Iris D. Tommelein is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Project Management in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and she directs the Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL) at the University of California, Berkeley.
Tommelein has been studying, developing, and applying principles and methods of project-based production management for the architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) industry, what is termed Lean Construction. Tommelein has led many industry workshops, hosted conferences on Lean Construction, and is actively engaged in consulting work. She has published over 250 refereed articles, books, and book chapters, and given numerous keynote lectures on her research.
Tommelein graduated as Civil Engineer-Architect from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium. She holds a MS in Construction Engineering and Management, an MS in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence), and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford. She served four years on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology (TCCIT) and held professional membership on TCCIT's Database and Information Management Committee.
Tommelein was a founder of the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) in 1997 and was recognized by the LCI with the Lean Pioneer Award 2015. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2022 PPI Technical Achievement Award, recognizing significant contributions and thought leadership in the area of Project Production Management. Tommelein was inducted into the National Academy of Construction (NAC) in 2019.
- Lean construction, lean production, design management
- Sustainability, supply-chain management, life-cycle engineering
- Civil infrastructure systems, adaptive project leadership, engineering project management
- Megaproject delivery, construction process engineering, integrated project delivery IPD
- BIM, virtual design and construction VDC
