Burcu Akinci
Head and Paul Christiano Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Burcu Akinci is the head of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She earned her B.S. in civil engineering (1991) from Middle East Technical University and her M.B.A. (1993) from Bilkent University at Ankara, Turkey. After that, she earned her M.S. (1995) and her Ph.D. (2000) in civil and environmental engineering with a specialization in construction engineering and management from Stanford University.
Her research interests include development of approaches to model and reason about information-rich histories of facilities, to streamline construction and facility management processes. She specifically focuses on investigating utilization and integration of building information models with data capture and tracking technologies, such as 3D imaging, and embedded sensors and radio-frequency identification systems to capture semantically-rich as-built histories of construction projects and facility operations.
Akinci has one patent, two patent applications, more than 60 referred journal publications, and 80 refereed conference publications. She co-edited a book on CAD/GIS integration and another book on embedded commissioning. She has graduated more than 16 Ph.D. students and 15 M.S. thesis students, and is currently advising/co-advising four Ph.D. students.
Making Infrastructure Systems More Resilient, Sustainable and Robust
Smart Infrastructure for Smarter Decisions
Education
2000 Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
1995 MS, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
1993 MBA, Bilkent University
1991 BS, Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University
Media mentions
CMU College of Engineering
2023 Engineering Faculty Awards announced
The 2023 Engineering Faculty Awards highlight faculty members who have shown outstanding educational, research, and service efforts. Congratulations to all of this year’s awardees!
Carnegie Mellon University
Three Engineering faculty named University Professors
Three College of Engineering faculty members have been elevated to the rank of University Professor, the highest distinction a faculty member can receive at Carnegie Mellon: CEE Head Burcu Akinci, CyLab Director Lorrie Faith Cranor, and CEE’s Greg Lowry.
CMU Engineering
Akinci, Cagan, and VanBriesen named 2022 AAAS Fellows
Burcu Akinci, Jonathan Cagan, and Jeanne VanBriesen, senior faculty members in the College of Engineering, have been named 2022 AAAS Fellows.
Pittsburgh Business Times
Akinci named in PBT’s 20 People to Know in Energy
CEE Head Burcu Akinci has been named as one of 20 people to know in energy by the Pittsburgh Business Times. Akinci has been a member of the CEE department for 21 years and recently became the head of the department.
CMU Engineering
Safer work zones for all
Causal modeling of the relationship between work zones and car accidents informs practices and policies that improve safety on the road.
CMU Engineering
Decarbonizing the grid with flexible buildings
Researchers in CEE have created a new model that can help decrease energy consumption from buildings and provide for a more efficient grid.
Route Fifty
Qian discusses work zones and road accidents
CEE’s Sean Qian spoke to Route Fifty about his team’s recent study of road accidents in work zones. The study found that crashes are less frequent in shorter work zones and tend to increase during the day.
CMU Engineering
Burcu Akinci named head of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Burcu Akinci has been appointed the new head of the CEE at Carnegie Mellon University effective July 2022.
Pittsburgh Business Times
Akinci quoted on infrastructure
CEE’s Burcu Akinci was quoted by the Pittsburgh Business Times on the importance of bridge maintenance after Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge collapse.
Franchetti appointed Associate Dean for Research
Congratulations to the newly-appointed Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering, ECE’s Franz Franchetti. His history in serving as part of and leading research teams around the college led to his nomination and selection.
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Akinci elected to National Academy of Construction
CEE’s Burcu Akinci has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Construction (NAC).
Carnegie Bosch Institute
Engineering faculty receives CBI funding
CEE’s Burcu Akinci and Gerald Wang; CyLab’s Eunsuk Kang; ECE’s Gauri Joshi; EPP’s Alex Davis; and MechE’s Satbir Singh, and Conrad Tucker, and Ding Zhao were awarded funding from the Carnegie Bosch Institute.