Dr. Jesus M. de la Garza

Director, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Professor of Civil Engineering

Education:
Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Illinois, 1988
M.Sc., Civil Engineering, University of Illinois, 1984
B.Sc., Civil Engineering, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, 1978

Areas of Interest:
Construction Engineering and Management, Highway Infrastructure Management, Information Technology in Construction, and Design-Construction Integration. My Philosophy towards the A/E/C Industry is:
1) Construction is the last phase of the Design process.
2) Design is not what is on CAD drawings; rather, Design is what gets built. 
3) Design-construction integration is fundamental.

Work Experience:

• Chair, National Academies' Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, BICE (2023-Present)
• Editor-in-Chief for ASCE's Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (2011-Present)
• Member of the National Research Council's Committee on Defense Materials, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure (2010-2016)
• Member of the National Research Council's Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (2008-2014)
•  Program Director, National Science Foundation, Civil and Mechanical Systems Division (2004-2006) 
•  Assistant, Associate, Professor, Vecellio Professor, Virginia Tech, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (1988-2019)
• Project Engineer with the ICA Group, Mexico City (1978-1982)

Honors and Awards:

• 2021 Outstanding Projects And Leaders (OPAL) Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
• Distinguished Member of ASCE (2014)
• Vecellio Endowed Professorship (2003)
• The Construction Industry Institute's Richard L. Tucker Award for Leadership and Service (2013)
• John L. Tishman Distinguished Lecture, University of Michigan (2013)
• Fellow of the Construction Management Association of America (2011)
• The Construction Industry Institute's Outstanding Instructor Award (2013)
• The Construction Industry Institute's Distinguished Professor Award (2009)
• Visiting Eminent Scholar at the Del E. Webb School of Construction at Arizona State University (6/04 and 4/13)
• The College of Engineering Dean's Award for Research Excellence (2012)
• The College of Engineering Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence (2009)
• The College of Engineering Dean's Award for Service Excellence (2014)
• ASCE Peurifoy Construction Research Award (2011)
• Member of the National Academy of Construction (2010)
• ASCE Faculty of the Year Award,  Student Chapter, Virginia Tech. (1998)
• ASCE Best Paper Award, Technical Council on Computer Practices, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering (1998)
• ASCE Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize (1992)
• ASCE Appreciation Certificate for outstanding service as Faculty Advisor to the Student Chapter (1990)
• Who's Who in Computing (1989)

Selected Research Projects:

• Flash Tracking for Accelerated Project Delivery (APD), Phase III, VDOT
• Flash Tracking for Accelerated Project Delivery (APD), GDOT
• Flash Tracking for Accelerated Project Delivery (APD), Phase I and II, VDOT
• RBS: Performance-based decision support system for resilient and sustainable multi-hazard building design, National Science Foundation, with Drs. M. Flint, M. Eatherton, G. Olgun, J. Irish, R. Leon, G. Reichard, A. Rodriguez-Marek
• Successful Delivery of Flash-Track Projects, Construction Industry Institute, with Dr. Pardis Pishdad-Bozorgi at Georgia Tech
• VDOT/VT Partnership for Highway Maintenance Monitoring and Innovation in Maintenance and Construction Contracting, Virginia Department of Transportation, with Dr. M.C. Vorster @ Virginia Tech
• Development of a Highway Maintenance Management System, Swedish National Road Administration, with Dr. Hans Bjornsson @ Chalmers University of Technology

Selected Publications:

• de la Garza, J.M., and Pishdad-Bozorgi, P., (2018). “A Workflow Process for Flash Track Projects.” ASCE, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001501
• Shahtaheri, Y., Flint, M.M., de la Garza, J.M., (2018). “Sustainable Infrastructure Multi-Criteria Preference Assessment of Alternatives for Early Design.” Elsevier, Automation in Construction, 96, 16-28, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.08.022
• Franco-Duran, D., and de la Garza, J.M., (2019). “Phantom Float in Commercial Scheduling Software.” Elsevier, Automation in Construction, 103, 291-299, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2019.03.014
• Shahtaheri, Y., Flint, M.M., de la Garza, J.M., (2019). “A multi-objective reliability-based decision support system for incorporating decision maker utilities in the design of infrastructure.” Elsevier, Advanced Engineering Informatics, 42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2019.100939
• Franco-Duran, D., and de la Garza, J.M., (2019). “Review of Resource-Constrained Scheduling Algorithms.” ASCE, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Forthcoming.

Google Scholar Page