Areas of study & research: General Civil Engineering Coastal & Ocean Engineering Construction Engineering & Mgmt Environmental Engineering Geotechnical Engineering Materials Engineering Structural Engineering Transportation Engineering Water Resources Engineering

Areas of study and research >CEM

Construction Engineering and Management

Overview

The Construction Engineering and Management program develops knowledge, tools, and methods for adding value to construction projects and organizations. The program integrates three themes in its research and teaching focus:

• development processes and management issues that drive and constrain progress, including the dynamics of rework, dysfunctional management teams, procurement process selection, fast-track implementation, and resource allocation;
• risks that threaten performance, including implementable quantitative assessment, performance prediction and control under uncertainty, real options in construction, and risk management decision-making;
• and means of improving construction, including advanced materials, integrated modeling of processes and management, and information technology.

Construction engineering and management faculty apply a variety of research methods to these issues to build and test potential theories with data. For example, statistical models of dependence among construction phases and activities illuminate the effects of project structure on contingencies. Advanced construction materials are used to build and describe the behavior of structural members in laboratories. Controlled experiments with human subjects describe how managers assess and choose risk strategies for comparison with results from computer models based on theories from finance and economics. Surveys of experts and direct observations of construction operations form the basis for new processes and practices. Interviews of practitioners about project management policies are integrated with dynamic simulation models of rework and quality to analyze resource allocation efficiencies.  

Students participate in research projects by assisting faculty members as representatives of practitioners in the construction industry.