The research activities of Prof. Igal Shohet (b. 1959) cover a broad range of topics including Extreme Events Engineering and Management, Critical Facilities Maintenance and Management, Construction Methods and Management, and Automation in Construction. After studying a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering focus on Structural and geotechnical Engineering, Professor Shohet carried out his M.Sc. in Construction Management, and D.Sc. in Civil Engineering on Robotics in Construction. All degrees were at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Prior to Joining Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 2004, Professor Shohet served as a Faculty member at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technion – I.I.T. for 8 years, during this period he was visiting professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of New Mexico. In 2004 Professor Shohet joined the founders of the Department of Structural Engineering at Ben-Gurion University; he is the head of the Construction Management Program since its establishment and the Deputy-Chair of the Department since 2005. Prof. Shohet is an editorial board member of several Journals in Construction and Facilities Management; he is an advisor to the Israeli Ministries of Interior and Economy.
Professor Shohet Facilities Management models are widely implemented in Healthcare and other critical Infrastructures in Israel and abroad. Prof. Shohet published more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. His present research is carried out in Risk Management and Extreme Events Engineering and Management in Critical Infrastructures.
Levente Mályusz received his PhD degree in construction management in 1998 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He has been head of Department of Construction Technology and Management at Budapest University of Technology and Economics since 2009. His research focuses on scheduling, construction management, learning curves. He is a Member of Hungarian Association of Operations Research and Member of Hungarian Chamber of Engineers. He got Gyula Farkas Memorial Prize in 1999 for application of operation research in practice.
Prof. Alfredo Serpell is a Professor of Construction Management at the Department of Construction Engineering and Management of the School of Engineering of the Catholic University of Chile. He holds a Civil Engineer degree from the Catholic University of Chile and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is very active in research on knowledge management, construction quality and productivity, construction business management, construction innovation and entrepreneurship, risk management, and project management. He teaches classes both at graduate and undergraduate levels. Professor Serpell is an active member of the Project Management Institute, the American Society for Quality and the AACE International, and the President of the Chilean Corporation of Project Management, a Member Association of the International Project Management Association.
Lieyun Ding, PhD, is a professor, director of the BIM Research Laboratory and rector/president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan (Hubei), China. He has previously served as rector/president of Northeastern University in Shenyang (Liaoning), China. His research interests focus on applying information and automation technologies to construction engineering and management, and on safety and risk management for large-scale built infrastructure, including metro systems, bridges and tunnels. Professor Ding is the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Civil Engineering and Management. He also serves as deputy director of the Management Division of Science and Technology Committee of China’s Ministry of Education, chairman of the Architectural Society of China Construction Management Research Division, deputy chairman of the Chinese Society of Metals, and director of China’s National Accreditation Board for Construction Management.
Dr. Salman Azhar is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair in the McWhorter School of Building Science at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. He has more than 15 years of research, teaching and construction industry experience by working in USA, Hong Kong, Thailand and Pakistan. Dr. Azhar has conducted research on Building Information Modeling, Construction safety, Decision support systems and Construction education. His research projects have been funded by the US Department of State, Construction Industry Institute (CII), National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), the Alabama State Licensing Board for General Contractors, and several construction firms in the Southeast USA. He has written a book entitled “Data Warehousing in Construction Organizations: Concepts, Architecture and Implementation”, co-edited seven conference proceedings and published more than 90 papers in refereed journals and conferences. He twice received the Best Conference Award at the Annual Conference of the Associated Schools of Construction, USA. Dr. Azhar is the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Construction Education and Research, USA and Editorial Board Member of ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering. Dr. Azhar received the Auburn University’s Outstanding Faculty award in 2012 and the Building Science Outstanding Researcher Award in 2011 and 2009.
