Dr. Iris D. Tommelein Presents 2024 Harris Lecture
The R.B. Harris Lecture and Award was established by CEE in honor of Robert B. Harris, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1987.
On Wednesday, April 10th, we had the pleasure of welcoming and recognizing Dr. Iris D. Tommelein with the “2024 R.B. Harris Lecture and Award.” Dr. Tommelein presented a lecture on construction engineering and innovation titled “The House of Toyota – An Inspiration for Building Construction.” Tommelein has been a pioneer in this field for almost 30 years, adapting the principles of the “Toyota Way”, the “Toyota Production System”, and “Lean Manufacturing” to building construction.
Dr. Tommelein obtained her degree in Civil Engineering and Architecture from the Free University of Brussels before pursuing her graduate education at Stanford. She then earned an MS in Civil Engineering (Construction Engineering and Management) in 1985, an MS in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) in 1989 and a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1989. After leaving Stanford, she served on the faculty of the University of Michigan Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) before joining the University of California, Berkeley where she is now a Distinguished Professor.
Dr. Tommelein and colleagues founded the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) in 1997 and UC Berkeley’s Project Production Systems Laboratory (P2SL) in 2005. She is a leader of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) and a member of the National Academy of Construction (NAC). She received LCI’s Lean Pioneer Award in 2015, the Project Production Institute’s Technical Achievement Award in 2022, and this year became the first woman to receive the American Society of Civil Engineers Construction Management Award.
The R.B. Harris Lecture and Award was established by CEE in honor of Robert B. Harris, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1987. Harris aided in the foundation of the first graduate program of Construction Engineering and Management at the University and, like Tommelein, played a significant role in the development of the Construction Engineering and Management field both domestically and internationally.
Following the conclusion of her lecture, Dr. Tommelein was presented with the Robert B. Harris Award by U-M CEE Professor Photios G. Ioannou. We sincerely thank Dr. Tommelein for visiting our department and sharing her expertise with an excellent lecture.