Dr Maria Tomai

Maria Tomai is a Postdoctoral Associate at Virginia Tech’s System Performance Laboratory (SPL), where she conducts interdisciplinary research on the performance of complex socio-technical systems. Her current work supports the NSF-funded LEAP-HI project on safety and learning from errors and near-misses in human–automation interaction. Focusing on safety-critical infrastructure, particularly rail traffic operations, she examines distributed situation awareness, organizational learning, workload, coordination, and the evolving roles of people and automated decision-support technologies. Her research combines interviews, field observations, operational data, systems thinking, and performance-analysis methods to identify opportunities for safer, more efficient, resilient, and human-centered system design.

Maria holds a PhD in Economics and Governance from UNU-MERIT at Maastricht University, where her research explored sustainability transitions, circular economy pathways, and urban environmental systems in developing-country contexts. Her broader interests connect industrial and systems engineering, economics, human factors, sustainability, and policy-relevant research.

At SPL, Maria also contributes to research development, publications, student mentoring, professional service, and community engagement. She has supported outreach initiatives that introduce K–12 students to decision science, transportation systems, and human–automation collaboration through accessible, hands-on engineering activities.