Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2021
  • M.Eng., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2016
  • B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2015
Academic Appointments
  • Course Instructor, Rice Center for Engineering Leadership, Rice University, 2020 - Current
  • Project Instructor, Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science, Carnegie Mellon University, 2018 - Current
  • Graduate Student Researcher (Research Assistant), Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of California, Berkeley, 2017-2021
  • Graduate Student Instructor (Teaching Assistant), Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of California, Berkeley, 2019-2020
Professional Honors
  • National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC) Fellow 2016-2018
Professional Affiliations
  • Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • American Public Health Association (APHA)
  • American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Dr. McElwee specializes in infrastructure systems, construction, disaster risk management, and environmental justice. He has experience providing innovative solutions to electrical utilities, offshore mooring, and large-scale transportation clients.

Dr. McElwee has investigated multiple equipment and vegetation related failures and fires of electrical transmission and distribution structures such as bird strikes, electrical tracking/flashover, line slap, vehicular contact, etc. Dr. McElwee is experienced in various analysis techniques risk and causal analysis techniques including multi-hazard risk analysis, apparent cause evaluation (ACE), and root cause analysis (RCA).

During his time as a licensed contractor, Dr. McElwee has experienced all phases of construction projects and has advised clients on a range of construction topics ranging from project controls, project scheduling, change management, risk management, and construction dispute resolution. Additionally, he has provided utility program management services to clients focused on wildfire mitigation.

Dr. McElwee is well-versed in the following areas of data collection and analysis:

  • Python, MATLAB, QGIS, & R
  • Machine Learning & Statistics
  • Data Visualizations and Dashboards


Dr. McElwee's Ph.D. research involved modeling the impact of natural disasters on large scale transportation systems, particularly vulnerable populations. He successfully quantified the disproportionate impact of evacuating African American residents in New Orleans, LA under emergency scenarios. Dr. McElwee has in-depth knowledge and experience in community resilience and environmental justice.

At the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. McElwee served as a Graduate Student Researcher (or Research Assistant) and was the Graduate Student Instructor (or Teaching Assistant) for undergraduate courses in computer science. He currently teaches summer STEM courses at Carnegie Mellon and Rice University focused on machine learning applications to civil engineering problems.