Melissa Tilashalski is a lecturer in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, serving as the department’s director of undergraduate studies for systems engineering.
Tilashalski’s research and academic interests include heuristic techniques for variants of the vehicle routing problem, optimization of production and manufacturing systems, and curriculum engagement for undergraduate systems engineering, specifically through the incorporation of games and experiential learning in the classroom.
She earned a BS in mathematics, MA in curriculum and instruction, and PhD in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech, and an MS degree in computational operations research from William & Mary. She previously worked in public education with students from high needs populations.