The College of Engineering and Computer Science is proud to introduce Dr. Min Liu as the Abdallah H. Yabroudi Endowed Professor in Sustainable Civil Infrastructure at Syracuse University.
Her research centers on developing innovative approaches and generating knowledge on how to integrate the human and engineering aspects of construction planning to improve productivity and project performance. She has published over 40 articles in top-ranked construction engineering and management journals. Her recent research on using an information theory approach to quantify information exchange effectiveness in construction planning won the 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Thomas Fitch Rowland award. Her work also received the Best Paper Award from the 2018 International Group of Lean Construction Conference and from the 2017 Lean and Computing in Construction Congress. She has been recognized with “Thank a Teacher” awards in 2011, 2017, and 2018 from North Carolina State University.
Liu was the Chair of ASCE Construction Research Council (CRC) from 2020 to 2021. The CRC has over 400 members worldwide from construction faculty and is recognized as the premier forum for construction engineering and management research. Liu has also served as the associate specialty editor for the ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering since 2016 and the assistant specialty editor in labor and personnel Issues for the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management since 2009. She was selected as the outstanding reviewer by the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management in 2015 and 2017 and she co-founded Carolina’s Lean Construction Community of Practice in 2009.
Abdallah H. Yabroudi ’78, G’79is chief executive officer of Dubai Contracting Co. (DCC), headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He has been associated with DCC since 1980. Yabroudi also serves as general manager of a development and contracting company in Chile and a development and construction company in Lebanon. He is director of the Dubai Construction Co. in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Yabroudi is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Chartered Quality Institute (formerly the Institute of Quality Assurance); Chi Epsilon, a U.S. civil engineering honor society; and Tau Beta Pi, the nation’s oldest engineering honor society and second oldest collegiate honor society.
Yabroudi earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, with honors, in 1978 and a master’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research a year later, both from Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon.
Yabroudi serves on the Board Facilities Committee as a Life Trustee participant. He served as a Voting Trustee from 2009-2021. His Syracuse University service includes membership on the College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean’s Leadership Council He is a 2018 recipient of the George Arents Award, the University’s highest alumni honor, and has been named a Tau Beta Pi Distinguished Alumnus.
He and his wife, Maha Abou Gazale, have provided lead gifts for the establishment of the Abdallah H. Yabroudi Chair in Civil Engineering Endowed Fund; the Hasan Abdallah Yabroudi Middle East Center Endowed Fund; the Yabroudi CIE Faculty Support Fund; the Yabroudi CIE Renovation Fund; and the Yabroudi, Bitar and Ghazaleh Endowed Scholarship Fund. They have supported other initiatives in Engineering and Computer Science, Middle Eastern studies and study abroad.
They reside in Dubai and are the parents of Hasan, Ghada, Faisal and Omar.