During her tenure as a Professor of Criminology &amp; Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (1998–2010), Dr. Miller began a new line of research examining the commercial sex trade in Sri Lanka, a notable location in South Asia for sex tourists seeking young children as their victims. She was supported by a Fulbright fellowship for this research, where she has acquired here use of fieldwork and interviewing techniques for her research. Given Dr. Miller's close relational ties to Sri Lanka, the Asian tsunami of December 2004 hit close to home. Immediately following the devastating tsunami, Dr. Miller began private fundraising relief efforts, which sequentially lead to colleague Dr. Bob Bursik donating his trademark ponytail to her cause; a local charity event that raised $4,000. Capitalizing on this opportunity, Dr. Miller sought out to seek help from the university as well. Working closely with colleague Dr. Joel Glassman and staff at the Center for International Studies, have developed the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tsunami Reconstruction Project. In its formation, Drs. Miller and Glassman had designed this project to set up to create and maintain three goals: