UTA works to reduce cost, boost efficiency of transportation projects
Sharareh “Sherri” Kermanshachi, associate professor of civil engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington, has earned a grant to study the effectiveness of electronic ticketing technology in transportation projects.
Kermanshachi received a $108,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) through the Transportation Consortium of South-Central States (TranSET). TranSET is a collaborative partnership among nine major institutions and two community colleges across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The center is run out of Louisiana State University.
“We want to investigate and determine how effective e-ticketing can be on the construction of highway and bridge projects,” said Kermanshachi, who is also the technology transfer director of the Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions and Dollars and director of the Resilient Infrastructures and Sustainable Environment lab. “We’ll use cutting-edge technologies and innovative construction management practices to make the process more seamless.”
E-ticketing is a paperless process that uses data to streamline the construction payment process by enabling real-time tracking of the materials delivery to construction sites.
In this project, Kermanshachi and her team will utilize qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the acceleration of e-ticketing adoption across the nation, as the technology reduces in-person contact among field staff. Michael Bozlar, assistant professor in the departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, is co-principal investigator.
Kermanshachi said the project could be expanded for future use in operations and maintenance in other construction sectors.
“E-ticketing is a new technology that can reduce construction project costs,” she said. “It requires less on-site inspection, increases accuracy in delivery of construction materials, improves documentation and reduces project scheduling.”
Her project may offer an effective solution to the lack of inspection workers in the construction industry, while reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and enhancing safety in field work zones. It also is intended to decrease the resistance to e-ticketing among transportation entities that doubt if there will be cost savings associated with employing the technology.
As part of the project, Kermanshachi also will develop a decision-making model and tool for the adoption of e-ticketing in different transportation projects based on each project’s size, type, complexity level, location, timeline and other characteristics.
Kermanshachi, who recently was named a fellow of the Institutution of Civil Engineers, has received more than 40 international, national, and regional honors, including the 2022 Texas Women’s Foundation Young Leader Award, the 2022 Diversity Leadership Award from Dallas Business Journal, the 2021 Rosa Parks Leadership Diversity Award, the 2020 Women in Technology Award, the 2020 Mark Hasso Educator of the Year Award, the 2018 Design Build in America (DBIA) Distinguished Leadership Award, and the 2018 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.
She has earned the 2021 Best Paper Award from Education Sciences and the 2021 Associated Schools of Construction Teaching Award. She was named to Civil + Structural Engineer magazine’s Rising Stars list and was also the only academic recipient of the 2017 Texas and Louisiana Engineering News Record Top 20 Under 40 Award.
Kermanshachi has received several other national and regional awards, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Professional Service Award, ASCE Excellence in Civil Engineering Education Fellowship, Utility Engineering & Surveying Institute Fellowship, ASCE Outstanding Reviewer, Open Educational Resources Research Fellowship, DBIA Owner Scholarship and the Graduate Climate Award.
She has published more than 250 books, scholarly articles, conference proceedings and research reports. She serves as board member of Construction Management Association of America-North Texas and editorial board member of three journals. She also has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed conference papers in ASCE Construction Research Congress, ASCE International Conference on Transportation & Development and American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, among others.
In addition to supervising multiple postdoctoral, doctoral and master’s students, Kermanshachi is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Transportation Research Record and ASCE Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. She is also the founder of three student chapters and currently serves as the faculty adviser for UTA’s DBIA chapter and student chapters for the Associated General Contractors of America and Construction Management Association of America.