This thesis consists of three articles all relatedin some way to eigenvalues of random matrices and theirprincipal minors and also to tilings of various planar regions with dominoes or rhombuses.Consider an $N\times N$ matrix $H_N=[h_{ij}]_{i,j=1}^N$ from the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE). Denote its principal minors (submatrices in the upper left corner) by $H_n=[h_{ij}]_{i,j=1}^n$ for  $n=1$, \dots, $N$. We show in paper A that  all the $N(N+1)/2$ eigenvaluesof $H_1$, \dots, $H_N$ form a determinantal process on $N$ copies of the real line $\mathbb{R}$. We also show that this distribution arises as a scaling limit in tilings of an Aztec diamond with dominoes.We discuss a corresponding result for rhombus tilings of a hexagonwhich was later proved by Okounkov and Reshtikhin. We give a new proof of that statement in the introductionto this thesis.In paper B we perform a similar analysis for the Anti-symmetric Gaussian unitary ensemble (A-GUE). We show that the positive eigenvalues of an $N\times N$ A-GUE matrix andits principal minors form a determinantal processon $N$ copies of the positive real line $\mathbb{R}^+$.We also show that this distribution of all these eigenvalues appears as a scaling limit of tilings of half a hexagon with rhombuses. In paper C we study the shuffling algorithm for tilings of an Aztec diamond. This leads to the study of an interacting set of interlacedparticles that evolve in time. We conjecture that the diffusion limit of thisprocess is a process studied by Warrenand establish some results in this direction. / QC 20100804