Dr. Molenaar's Biography

Dr. Keith R. Molenaar is an associate professor and K. Stanton Lewis Chair with the Construction Engineering and Management program in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Molenaar maintains an active research program focusing on alternative delivery strategies, cost engineering and risk analysis for constructed facilities and infrastructure. He has conducted research studies for the National Science Foundation, the U.S. General Services Administration, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the Federal Highway Administration, and departments of transportation from California, Florida, Minnesota, and Washington. He served on advisory panels for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Panama Canal Expansion. He also received a one-year Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research, education, and service in Chile and South America.

Upon completion of his B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Dr. Molenaar worked for Architectural Resource Consultants, Inc. where he specialized in pre-construction planning for owners and designers. Dr. Molenaar received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before returning to the University of Colorado as a faculty member, Dr. Molenaar was employed as an assistant professor in the Construction Engineering and Management program in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Molenaar is responsible for teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in construction. His courses include topics such as cost engineering, project controls, and construction equipment and methods. His teaching philosophy focuses on student-centered cooperative learning based in active, project-based learning at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Modern engineering education must involve integrated, cross-disciplinary approaches to learning. Increasingly, engineers must supplement technical mastery with business and communication skills, and an understanding of the ethical and societal impacts of their engineering solutions. Dr. Molenaar applies these philosophies of cooperative and active learning to help students excel and meet these challenges.

Dr. Molenaar is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) and the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA). His accolades include DBIA Charter Design-Build Designee (2002), DBIA Academic Leadership Award (2000), Society of Military Engineers’ Toulmin Medal (2003), and ASCE Thomas Fitch Rowland Award (2001). Dr. Molenaar has been recognized by Public Works Magazine as a top 50 “Trendsetter” for his work in alternative contracting in the public sector in 2004.