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.

Dr. Erkal 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 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.