Baabak Ashuri
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Construction and Infrastructure Systems Engineering, Resilient Infrastructure, Smart Cities
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Baabak Ashuri

Professor
Email Address
Baabak@gatech.edu
Telephone
404.385.7608
Office Building
Caddell
Office Room Number
228
Biography

Professor Baabak Ashuri is Executive Director of the Professional Master’s in Occupational Safety and Health (PMOSH), and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. Dr. Ashuri’s research has advanced theoretical foundations and applications in data analytics, economic decision analysis, and quantitative methods in civil infrastructure systems, and construction engineering and project management, allowing other researchers to use his findings for enhancing the performance of infrastructure operations on several subdomains directly related to pre-construction decisions, e.g., artificial intelligence (AI) and design automation, alternative project delivery selection, and infrastructure system investment valuation. Dr. Ashuri has 256 publications in these fields, including 91 refereed journal articles, 107 peer-reviewed conference papers, 55 research reports and guidebooks, 1 co-edited book, and 2 referred book chapters.

Dr. Ashuri secured a funding amount of over $17M from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Department of Energy (DOE), Build America Beurre (BAC), Georgia Department of Transportation (Georgia DOT), South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), Construction Industry Institute (CII), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Southeast Transportation Consortium (STC), Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC), Turner Construction, and Perkins + Will, to name a few. Dr. Ashuri received many awards including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (Thomas Fitch Rowland paper award), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) High Value Research “Sweet Sixteen” Award, and the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) (Distinguished Leadership – Faculty). Dr. Ashuri has chaired the ASCE Construction Research Council (CRC) and served on the ASCE Construction Institute (CI) Board of Governors. Dr. Ashuri serves as the Southern Region Director of the USDOT Build America Center (BAC), which leads research and dissemination on the use of innovative financing, funding, and project delivery solutions.

Research

Professor Ashuri’s research constitutes a coherent, systems-based platform spanning four interconnected domains: (1) artificial intelligence and data analytics for infrastructure and design systems; (2) infrastructure and construction economics; (3) infrastructure finance and innovative project delivery; and (4) economic decision analysis for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Over the course of his career, Professor Ashuri has led or co-led 71 interdisciplinary research projects totaling more than $17 million in external funding, involving collaborators across engineering, computer science, public policy, economics, architecture, and industry.

 

Education
Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology   2008
M.S. in Operations Research        Georgia Institute of Technology   2006
M.S. in Construction Management  Georgia Institute of Technology  2004
B.S. in Civil Engineering Sharif University of Technology  2002

 

Teaching

Professor Ashuri has developed and taught a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses integrating civil and environmental engineering fundamentals with economics, data analytics, and systems modeling. He has taught several courses, including Quantitative Methods for Construction Research, Construction Management & Megaprojects, and Value Management for Integrated Facility Design and Construction. These courses cover several topics, such as infrastructure finance, innovative and alternative project delivery, quantitative risk assessment, public-private partnership (P3), systems modeling, and construction and infrastructure analytics.

 

Distinctions & Awards
  • Named by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) as one of six industry leaders to join the DBIA College of Fellows for 2024. Designated Design-Build Professional® Fellow status is the highest level of DBIA Certification and acknowledges the achievements of the nation’s most accomplished design-build professionals.
  • 2022 SMART 50 Award for Mobility at the Smart Cities Connect Conference, Columbus, Ohio, April 4, 2022. This project is part of the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge and conducted in partnership with City of Valdosta, Valdosta State University (VSU), applied information (ai), and Temple Edge-Lit.  
  • Finalist for the 2021 World Smart Cities Award in the Mobility Category for Georgia Smart project “Traffic Monitoring and Communication System to Improve Safety, connectivity, and Efficiency,” Barcelona, November 2021. This project is part of the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge and conducted in partnership with City of Valdosta, Valdosta State University (VSU), applied information (ai), and Temple Edge-Lit.  
  • The Construction Industry Institute (CII) 2018 Celebration of Engineering & Technology Innovation (CETI) Award in the category Outstanding Early Career Researcher for Project “Data Analytics – Improving Our Understanding About Design Development Process Enabling Improvements in Design Productivity the Project,” CII/FIATECH
  • The 2017 ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Thomas Fitch Rowland Award for the paper entitled “Price Adjustment Clauses and Submitted Bid Prices for Major Asphalt Line Items in Highway Projects” published in the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering & Management (This paper was also nominated for the ASCE Arthur M. Wellington Award. The paper was coauthored by two Georgia Tech graduate students, Mohammad Ilbeigi and Soheil Shayegh.)
  • The 2017 National Research Faculty Award from the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC)

  • The 2015 Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Distinguished Leadership Award in the Faculty category

  • The 2013 High Value Research “Sweet Sixteen” Award from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for research project “Recommended Guide for Next Generation of Transportation Design Build Procurement and Contracting in the State of Georgia”

  • The Early Career Award from the ELECTRI International – The Foundation for Electrical Construction for the project “A Systematic Approach for the Assessment of Green Opportunities for Electrical Contractors,” July 2012
  • The 2011 Best Paper Award, The 47th Annual International Conference of the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC), Omaha, NE, April 2011
Publications
  1. Paik, Y., Chung, F., and Ashuri, B. (2025). “Preliminary Cost Estimation of Pavement Maintenance Projects Through Machine Learning: Emphasis on Trees Algorithms.” ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering. 41(4), 04025027. 

  2. Oh, J., Touran, A., D’Angelo, D., Clark, T., Fisher, C., Gaskins, C., and Ashuri, B. (2025). “Machine Learning–Enhanced Recurrent Event Modeling for Change Order Recurrence in Highway Construction.” ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering, 41 (5), 04025032.

  3. Oh, J., Touran, A., D’Angelo, D., Clark, T., Fisher, C., Gaskins, C., and Ashuri, B. (2025). “Empirical Assessment of Variability in Project Effectiveness and Change Orders across Project Delivery Methods.” ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151 (11), 04025170.
  4. *Lee, J.H., Seok, C., Hamilton, P., Kingsley, G., and Ashuri, B. (2025). “Strategies for Effective Scope Validation During Pre-and Post-Award Phases in Design-Build Infrastructure Projects.” ASCE Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. Accepted.
  5. Hamilton, P., Kingsley, G., and Ashuri, B. (2024). “Common Challenges and Comprehensive Strategies for Utility Risk Management in Alternative Delivery Infrastructure Contexts.” ASCE Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. 16(4), 04524020.
  6. Li, M., Zeng, Q., and Ashuri, B. (2024). “Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Design Automation: A Two-stage Framework for Structure Configuration and Design.” ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering & Management. 150 (8), 04024083.
  7. Thu, M.K., Hamilton, P., Lee, J.H., Kingsley, G., and Ashuri, B. (2024). “A Critical Assessment of Material Price Adjustment Clauses for Transportation Design-Build Projects.” ASCE Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. 16(3), 04524008. 
  8. Chung, F., Doyle, A., Robinson, E., Paik, Y., Li, M., Baek, M., Moore, B., and Ashuri, B. (2024). “Ensemble Machine Learning Classification Models for Predicting Pavement Condition.” Transportation Research Record (TRR), Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 03611981241240766.
  9. Oh, H.J., Mistur, E., and Ashuri, B. (2024). “Critical Review of Public-Private Partnership (P3) Business Models for Enhancing Broadband Initiatives in the United States.” ASCE Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. 16(1), 04523047.
  10. Zeng, S., Chung, F., and Ashuri, B. (2024). “Forecasting Right-of-Way (ROW) acquisition timeline of transportation projects.” Built Environment Project and Asset Management. 14 (2), 129-146.

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