Dr. Ayhan's research interests include stochastic (Max,+) linear systems, performance analysis of queueing and production systems via series expansions, and Markov decision processes (with applications to admission control, inventory/production control). Dr. Ayhan received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2000. She is a member of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) and she is the secretary and the treasurer of the INFORMS Applied Probability Society.