Lissa Melis

Lissa Melis is an Assistant Professor in Operations Research and Operations Management at the Department of QE Operations Research within the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University. Her research focuses on heuristic algorithms for urban transport systems and the intersection of operations research with explainable AI. She holds a PhD from the University of Antwerp (Belgium), supported by an FWO Fellowship, and completed postdoctoral research at Penn State University in the USA with a President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Education:

• PhD in Applied Economic Sciences (Operations Research) from University of Antwerp
• FWO Fellowship recipient during PhD
• Postdoctoral Researcher at Penn State University (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
• BAEF (Belgian American Educational Foundation) Alumni

Research Interests:

• Design and analysis of (meta)heuristics for transport problems
• Urban mobility systems and MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service)
• Explainable AI (XAI) in decision-making systems
• Sustainable public transport integration

Recent Work Trends: Recent publications explore transparency in AI explanations and optimizing transport networks. Earlier work addresses migration’s societal impacts, suggesting interdisciplinary engagement with sociological and environmental factors.

Awards:

• President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (USA)
• FWO Fellowship (Belgium)

Teaching Roles:

• Course coordinator for Advanced Operations Research (Master’s)
• Operations Management for Business Analytics (Bachelor’s)
• Operations and Supply Chain Management (Business Engineering)

Labs/Teams: Involved in Quantitative Economics research groups at Maastricht University focusing on urban systems optimization and AI ethics.