Rate My Professor David Grau

David Grau is the Sundt Construction Professor and an Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment within Arizona State University's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He earned his industrial engineering degree from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, and both his master’s and doctoral degrees in civil, architectural, and environmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining ASU, Grau was a faculty member at the University of Alabama. His professional experience includes nearly ten years in the private sector, where he served as a program manager for heavy industrial projects and as director of a large engineering design department. In these roles, he led large interdisciplinary and multicultural teams to successfully deliver capital projects in regions including South America, Africa, and Europe. Grau is a licensed Industrial Engineer in Barcelona and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He also holds appointments as Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Honors Professor at Barrett, The Honors College at ASU.

Grau’s research specializes in systems engineering, managing uncertainty and risk, automation, computing, and remote sensing applications in construction; lean construction philosophy and processes; and enhancing construction productivity. His investigations center on developing mechanisms that provide accurate and timely information to support decision-making at project, portfolio, and organizational levels. Early work pioneered onsite monitoring using sensing devices and epistemic models, with the resulting technology now utilized in 60% of global Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) projects. More recently, his efforts have expanded to systems engineering for decision-making and life-cycle performance, designing reliable information flows among project stakeholders. He has introduced concepts such as advanced project controls—integrating robust processes with sensing and AI technologies—and project predictability, defined as the team’s ability to forecast outcomes early. Grau has earned prestigious awards, including the Distinguished Professor Award and the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Construction Industry Institute (CII), as well as the Celebration of Engineering & Technology Innovation (CETI) award from FIATECH. His educational resources and products have trained thousands of engineers and practitioners worldwide. Additionally, he chairs workshops on Prevention through Design (PtD) and contributes to NIOSH-funded initiatives.