Dr. Esra Büyüktahtakιn Toy is a Full Professor of Operations Research in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, where she directs the Systems Optimization and Machine Learning Lab (SysOptiMaL). Her research focuses on multi-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming (M-SMIP) and pushes the boundaries of integrated machine learning (ML), optimization, and artificial intelligence (AI) for high-stakes decision-making under uncertainty. She develops scalable, intelligent algorithms by combining optimization theory, deep learning, and advanced computational tools to address large-scale combinatorial problems. At SysOptiMaL, Dr. Toy mentors students engaged in cutting-edge research on AI-driven multi-stage optimization, uniting theoretical rigor with innovative algorithm design and computational analysis. She has graduated 8 Ph.D. students now in leading academic and industry roles and currently advises eight more.
Dr. Toy is widely recognized for her methodological innovations in stochastic and combinatorial optimization, such scenario dominance algorithms, as well as her leadership in transdisciplinary applications of operations research. She is also known for pioneering the integration of epidemic modeling with logistics and for being among the first to transfORm machine learning and data-driven methods to optimize decision-making. Her research portfolio spans a wide range of application domains, including health systems, environmental sustainability, and biosecurity. Recent work has focused on resource allocation under uncertainty and the control of epidemic diseases and invasive processes in natural and managed systems. These include decision-support models for managing complex disruptions, such as disease outbreaks (e.g., COVID-19, Ebola, and Dengue), 3-D cancer growth, ecological threats (e.g., emerald ash borer and zebra mussels), and national security challenges (e.g., submarine detection and surveillance in open-ocean warfare scenarios).
She is the recipient of the 2016 NSF CAREER Award and has secured funding from major agencies including the NSF, USDA, DOD, U.S. Forest Service, Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC), the Virginia Department of Forestry, and the 4-VA Collaborative Research Program with a total award nearly $3 million in external research funding.
She has authored 45 peer-reviewed publications, including 23 in A or A-ranked journals* (ABDC Journal Quality List), and has received five INFORMS Best Publication Awards. Her work has been featured in ISE Magazine, the INFORMS Computing Society Newsletter, U.S. Forest Service communications, and other professional outlets for its broad impact on optimization and decision science.
She has served as President of the INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the INFORMS Journal on Computing. Dr. Toy was also a member of the Steering Committee for the nationwide 2024 NSF ENG CAREER Award Workshop.
Select Awards and Recognition: Dr. Toy is the recipient of the prestigious NSF CAREER Award and the NSF EPSCoR First Award, recognizing her pioneering contributions to operations research. She has received multiple honors from INFORMS, including the twoINFORMS ENRE Best Publication Awards in Natural Resources (2022) and Environment & Sustainability (2015), the INFORMS MIF Early Career Award, and multiple finalist recognitions in the INFORMS MIF Paper Competition. Her research has earned the Dwane and Velma Wallace Excellence in Research Award, the Young Faculty Scholar Award, and Best Paper honors at international conferences. She is a three-time featured author in ISE Magazine (2015, 2022, 2024) and has also been honored with the INFORMS Moving Spirit and Volunteer Service Awards for her professional service. In recognition of her commitment to teaching, she was named to the VT CoE Dean’s List for Teaching Evaluations in 2024.
Research Keywords: Optimization, Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Scientific discovery via LLMs, TransfORmers, Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), Spatio-temporal Resource Allocation, Game Theory, Prediction, Search, Prevention, and Control Models, Data Analytics, Security, Defense, Bio-surveillance, Environment, Energy, Sustainability, and Healthcare, Decision-Support Tools, COVID-19, Ebola, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Epidemics-Logistics
Dr. Toy recieves a 4-VA Collaborative Research Grant proposal on Self Learning-to-Optimize at Scale with Ferdinando Fioretto at UVA, 5/14/2025.
Dr. Toy receives a new grant award from the Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) award on "AI-Driven Decision Optimization for the Effective Management of Wavyleaf Grass Invasions in Virginia" , 5/1/2025.
Sushyanth Sridhar, M.S. student in SysOptiMaL, won first place in the 2024 ISE Graduate Student Research Poster Competition.
Kimiya Jozani Mohammadi, Ph.D. student in SysOptiMaL, received the 2024 Best Graduate Teaching Assistant Award and placed second in the 2024 ISE Graduate Student Research Poster Competition.
SysOptiMaL paper "Unlocking the Puzzle: How Healthcare Leaders Strategize Vaccine Distribution During Pandemics such as COVID-19?" has been featured in the June 2024 issue of ISE Magazine. This article stems from our SysOptiMAL IISE-T publication, “COVID-19: An Agent-Based Simulation-Optimization Approach to Vaccine Center Location and Vaccine Allocation Problem.” Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eiz658MN, June 2024.
Avinashh Kumar Baswapuram, former M.S. student in SysOptiMaL, received his M.S. degree with MS Thesis in August 2024 and has landed on an exciting journey as a Global Network Design Analyst at Rich’s Corporation, August 2024. Congratulations, Avinashh!
Dr. Buyuktahtakin Toy is honored to chair the 2024 INFORMS Computing Society Harvey J. Greenberg Research Award, 5/30/2024.
Hyunwoo Lee, Ph.D. student in SysOptiMaL, was a finalist at the 2024 Mixed Integer Programming Workshop Poster Presentation Competition.
SysOptiMAL advisor Dr. Buyuktahtakin Toy is honored to have been invited to serve as an Associate Editor for the INFORMS Journal on Computing, starting April 2024.
News release here published by the US Forest Service Office of Communications featuring our paper (Kibis, Buyuktahtakin, and Haight et al., 2021), 2022
The ISE magazine 2022 April issue featured our IISE-T HSE article on “epidemic-vaccination-logistics”. Here is the link for the related article.
