Title

Data-Informed Decision Making in Construction Management and Transportation Engineering

Time

1:40pm - 3:00pm

Location

1605 Tilia, Room 1103, West Village

Abstract

The “high volume, high velocity, and high variety information assets” or Big Data is finding its niche in coordinating urban technologies. Smart cities and internet of things (IoT), as two recent data-centric phenomena have been emerged to offer solutions for critical urban problems pertaining to infrastructure resilience, climate adaptation, transportation planning, and risk mitigation. However, effective use of data as the backbone of these innovative phenomena in planning and design of the smart cities’ infrastructure is still an open research problem. An emerging research area is the use of data analytics and machine learning-based classification and prediction frameworks. Examples within the transportation engineering domain include intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications, travel demand analysis, transport planning, and traffic management. This seminar provides an overview of the recent research on data analytics applications in the architectural, engineering, construction, and facility management (AEC/FM) industry as well as its potential in transportation engineering. In the first part of the seminar recent advancement and specific research applications and results are discussed. The second part investigates the applications of similar frameworks within the transportation engineering and civil infrastructure fields of research.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Reza Akhavian is an Assistant Professor of Construction Management at the School of Engineering, California State University East Bay (CSUEB). His research interests are in the areas of information technology, data analytics, machine learning, and automation and robotics for different applications such as safety and productivity of construction project operations and sustainability and resiliency of the built environment. He has more than 20 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and serves as a member of the editorial board of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (JCEM). His industry experience includes working with Bentley Systems, DPR Construction, and construction technology startups.