Bio
Dr. María Calahorra-Jiménez is an Assistant Professor in the Moss Department of Construction Management at Florida International University (FIU). Before joining FIU, she earned early tenure and promotion at California State University, Fresno, where she served for five years as the Beavers Assistant Professor of Heavy Civil Construction Management. María holds two Ph.D. degrees—one in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and another in Engineering Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Prior to academia, Dr. Calahorra-Jimenez worked for over 14 years with international engineering firms, managing and supervising the design and construction of more than 100 infrastructure projects across Spain and Chile, totaling nearly $2 billion.
Dr. Calahorra-Jimenez is enthusiastic about advancing engineering and construction practices in infrastructure projects, and she thinks the best place to contribute to this vision is through research and higher education. Her teaching and research focus on alternative project delivery and procurement methods, digital transformation, including the use of BIM and emergent technologies throughout the project life cycle, and sustainability and resilience in infrastructure planning and delivery. She is also working to broaden women’s participation in heavy civil engineering/construction and in engineering/construction education. Dr. Calahorra-Jimenez has authored more than 20 publications and has led multiple funded projects on these topics.