ASCE has honored Fernanda Leite, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, with the 2026 Peurifoy Construction Research Award for advancing construction engineering through research in building and infrastructure systems information modeling, Scan-to-BIM, visualization and collaboration technologies, and circular economy in the built environment.
Leite is the Joe J. King Professor in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She has graduated 16 Ph.D. and 49 M.S. students. She currently supervises one postdoctoral fellow and four Ph.D. students.
At the University of Texas, Leite has taught about building information modeling, project management and economics, construction safety, and sustainable systems engineering. She serves as chair of ASCE’s Computing Division Executive Committee, as well as associate editor for the Elsevier journal Automation in Construction. She has been honored with several awards, including the ASCE Data, Sensing, and Analysis Committee’s inaugural Best Data Award in 2022, the ASCE Construction Institute’s Daniel W. Halpin Award for Scholarship in Construction in 2019, and the ASCE Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize in 2018.
The Peurifoy Construction Research Award is made to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of construction engineering through research and development of new technology, principles, or practice.
