Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2022
  • M.Sc., Architecture Eng. and Construction Management, Carnegie Mellon University, 2019
  • B.Sc., Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, 2014
Academic Appointments
  • Graduate research assistant, Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 2019-2022.
  • Graduate teaching assistant, Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 2019.
  • Adjunct faculty, Architecture Engineering and Construction Management Program, Carnegie Mellon University, 2018.
  • Research assistant, Architecture Department, Carnegie Mellon University, 2017.
Professional Honors
  • Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award, Construction Safety Research Alliance, 2021
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • Construction Safety Research Alliance (CSRA)
  • Construction Management Association of America (CMAA)
Languages
  • Turkish

Dr. Erkal focuses on helping her clients diagnose their project management systems and develop integration plans to improve their effectiveness. She specializes in translating both well-established and state-of-the-art project management systems into practice through multi-disciplinary collaborations and research to help her clients' changing needs. She has extensive hands-on experience in developing and communicating innovations through industry engagements. In graduate research, she specialized in assessing, and developing safety management systems for improved safety performance. Dr. Erkal's experience with expert-oriented research is utilized by many industry teams to find effective solutions to challenging problems through consensus building, focus groups, interviews, and brainstorming sessions. She has led professional teams in efforts of research, development and implementation for organizational change and project management success.

Dr. Erkal's proficiency extends to developing Power BI dashboards tailored specifically for safety metrics, thereby empowering organizations with insightful visualization tools to monitor and enhance safety performance effectively. Her expertise in this domain also involves crafting new corporate safety metrics, aligning them with industry best practices, and facilitating seamless reporting mechanisms for stakeholders. Furthermore, Dr. Erkal actively engages in the development of corporate governance procedures and standards, ensuring organizational compliance and fostering a culture of accountability. Her adeptness in public communication shines through her contributions to high-profile projects, where she adeptly translates intricate technical jargon into digestible content for diverse audiences, thereby facilitating transparent and effective communication channels. Additionally, Dr. Erkal's proficiency in documenting data models enhances corporate communication and augments decision-making processes, laying a robust foundation for organizational growth and success.

Dr. Erkal supported the integration of cutting-edge project management ideas from generation to design and to implementation. Her work in organizational learning in construction organizations, contract negotiations, knowledge management and data collection frameworks, functional team networks, and machine learning systems for predictive decision-making solutions proved impactful for the implementing organizations and is recognized through peer-reviewed research. Dr. Erkal has worked in various types of projects such as infrastructure, onshore oil and gas facilities, utilities and service, nuclear, residential and commercial buildings.

Dr. Erkal's field experience includes acting as the contract manager in large infrastructure projects providing contract administration and implementation support, preparing claims, and assessing project controls (operations, cost, quality, safety, schedule) in pre- and post-completion processes.