterity by the conferring on him of the 2017 Pearcy Medal, the highest award to honour a lifetime of achievement in Information and Communication Technology in Australia.

When Mike retired as Vice President, I wrote to him, “Gosh, I am going to miss you in the role.”

And today I say the same, gosh, Mike, I am going to miss you.

To Edith, family and friends, take heart in your joyous memories of a wonderful man. 

Professor Mliller has made an outstanding contribution to education and research leadership in the field of telecommunications. His two books and over 40 international publications attest to his contribution to the fields of digital transmission and error control coding. He has acted as an invited consultant in countries including UK, India, China, USA, and Brazil.
In 1990 he established the first Australian Space Industry Development Centre. He also directs the Mobile Communications Research Centre, a leading national centre. He played a major role in the establishment in South Australia of the Signal Processing Research Institute and the Advanced Engineering Centre for Information Technology and Telecommunications Professor Miller has been invited to be a member of the new Australian SPace Council. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.