Dr. Michal Talmor Tilley

Although we didn't interact in undergrad the Aero nerds were in their own league I knew of her and many of us in ME knew her to be a brilliant womxn. So, when I started in her lab, I sought out every opportunity to interact with her that I could, which included staying in the lab from 6pm midnight on weekends, helping her lug heavy equipment about and reaching things on slightly higher shelves - I am a 5'4 giant to her 5' stature. While she putzed around the lab to locate something or other, it gave me the chance to soak up her knowledge, and enjoy my time in the lab with a kind and funny person. Did we call campus police when a hornet flew into the lab through an open window because we thought that they would send someone tall who could wave a broom closer to the ceiling? Yes. Did the officer help us? Obviously not; he told us that it is 11:30 pm on a Saturday and we should go home, then start our experiments again in the morning, which made way more sense.

Michal seemed to have an answer for everything. I once asked her how she was so smart and knew so much. And, of course, she had an answer: she was comfortable with not knowing, which drove her to learn. If she didn't have the answer, she would say so, and either figure it out or let it go. But, once she'd figured it out, she would teach anyone who asked because, as she put it, I'm lazy and it took effort for me to figure this ish out, so if I can help someone else not go through the struggle, I will. I asked her why she loved working at Aurora and she said that she felt respected there; she could share her intellect and on the rare occasion that someone cut her off, someone else would interject and say, "hey, Michal was speaking." When she would talk about her amazing husband, how happy they were, and I asked her how she found such a good one, she even had an answer for that: just marry your best friend. Easy.

Wherever you are, I bet someone now understands "the physics"- Yagoobi, of EHD. Thank you.

I had the pleasure of being Michelle's manager for the past 2+ years at Aurora and working alongside her on various programs and projects. She made an outsized impact in the time that she was with us, and she will be greatly missed by many of us within the Aurora family.

Our family sends all its love to Alex and the entire Tilley Family. The list of Michal's accomplishments is only surpassed by the love she and Alex shared. We can certainly tell how much she was loved and will be missed by all.

I had a 2nd daughter for the past 11 years. Michal enriched our lives in so many varied ways. I loved her so much and I was so proud of her. I used to tell people that my son married a rocket scientist. Then I would add "no, a real rocket scientist!"

Even though my heart is broken right now, it is fuller for having loved her.