Kris Miler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan and was on faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign prior to joining the faculty at Maryland. She teaches courses in American government, legislative politics, interest group politics, and social movements.
Her research interests focus on political representation, especially in the U.S. Congress. She is the author of Poor Representation: Congress and the Politics of Poverty in the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which received the Woodrow Wilson Award from the American Political Science Association for the best book in government, politics, or international affairs. This book shows that although the poor are widely visible in American politics, they are grossly underrepresented in Congress regardless of whether one focuses on policy outcomes or individual legislator actions.
Her previous book, Constituency Representation in Congress: The View from Capitol Hill (Cambridge University Press, 2010), won the Alan Rosenthal Award from the American Political Science Association for the best book or article of potential value to legislative practitioners. Her research also has appeared in the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Psychology, and American Politics Research.