Ali Touran

Professor,  Civil and Environmental Engineering

Contact

Social Media

Office

  • 423 Snell Engineering Center
  • 617.373.5508

Research Focus

Risk assessment; construction cost/schedule uncertainty; project delivery systems; simulation; construction productivity

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Stanford University, 1980
  • M.S., Civil Engineering, Stanford University, 1978
  • B.S., Civil Engineering, Tehran University, 1977

Licensure

  • Professional Engineer: Massachusetts

Honors & Awards

  • 2014 President, Boston Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE Section (2014/2015)
  • 2009 President Award, Boston Society of Civil Engineers
  • 2006 Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers
  • 2004 Best Paper Award, ASEE New England Section Annual Conference, Dedham, Mass
  • 1999 Person of the Year (1998/1999), CMAA New England Region Chapter
  • 1989 The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation Professional Merit Award

Teaching Interests

  •  Construction Management
  •  Cost Analysis
  •  Scheduling
  •  Applied Probability
  •  Simulation

Professional Affiliations

  • American Society of Civil Engineers
  • Boston Society of Civil Engineers
  • Construction Management Association of America
  • Construction Research Council
  • Journal of Construction Engineering & Management, ASCE

Research Overview

Risk assessment; construction cost/schedule uncertainty; project delivery systems; simulation; construction productivity

Selected Research Projects

Selected Publications

  • N. Gao, A. Touran, Cost Overruns and Formal Risk Assessment Program in US Rail Transit Projects, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 146(5), 2020, 05020004
  • Castro-Nova, G.M. Gad, A. Touran, B. Cetin, D.D. Gransberg, Evaluating the Influence of Differing Geotechnical Risk Perceptions on Design-Build Highway Projects, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering, 4(4), 2018
  • N. Montazeri, A. Touran, Multi-Objective Reliability-Based Optimization of Life- Cycle Maintenance for Bridges under Cost Uncertainty, Proceedings of the Construction Research Congress, ASCE, 2018
  • Touran, F. Panah, Use of the Alternative Technical Concepts in Transportation Projects, ISEC, 9 Conference, 2017
  • R. Masoumi, A. Touran, A Framework to Form Balanced Project Portfolios, Proceedings of the Construction Research Congress, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2016

Spotlight Story

Mar 11, 2024

Applying Previous Experience in the Workforce to a Civil Engineering Co-op

Paulo Torres Salazar, MS’23, civil engineering, had engineering experience in the workforce even before his time at Northeastern. During his time on co-op at Suffolk Construction, the skills he had built between his work and his courses proved to be a huge boost.

Faculty

Apr 20, 2021

FY22 TIER 1 Award Recipients

Congratulations to the 17 COE faculty and affiliates who were recipients of FY22 TIER 1 Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grants for 11 different projects.

In the Media

Feb 28, 2020

MTA announces members of major construction review unit

CEE Professor Ali Touran highlighted in MassTransit for being selected to be a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Major Construction Review Unit (MCRU).

Students

May 02, 2019

Alessandro Mazzotta Receives CMAA Scholarship

Civil Engineering student Alessandro Mazzotta was awarded a Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Graduate Student Award by the organization’s New England Chapter. Alessandro, a Master of Science student concentrating in construction management, received the scholarship in recognition of his academic, professional and extracurricular achievements. Alessandro hails from the small town of Castellaro, located in […]

Faculty

Mar 13, 2017

Touran Awarded CII Grant

CEE Professor Ali Touran has been awarded a $235K grant from the Construction Industry Institute (CII) for research on the application of Integrated Project Delivery for Industrial Projects.

Oct 17, 2012

Managing Project Portfolios

The Construction Industry Institute has awarded CEE Professor Ali Touran $250K to determine the most effective way to manage large construction project portfolios.

Jan 24, 2012

Tracking MassDOT Performance

CIV Professor Ali Touran has teamed up with Pioneer Institute to create a Massachusetts Transportation Dashboard to monitor how MassDOT is using tax dollars to reduce traffic congestion and increase throughput & safety.

Jun 30, 2011

Prof. Touran Appointed as Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Professor Ali Touran, Associate Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been appointed the Associate Editor of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Jul 14, 2009

Touran Elected Secretary of Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section

Ali Touran, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was featured by the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section, BSCES News, for his long and distinguished career and now most recently for his election as Secretary of BSCES.

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