Professor John E. Taylor is the inaugural Frederick Law Olmsted Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech where he serves as the Associate Chair for Faculty Development and Research Innovation. He received his PhD from Stanford University on the topic of innovation in architecture, engineering, and construction industry networks. Taylor directs the Network Dynamics Lab at Georgia Tech, which introduced the concept of smart city digital twins in 2017 with the goal of engineering smarter cities that are simultaneously more sustainable, resilient, and livable. In 2020, Taylor was inducted into the National Academy of Construction for his efforts to improve urban sustainability and resilience and guide the evolution of smart cities. Taylor has authored over 300 technical publications and won five journal best paper awards. Prior to entering academia, Taylor was the founder of two technology startups.
Taylor’s current research focuses on: (1) achieving sustained energy conservation by coupling energy use with occupant networks and examining inter-building network phenomena in cities, and (2) improving network response times during extreme events in urban areas. His research extends from developing virtual and augmented reality applications that collect and visualize urban scale data, to developing real-time interventions to improve urban sustainability and resilience.
Taylor’s courses prepare students for the many dynamics unfolding in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry applying his many years of industry and startup experience. He teaches this from the perspective of how industry dynamics shape how civil and environmental engineers manage complex infrastructure projects, as well as how to effectively navigate those dynamics when launching new entrepreneurial ventures.
Jim Pope Fellowship, Georgia Tech (2025)
Smart21 Community Award, 2024 Taipei Smart City Summit and Expo, “Citizen Safety Digital Twin for Community Resilience” (2024)
Editor’s Choice Publication, ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering (2024)
Smart20 Award, 2024 Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo, “Digital Twin for River Safety” (2024)
Pathfinder Award, Engineering Project Organization Society (2023)
Graduate Mentorship Award, School of CEE, Georgia Tech (2022)
Editor’s Choice Publication, ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering (2021)
Elected Member, National Academy of Construction 2020)
Outstanding Teaching, Student Choice Award, Georgia Tech (2017)
Daniel W. Halpin Award, American Society of Civil Engineers (2015)
Distinguished Professor Award, Construction Industry Institute (2013)
Distinguished Service Award, Engineering Project Organization Society (2013)
Best Peer-Reviewed Journal Paper Award, ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering (2012)
Paper of the Year Award, Project Management Journal (2012)
NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation (2011)
Outstanding Instructor Award, Construction Industry Institute (2011)
Best Peer-Reviewed Journal Paper Award, ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering (2010)
Thomas Fitch Rowland Research Prize, American Society of Civil Engineers (2009)
Industry Studies Fellowship: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2009)
Best Paper Award, LEAD Specialty Conference on Global Governance in Project Organizations (2009)
Best Journal Paper Award, ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (2008)
Beacon of Excellence Best Paper Award, ASCE Construction Research Congress (2007)
Overall Best Paper Award, North American Association for Computational Social and Organization Science Annual Conference (2006)
Xu, L., Tien, I. and Taylor, J. (2024). “Micromobility vs. Driving: How Air Quality Alerts Impact Transportation Choices,” ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering, 41(1): 04024064. https://doi.org/10.1061/JMENEA.MEENG-6168. (Selected as Featured Article in ASCE Civil Engineering Source)
Salley, C., Mohammadi, N., Xie, J., Tien, I., and Taylor, J. (2024). “Assessing Community Needs in Disasters: Transfer Learning for Fusing Limited Georeferenced Data from Crowdsourced Applications on the Community Level,” ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering, 40(6): 04024055. https://doi.org/10.1061/JMENEA.MEENG-6208. (Selected as Editor’s Choice Publication)
Pan, X., Mavrokapnidis, D., Ly, H., Mohammadi, N. and Taylor, J. (2024). “Assessing and Forecasting Collective Urban Heat Exposure with Smart City Digital Twins,” Nature Scientific Reports, 14: 9653 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59228-8.
Xu, L., Francisco, A., Taylor, J. and Mohammadi, N. (2021). “Urban Energy Data Visualization and Management: Evaluating Community-scale Eco-feedback Approaches,” ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(2). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000879. (Selected as Editor’s Choice Publication)
Engineers are building computerized replicas of cities, and even Georgia Tech’s campus, to save lives and create a better, more efficient world for all of us.
Flooding can be an existential threat, affecting everything from infrastructure to health. Georgia Tech researchers are developing solutions to monitor and forecast flooding, as well as restore ecosystems to prevent future flooding. These efforts support communities’ resilience in the face of climate change and keep the U.S. secure.
A Q&A with Frederick Law Olmsted Professor John E. Taylor and Senior Research Engineer Neda Mohammadi about how digital twin technology can be used to address community problems.