Jeffrey Beard

Jeffrey L. Beard

Retired Professor
Engineering Leadership and Society

Jeffrey L. Beard

Retired Professor
Engineering Leadership and Society

Biography

  • American Council of Engineering Companies (2003-12) Vice President
  • Design-Build Institute of America (1993-2003) President & CEO
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (1998-2005) Adjunct Professor
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (1989-93) Director of Federal Relations
  • Harms Engineers/WGMA Architects (1984-89) Director of Contracts
  • Associated General Contractors of America (1981-84) Associate Manager, Heavy Industrial Division
  • H. H. Robertson Company (1978-81) District Office Engineer

Degrees / Education

  • PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Master of Urban and Environmental Planning, University of Virginia
  • BA, Rutgers University

Research Interests

Project Delivery Methodologies. Systems Decomposition for Civil and Industrial Projects. Service Life Predictors for the Built Environment and its Components. Design and Construction Entrepreneurship. History of Urban Engineering and Construction.

Areas of Study

Select Publications

Books:

  • Design-Build – Planning Through Development,McGraw-Hill 2001
  • Project Delivery Systems Owner’s Manual, ACEC Press 2006
  • “History of Design-Build Procurement,” Design-Build for the Public Sector, chapter 2, Aspen, 2004

Articles:

  • “Manifold Contributions of Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs – from Aqueducts to Standardized Uniforms, to Procuring Ships and Constructing the Pension Building” in the Construction History Society of America Journal, Spring 2016 
  • “Comparison of Usability and Costs of Leading Sustainability Rating Systems:  LEED and Green Globes” funded research by the Green Building Initiative, 2014 
  • “Justifying Sustainable Buildings – Championing Green Operations” in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2006
  • “Strategic Facility Planning for Museums” in the Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 20, 2005
  • “An Examination of Design Project Management” in the Project Management Annual, Chicago, Vol. 18, Summer 2004
  • “Industry Trends Survey: Annual Reports from 2003 to 2010” by the American Council of Engineering Companies, consisting of national data and findings from multi-disciplinary engineering firms in the U.S.

Presentations:

  • “A Tale of Three Arches: Grosvenor (Chester, UK), Union/Cabin John (Washington, DC, USA) and Adolphe (Luxembourg, LU)” paper proposal for the Historic Bridge Conference, Ironbridge, UK  July, 2017 
  • “Reliance on Design:  Roosevelt, Spearin and Brooklyn Drydock #4” and the American Institute of Architects Minnesota Conference, Nov 2016 
  • “Historic Slipways and Dry Docks from Gosport, Va to Brooklyn, NY – How Naval Procurement Influenced US Design and Construction” at the International Construction History Conference, Chicago, IL  June 2015 
  • “Structured Analysis of History of Architecture-Engineering-Construction and Related History and Heritage-related Masters Degree Programs in North America” delivered at the International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Guimares, Portugal, July 2014 
  • “Rail Lines to Skylines – History of the Structural I-Beam 1820 to 1920” presentation at the Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage, University of Birmingham, UK  June 2013 
  • “Integrators of Design and Construction: Stone & Webster, the Austin Company and Chicago Bridge and Iron” at the CHSA Biennial Conference at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 2012
  • “Sustainable Civil Infrastructure Systems” as McCormick Engineering School guest lecturer at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., Oct. 2011
  • “Sustainability Rating Systems for Civil Infrastructure” at the Alabama Building Conference, Birmingham, Ala., May 2011
  • “Qualifications-Based Selection – Challenges and Opportunities” online seminar for the American Council of Engineering Companies, Fall 2010