Dr. Fernanda Leite is an assistant professor in construction engineering and project management in the Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin. She has a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to her graduate education, she worked as a project manager in her home country, Brazil, in multiple government and commercial building construction projects. Her technical interests include information technology for project management, building information modeling, collaboration and coordination technologies, and information technology-supported construction safety management.
Dr. Leite is recognized for her teaching and mentoring efforts. She has championed and successfully implemented project-based learning in her classes – Project Management Economics, Building Information Modeling, Project Controls, and Construction Safety. Dr. Leite is committed to assuring that students in her courses become familiar with and even proficient with current technologies in the important and rapidly evolving field of construction engineering. She has incorporated CII research into her Building Information Modeling course where students are also encouraged to use CII publications in their final synthesis report. In developing the Construction Safety course Dr. Leite incorporated CII: Making Zero Accidents a Reality. Dr. Leite has also excelled as a mentor to students outside of the classroom; she is involved in the Women in Engineering Program and serving on the STEM Women Leaders Panel on several occasions.