Purdue University Professor Bryan Hubbard was named outstanding educator of 2023 in the field of construction education, the Associated General Contractors of America announced April 17. The association selected Hubbard for the award because of his academic contribution as well as work with students outside of the classroom and involvement with colleagues in the industry.

“These educators play a vital role in nurturing the future leaders of our industry,” said Lester C. Snyder, the association’s president and executive vice president of Brightline West in Las Vegas. “By honoring some of the top construction educators in the country, we aim to inspire others in academia to excel as well.”

Hubbard teaches courses in estimating, design construction integration and industrial construction in the School of Construction Management Technology. He has been at Purdue for the last 20 years, focusing his time and efforts to recruit and develop young adults for careers in all areas of the construction industry. He has held multiple leadership positions at Purdue, including head of the School of Construction Management Technology from 2013 to 2016, where he led a curriculum transformation to incorporate real world construction projects throughout the undergraduate program. In addition, he also oversaw the creation of the Design Construction Integration degree, which focuses on trans-disciplinary studies across all areas of the built environment.

This year, the AGC Education and Research Foundation also awarded the first-ever Meritorious Award to Dr. Reza Akhavian of San Diego State University. Akhavian is an associate professor of the J.R. Filanc Construction Engineering and Management Program at the university’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. He is also an affiliate faculty member of the university’s Computational Science Research Center and the Virtual Immersive Teaching and Learning Research Center, as well as the founding director of the school’s Data-informed Construction Engineering research lab. The Meritorious Award highlights educators early in their career to acknowledge up-and-coming leaders and innovators.

The Outstanding Educator receives a $5,000 cash award and may name two students as recipients of $2,500 scholarships for the coming academic year. Candidates for the award must be full-time teaching faculty members with four years minimum teaching experience in an ACCE or ABET-accredited university construction program or construction-related engineering program.