Research Interests

TEACHING
My teaching philosophy draws on past experience, both personal and in a corporate setting, to promote better learning through personal growth and classroom interaction.

My knowledge of the industry, from large commercial to small residential work, links me to the world of industry. This common link improves my access into that world as a teaching instrument, a researcher and an outreach tool. In the classroom, I plan to bring my areas of past knowledge together with my schooling and dissertation studies. Industry experience allowed me to learn through example, while often subjective. My masters in construction management combined this prior knowledge to theories and practice of business, engineering and architecture. My dissertation work has improved my ability to look at the multiple aspects of this complex industry, while also preparing me to teach current trends and look ahead. Innovation research is pertinent to the future of the construction industry. I plan to bring these influences into the classroom where appropriate, while also realizing that enabling personal growth can be the most effective teaching instrument.

My degrees in architecture further serve as a bridge for gaps between different parties in the AEC industry. This bridge, along with leadership skills, was a foundation for success in my design-build business. I plan to continue this success in the classroom where I believe good leadership training to be the best vehicle for producing strong management skills. Leadership training will happen through team work and lab assignments that stress application of concepts in the field. In these and all other classroom endeavors, I find it important to always reinforce positive learning and enjoyment of the setting.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research goals include the constant pursuit of research work that contributes to learning and benefits the larger construction community.

In the spring of 2006, my work on innovation commercialization was well received at Virginia Tech’s CAUS Bi-annual Research Symposium. In September 2006 I presented a paper of early findings at the European Conference of Process Planning and Management in Valencia, Spain titled “Developing a New Commercialization Model for the Residential Construction Industry.” Construction Innovation will publish the first of a series of journal articles about my research in Volume 8 Issue 2 titled "Towards Establishing a Domain-Specific Commercialization Model in Residential Construction." Part 2 of this paper is currently under review at Construction Innovation.

I believe the benefits of facilitating innovation commercialization and adoption to be highly tangible both in academics and in the industry community. Innovation commercialization, as a topic, incorporates the complexities of the construction industry, attempts to manage these complexities and benefits the future of the industry. Few other topics pertinent to the industry today reach as broad a range of possibility.