Dear Students,
We will have our final construction candidate interview on Friday, March 23. The candidates abstract is below. We encourage you to attend Michael Ibrahim’s seminar from 11:30am-12:30pm in ENGR 2901 and also welcome you to meet with the
candidate in our main office conference room (ENGR 1302) from 2:30-2:50pm.
Improving Construction Productivity by Minimizing Out-of-Sequence Work
and Maximizing Construction Readiness
- Michael W. Ibrahim -
While the construction industry makes up a significant portion of the economy, it is fraught with waste
and inefficiencies. Many researchers agree that the productivity of the construction industry in the U.S. has declined at
an average rate of -0.32% per year since the 1960s, while non-farm industries have more than doubled their
productivity over the same period. Overall, the poor productivity of the construction industry is estimated to be costing the
global economy more
than $1.6
trillion per
year. Two
major causes
of poor
construction productivity
that are
frequently cited by
contractors and
owners as
pressing issues
are: the
prevalence of
out-of-sequence construction
activities, and
the overall lack
of construction
readiness. This
presentation discusses
innovative strategies,
ideas, and
digital tools
that can be
used to
effectively minimize
out-of-sequence work,
and maximize
construction readiness,
thus significantly improving
construction productivity.
Several research
projects conducted
by the
presenter will
be introduced
and discussed during the presentation, as well as the presenter’s future research
plans at George Mason University.
Michael
W. Ibrahim
is
a Ph.D.
Candidate at
the University
of Wisconsin-Madison
in the
Department of
Civil and Environmental
Engineering with
an emphasis
in Construction
Engineering and
Management, and
Ph.D. minors
in Statistics and
Business. Michael
received his
B.S. in
Construction Engineering
from the
American University
in Cairo and his M.S. in Construction Engineering and Management from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
During
his graduate
studies, Michael
has monitored,
modeled, and
examined data
from over
475 construction professionals,
170 construction
projects, and
20 construction
companies. Using
this data,
he has
worked with
industry thought leaders on developing innovative technologies and ideas to effectively improve construction productivity.
As a result,
Michael’s
work has
been published
and presented
in numerous
renowned journals,
conferences, consortiums, and
organizations.
As
part of
his Ph.D.
research, Michael
has worked
on two
research projects
funded by
the Construction
Industry Institute (CII):
1) Best
Practices for
Preventing Out-of-sequence
Construction Activities
and Minimizing
their Impacts (CII
RT-334), and
2) Construction
Readiness Assessment
for Productivity
Improvement (CII
RT-DCC-2). In
CII's 2017 annual
conference, Michael
presented the
findings of
CII RT-334
alongside a
panel of
industry leaders
to an audience
of 700
attendees, achieving
the conference’s
highest presentation
rating. Furthermore,
Michael was
the recipient of
CII's prestigious
Outstanding Graduate
Research Assistant
Award. Currently,
Michael is
finalizing his second
CII research
project about
construction readiness
and will
be presenting
its findings
in CII's
2018 annual conference.
Thank you,
Kristin
Kristin Amaya
Fiscal & Program Coordinator
Sid & Reva Dewberry Department Civil, Environmental & Infrastructure Engineering
Volgenau School of Engineering
Nguyen Engineering Building, Suite 1300
4400 University Drive MS 6C1
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Phone: 703 993 1675
Web:
http://civil.gmu.edu
Twitter:@GMU_CEIE
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