Dr. El Asmar is a faculty member at Arizona State University (ASU)’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, and a Senior Sustainability Scientist with the Global Institute of Sustainability. His nontraditional background in civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, construction, economics, and business, provides him with an understanding of a variety of facets imperative to advancing today’s engineering and construction industry.
His research activities have focused on improving the performance of the built environment and the stakeholders delivering it. He uses mathematical and statistical modeling of project performance and industry decision-making data to (1) advance Innovative or Alternative Project Delivery Systems, especially Design-Build, Construction Management at Risk; Job Order Contracting; Integrated Project Delivery, and Public-Private-Partnerships; and (2) develop Decision-Making Systems for the engineering and construction industry. Recent examples of his work include (a) quantifying the impact of design-build procurement methods for the Design-Build Institute of America; (b) developing market entry decision making tools for the New Horizons Foundation; and (c) evaluating the performance of transportation Public-Private-Partnerships for the U.S. DOT.
Dr. El Asmar was invited to discuss his research at more than 100 national & international venues. His work is published in several American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) journals and his scholarship received numerous recognitions such as the 2010 Best Paper Award of the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, the Construction Industry Institute’s (CII) 2014 Distinguished Professor Award, ASCE’s 2015 Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize, and ASCE’s 2018 CRC Best Paper Award..
Dr. El Asmar has developed and taught various courses, and currently teaches strength of materials, sustainable construction, research methods, and innovative project delivery. He also is an ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Fellow and the Co-Director of Sustainable Construction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Center of Excellence on SMART Innovations.
