Elise Miller-Hooks

Mason CEIE Professor Elise Miller-Hooks
Titles and Organizations

Professor and Interim Department Chair; affiliate faculty Systems Engineering and Operations Research

Bill and Eleanor Hazel Endowed Chair

Contact Information

Personal Websites

Biography

For over two decades, Elise Miller-Hooks has been applying and advancing operations research concepts to civil and infrastructure systems applications.

Miller-Hooks is driven by a strong desire to make a positive impact on society, and her research program reflects this motivation. Together with her students and post-docs, she focuses on creating mathematically-based decision-support tools and algorithms that can be used to design, manage, operate, maintain, and protect the built environment. Her research has been supported by various sources, including private organizations, non-profits, and local, national, and international government agencies.

Miller-Hooks holds a PhD in Civil Engineering and an MS in Engineering from the University of Texas - Austin, as well as a BS in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College. Prior to joining Mason, she served as a program director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and on the faculties of the University of Maryland, Pennsylvania State University, and Duke University. Now, Miller-Hooks holds the Bill and Eleanor Hazel Endowed Chair in Infrastructure Engineering in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason University.

Research Spotlight:

Elise Miller-Hooks is one of the faculty members diving into how melting ice in the Arctic will affect the people, habitats, and social fabric of the remote region. She says the team’s work has opened her eyes to the interconnectedness of our world. Although she has traveled around the globe, she never thought she would visit the Arctic—it seemed so distant and remote. “I realize now that we are all in this together. What happens in Nuuk, Greenland or Barrow, Alaska affects us all.”
Read more about this research or watch the video below.

Teaching Interests:

  • Civil Infrastructure Systems Modeling
  • Transportation Systems Engineering
  • Network Algorithms
  • Multi-Objective Decision-Making

Research Interests:

  • Multi-Hazard Civil Infrastructure Resilience Quantification
  • Disaster Planning, Evacuation, and Response
  • Stochastic and Dynamic Network Algorithms
  • Mathematical Modeling and Optimization
  • Transportation Systems Engineering
  • Intermodal Passenger and Freight Transport
  • Alternative Modes (Paratransit, Ridesharing, Bikeways)
  • Real-Time Routing and Fleet Management
  • Incident Management
  • Transportation Infrastructure Investment for Climate Uncertainty
  • Collaborative and Multi-Objective Decision-Making