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Faculty

Assistant Professor
Dr. Omar Swei
Bio

Omar Swei joined the Department of Civil Engineering at UBC as an Assistant Professor in 2018. He received his graduate training at MIT in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems Division and was a recipient of a U.S. Fulbright grant for the 2016-2017 academic year. His research broadly centers on the development and implementation of operations research methods to improve the design and maintenance of infrastructure systems. This work emphasizes the development of optimal infrastructure management policies under uncertainty and improving the economic performance and environmental sustainability of existing infrastructure assets. Dr. Swei is also an instructor in the UBC Master of Engineering Leadership in Integrated Water Management. 

Research Area / Group
Project and Construction Management, Transportation Engineering
Research Interests

Asset Management, Life Cycle Modeling, Optimization Methods, Real Options, Reinforcement Learning, Risk Analysis, Sequential Decision-Making, Stochastic Modeling, Sustainable Infrastructure Management, Time-Series Methods, Uncertainty Estimation and Propagation.

Courses
CIVL 300

Construction Engineering and Management

Project delivery systems: traditional; construction management; turnkey; project management. Network planning methods. Activity planning, including construction methods selection. Estimating, bidding and bonding. Project control tools and procedures. Safety considerations and quality control.

Latest Publications

2020

A. Yehia and Swei, O., “Probabilistic infrastructure performance models: An iterative-methods approach”, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, vol. 111, pp. 245 - 254, 2020.
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O. Swei, “Forecasting Infidelity: Why Current Methods for Predicting Costs Miss the Mark”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, vol. 146, no. 2, p. 04019100, 2020.
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X. Xu, Swei, O., Xu, L., C. Schlosser, A., Gregory, J., and Kirchain, R., “Quantifying Location-Specific Impacts of Pavement Albedo on Radiative Forcing Using an Analytical ApproachQuantifying Location-Specific Impacts of Pavement Albedo on Radiative Forcing Using an Analytical Approach”, Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 2411 - 2421, 2020.
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2019

C. Caldeira, Swei, O., Freire, F., Dias, L., Olivetti, E. A., and Kirchain, R., “Planning strategies to address operational and price uncertainty in biodiesal production”, Applied Energy, vol. 238, pp. 1573-1581, 2019.
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O. Swei, Gregory, J., and Kirchain, R., “Embedding Flexibility within Pavement Management: a Technique to Improve Expected Performance of Roadway Systems”, ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 2019.
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2018

O. Swei, ““Long-Run Construction Cost Trends: Baumol’s Cost Disease and a Disaggregate Look at Building Material Price Dynamics”, ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, vol. 144, no. 7, 2018.
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O. Swei, Gregory, J., and Kirchain, R., “Does pavement degradation follow a random walk with drift? Evidence from variance ratio tests for pavement roughness”, ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, vol. 24, no. 4, 2018.
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2017

M. Akbarian, Swei, O., Gregory, J., and Kirchain, R., “Probabilistic Characterization of Life Cycle Agency and User Costs: A Case Study of Minnesota”, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, vol. 2639, pp. 93-101, 2017.
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O. Swei, Gregory, J., and Kirchain, R., “Construction Cost Estimation – a Parametric Approach for Better Estimates of Expected Cost and Variation”, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, vol. 101, pp. 295-305, 2017.
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2016

O. Swei, Gregory, J., and Kirchain, R., “A Probabilistic Approach for Long-run Price Projections: Case Study of Concrete and Asphalt”, 143, vol. 1, 2016.
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View more publications
Dr. Omar Swei
Contact
oaswei@civil.ubc.ca
T:
604.822.6764
Location:

CEME - Room 2004C

Civil and Mechanical Engineering Building
The University of British Columbia
6250 Applied Science Lane
Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4
Canada
Department of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Applied Science
2002 - 6250 Applied Science Lane
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
Tel 604 822 2637
E-mail info@civil.ubc.ca
Website www.civil.ubc.ca
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