Faculty & Advising
The Master of Science in Civil Engineering: Energy Infrastructure program features expert UW faculty and leading practitioners in the field.
Faculty
Julian Yamaura
Director
Julian Yamaura is a full-time assistant teaching professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. He is the director of the Master of Science in Civil Engineering: Energy Infrastructure and the Master of Science in Civil Engineering: Construction Engineering. He teaches courses related to project engineering, heavy civil construction methods, sustainable construction materials, temporary structures, and software integration and adoption. His research interests include mobile and cloud technology systems in construction and their impacts on project management. Yamaura previously worked in the heavy civil construction and the construction technology sectors. He earned his Ph.D. and master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington.
Kamal Ahmed
Kamal Ahmed has over two decades of experience in academia and private industry in several countries. He has taught courses on construction engineering and geo-information systems in North America, Africa and Asia, and has held leadership positions in contracting and consulting firms. He is currently a board member and associate of an international consulting firm that designs and supervises the construction of medium- and large-sized projects. Ahmed earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Washington.
Matt Cramer
Matt Cramer was an early entrant in the wind turbine analysis field. He has played an important role in the standardization of turbine analysis and the progression of mechanical, bureaucratic and technological improvements that have made wind utilities competitive with more conventional utilities. He helped found Turbine Test Services, a company that is now part of SimuTech Group. Cramer holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Andrea Crawford
Andrea Crawford works as the environmental education coordinator at Puget Sound Energy’s Wild Horse Wind Facility in Ellensburg, Washington. She manages the tourism and educational aspects of Wild Horse at the Renewable Energy Center and assists with plant operations, such as turbine and site inspections. Crawford holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from Central Washington University.
Mark Kirschenbaum
Mark Kirschenbaum is the assistant director of campus utilities for the University of Washington. He is directly responsible for the operation of the UW power plant and the West Campus Utility Plant, which supplies heating, air conditioning and emergency power to the UW Seattle Campus and the UW Medical Center. Kirschenbaum has over 30 years of power plant experience and is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
Tim Larson
Tim Larson is a professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, where he teaches courses on air pollution control and air quality modeling. Larson has over 35 years of experience in air quality research, specifically in characterization of urban air pollution and its sources. His major focus in recent years has been on assessment of human exposure to outdoor air pollutants, and he has collaborated with other UW researchers on many projects related to the health consequences of exposure to air pollution. He holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Washington.
Tom Le
Tom Le is a transportation engineer at the Seattle Department of Transportation and an instructor with the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. His areas of expertise include intelligent transportation systems, traffic design, signal design, travel demand modeling, traffic and transit operational analysis, computer-aided drafting and design, and GIS applications. Le holds a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Washington.
Joe Mahoney
Joe Mahoney is a professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and also teaches in the online program, Master of Science in Civil Engineering: Construction Engineering, a degree jointly offered by the departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Construction Management. He is a co-founder of Pavia Systems, a company that specializes in online learning and cloud-based applications for the construction industry.
Mahoney’s research interests include energy and energy infrastructure, using the internet as a delivery system for collaboration including training, self-directed learning tools, and the development and use of online databases for pavement applications. He previously served as director of the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC). Mahoney holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Texas A&M University.
Mohammad Malakoutian
Mohammad Malakoutian is an affiliate assistant professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, where he teaches courses in structural dynamics, steel-structure design, mechanics of materials, statics, temporary structures and accounting and finance for construction. He has more than 15 years of professional experience in civil engineering and has worked as a structural, civil and project engineer in Iran, Qatar and the United States. Malakoutian holds a Ph.D. in structural engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Washington.
Fady Masoud
Fady Masoud is an affiliate lecturer of computer-aided construction in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. His work as a consultant for small and large contractors includes developing processes and methods in computer-aided construction and forecasting future needs in the field. He is a partner at Tapestry Partners, a company that provides computer-aided engineering resources. Masoud holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington.
Stephen Muench
Stephen Muench is an associate professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on the transportation infrastructure realm, with special emphasis on roadway sustainability, construction, pavements, materials and online training. Prior to his academic career, he worked for the consulting company Perteet as a transportation design engineer. He also served as a nuclear submarine officer in the Navy. Muench is chairman of the board of the Greenroads Foundation, a nonprofit that aids communities and the environment by recognizing sustainable transportation projects and promoting sustainability education for transportation infrastructure. He holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Washington.
Bart Nijssen
Bart Nijssen is an associate professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, where he heads the UW Hydro | Computational Hydrology group. This research group builds tools to simulate and investigate the terrestrial hydrological cycle, and uses these tools for a wide range of hydrologic research projects relating to climate change, drought and streamflow, climate systems and other issues. His private sector experience includes five years as a senior executive at 3TIER, a company that provides assessment and forecast services for the weather-driven renewable energy industry. Nijssen holds a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Washington.
Ann Rendahl
Ann Rendahl serves as a commissioner for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), the state agency responsible for ensuring that investor-owned utility and transportation services are safe, available, reliable and fairly priced. She has over 20 years of experience in the utility regulatory field as a lawyer and policy analyst, working with electric, natural gas, water utilities and telecommunications companies to respond to changes in the regulatory and business environment. She previously worked as the director of the UTC’s Administrative Law Division and of the Policy and Legislative Affairs Division, representing the agency before the state legislature, and as an assistant attorney general for the Utilities and Transportation Division. Rendahl earned a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law.
Matt Richards
Matt Richards has over a decade of experience implementing large-scale, complex infrastructure projects for a Fortune 500 utility company and an ENR Top 15 contractor. As the southeast Louisiana manager of construction in Entergy’s Capital Projects Transmission group, he oversees the execution of high voltage transmission line and substation projects typically exceeding $30 million in total value. Prior to working in the utility industry, he worked as a project engineer in heavy civil construction on highway and levee projects. Richards holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington.
Andrew Wolfe
Andrew Wolfe has worked in the information technology field for over 20 years. During his 17 years at Microsoft, he worked in multiple positions in technical sales and business operations, and currently he is the director of sales strategy and operations for the Volterra and Silverline product line at F5, Inc. Wolfe is an adjunct faculty member for Green River College and an associate faculty member for the University of Washington. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts and a master's in cybersecurity and leadership from UW. He holds active certifications in cybersecurity from the International Information System Security Certification Consortium and CompTIA.
Adviser
Kimbo Smith
Kimbo Smith joined CEE as an adviser in March 2022, supporting prospective students in deciding whether to apply for the program and advising enrolled students during their degree and beyond. She previously worked for the University of Virginia, first supporting Olympic athletic programs and then supporting the Department of Psychology as the Program Coordinator. Kimbo embraces a developmental advising style for supporting and helping graduate students. She has a master's degree in higher education administration and student affairs from the University of Virginia and a master's in gender and race studies from the University of Alabama.