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Willett Miller was appointed as a Professor of Geology and Petrography in 1893 and was at that point already a very accomplished man. He was Canadian and studied at the Universities of Toronto, Harvard, Chicago, and Heidelberg.

Miller usually worked as a surveyor on his vacations, accumulating the experience that would later stand him in good stead. He came to ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ when the School of Mining and Agriculture (now Smith Engineering) was established as an "independent school affiliated with ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥."

Professor Miller was a quiet man and did not seem to enjoy public speaking. Lecturing in front of a class was an ordeal for him and the students often remarked on the beads of sweat that would appear as soon as he began to speak. He was a brilliant geologist, however, and they all considered themselves lucky to be learning from him.

In 1902, he left ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ to become the first Provincial Geologist for Ontario. He discovered cobalt and silver deposits in northern Ontario. Earlier in his career he had also developed a method of identifying diamonds and emeralds using x-rays. He wrote extensively, both in scientific journals and school texts. For his achievements, he was awarded a gold medal from the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy of London in 1915.

Aside from Miller Hall and the Miller Memorial Research Professorship in Geology, there is also a research facility in Sudbury named in his honour, and a portrait of him still hangs in the Ontario Legislative Building.