PhD Students
Melika Jahan Beikloo
Ph.D. candidate in Industrial Engineering at Clemson University
Melika Jahan Beikloo is a Ph.D. candidate in Industrial Engineering at Clemson University, with an expected graduation date of August 2027. Her research develops optimization, simulation, and data-analytic models to support public-health decision-making, with particular emphasis on opioid-epidemic response, equitable access to harm-reduction resources, and adaptation and uncertainty in illicit supply networks.
Her dissertation, “Essays on Modeling the Opioid Epidemic: Regression, Stochastic Bilevel Optimization, and Agent-Based Modeling,” connects three complementary areas of research: spatial and statistical analysis of naloxone access and opioid-related outcomes; stochastic bilevel optimization of fentanyl-supply disruption; and agent-based modeling of opioid use, supply dynamics, overdose risk, and community interventions. Her scholarship includes three journal manuscripts currently under review, a peer-reviewed conference-proceedings paper developed with undergraduate researchers she mentored, and presentations at INFORMS, INFORMS Healthcare, IISE, and the Southern Criminal Justice Association.
Melika has teaching assistantship experience in engineering economy, stochastic systems, facilities planning, logistics, and data analytics. She has also mentored undergraduate researchers, which has resulted in a peer-reviewed conference-proceedings paper.
She is an IISE Future Faculty Fellow, an Engineering Unleashed Emerging Engineering Educators Workshop participant, a certified graduate mentor, and an ad hoc journal reviewer. She previously served as president of Clemson’s INFORMS Student Chapter during the 2024–2025 award year, when the chapter received the INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award at the Magna Cum Laude level.
Expected graduation: August 2027, 2026-27 Faculty Job Market Candidate
Research areas: Operations Research; Public-Health Systems; Stochastic and Bilevel Optimization; Agent-Based Modeling; Spatial Analytics
Links: CV · Academic Website · LinkedIn · GitHub
Former Team Members
| Name | Role in the lab |
|---|---|
| Alghazi, Anas | Balancing and Sequencing of Mixed Model Assembly Lines |
| Amiri, Parastoo | Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization for Flexible Flow Line Scheduling |
| Canterbury, Sarah A. | Gene Expression in Genetic Algorithms |
| Dabhade, Indraneel | Multivalued Subsets Under Information Theory |
| Eubanks, Greer | An Interactive Facility Layout Optimizer Using Genetic Algorithms and VBA |
| Goradia, Pratik | Evaluating the Impact of Deposit Rates in a Closed Loop Supply Chain |
| Grooms, Lindsey | Genetic Algorithms in Facility Location |
| Kunadilok, Jakrawarn | Heuristics for Scheduling Reentrant Flexible Jobshops with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times and Limited Buffer |
| Long, Samuel A. | Incorporating Laptops into an Introductory Operations Research Course |
| Madadi, Omid | Supply chain network design: Risk-averse vs. risk-neutral decision making |
| Mehendiratta, Vinay | Increasing Crew Scheduling Robustness through a Flight Leg Characteristics Index |
| Montgomery, Miranda | A Hybrid Portfolio Asset Selection Strategy Using Genetic Algorithms |
| Namouz, Essam | Automated Assembly Time Estimation Method |
| Pearce, Bryan | A Study on General Assembly Line Balancing Modeling Methods and Techniques |
| Pehlivan, Sertac | Improved Methods for Flexible Flowline Scheduling |
| Randall, Patricia | Adaptive Crossover Selection in Genetic Algorithms: Its Application to Scheduling of Serial Batches on Unrelated Parallel Machines |
| Randall, Robert | Single and Multiple Objective Scheduling Methods for Railyards with Earliness and Tardiness Concerns |
| Runkle, Mary J. | Problem Based Search Spaces with Johnson’s Rule for Flexible Flow Lines |
| Rupasinghe, Thashika | An Investigation of Metaheuristics Using Path- Relinking on the Quadratic Assignment Problem |
| Sangsawang, Ornurai | Metaheuristics for Hub Location Problems |
| Sankaran, Vinodh | A Particle Swarm Optimization Using Random Keys for Flexible Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Sequence Dependent Setup Times |
| Slagh, Lisa | Genetic Algorithms in Facility Location |
| Tangudu, Sarat | Branch and Bound for Parallel Batch Processing Machines |
| Watkins, Barbara | Factory Physics Analysis Tool and Case Study |
| Whetsel, Sean | Using Metaheuristics for Logistic Regression on Aviation Accidents |
| Yoder, Beth | Genetic Algorithms for Logistic Regression |
| Zu, Ling | A Study of the Static Bicycle Repositioning Problem with a Single Vehicle |
| Chelsea Spence | Opioid Overdose Epidemic Modeling |
| Ibrahim Ozan Yilmazlar |
