Contact Info

Dr. Jiansong Zhang earned his Bachelor of Construction Management from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China with the top grade in his department, his M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He worked in the Civil and Construction Engineering Department at Western Michigan University as an Assistant Professor for two years before joining the School of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University as an Assistant Professor in Aug. 2017. Dr. Zhang’s professional experience includes working for Jiuzhou Engineering Consulting company in China and Gaylor Electric. He is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Construction Research Congress (CRC), and a member of ASCE Data Sensing and Analysis (DSA) Committee, Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation (VIMS) Committee, and Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology (TCCIT) Education Committee. He is the elected Member-at-Large (October 2017-September 2019) and Secretary (October 2019-September 2021) of the ASCE DSA committee. He is also a member of the buildingSMART linked data working group and regulatory interoperability working group. He serves as a reviewer of Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering (since 2015), Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (since 2015), Journal of Management in Engineering (since 2017), Journal of Construction Engineering (since 2016), Journal of Automation in Construction (since 2017), Journal of Building and Environment (since 2017), Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering (since 2018), International Journal of Construction Education and Research (since 2018), Journal of Architectural Engineering (since 2020), Journal of Information Technology in Construction (since 2020), International Journal of Construction Management (since 2020), Journal of Advances in Engineering Software (since 2021), Expert Systems with Applications (since 2021), Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Law (since 2022), and several international/national conferences (ASCE Earth and Space Conference 2020, i3CE 2019, i3CE 2021, ISARC 2019, ISARC 2021, ISARC 2023, CRC 2016, CRC 2018, CRC 2020, CRC 2022, CRC 2024, IPC 2019, CIB W78 2018, ICSDEC 2016, ICCCBE 2016, WTC 2017, IWCCE 2017, ASC 2017, ASC 2020). For example, he has been the session chair of Augmented & Virtual Reality session at IWCCE 2017, one of the session chairs of Data Sensing, BIM, Simulation Track, a program committee member of the Automation and Robotics Track, as well as a reviewer in both tracks of CRC 2018, the session chair of Cyber-Human-System Session at CIB-W78 2018, the session chair of BIM, Ontologies and Semantic Approaches Session at i3CE 2019, the session chair of 3F & 4F: Computer Applications and Simulation, Advanced Technologies, and Data Analytics at CRC 2020, the session chair of Robotics, Automation, and Control at i3CE 2021, the session chair of G1: Technology Management and Iinnovation at ISARC 2022. He is an active member in Transportation Research Board (TRB) and was the TRB AFH10 2016 Straight-to-Recording Webinar Series panelist and moderator. Some of his honors include receiving the prestigious Corps of Engagement Award (2022) with his NSF PFI-RP team from Purdue University, The John P. Lisack Early-Career Engagement Award (2022) from Purdue Polytechnic Institute (PPI), PPI Inaugural Interdisciplinary Research Award (2021), Outstanding Faculty in Engagement (2021-2022) and Outstanding Faculty in Discovery (2018-2019, 2020-2021) from Purdue University School of Construction Management Technology, technology development award (2017) from Western Michigan University, conference travel awards (2012; 2013; 2014) from the University of Illinois, top three paper award (2013) from ASCE International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, Chester P. Siess Award (2012) from the University of Illinois, Pokrajac Fellowship (2011) from the University of Illinois, CEE Department Scholarship (2009) from Carnegie Mellon University, and National Scholarship (2007; 2008) from China. Dr. Zhang has research interests in developing and leveraging advanced technologies to support construction engineering and management, construction automation, and sustainable infrastructure, including building information modeling (BIM), artificial intelligence (AI) [i.e., natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and automated reasoning], virtual reality (VR), and construction robotics. His research has been supported by Federal and State agencies such as National Science Foundation (NSF), Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC), Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities, and Indiana Department of Transportation. His total research grants added up to $8,018,352 as of Oct. 2024. He has been awarded six NSF research projects to: (1) study BIM interoperability scientifically, (2) develop an interoperable BIM prototype system for automating building code compliance checking and modular construction analysis, (3) study BIM for infrastructure to build the next generation "Internet of Infrastructures", (4) study next generation transportation infrastructure with connected and automated vehicles, (5) study collaborations between multiple human workers and multiple robots for future construction jobsites, and (6) study the use of interoperable BIM and robotics systems for building construction automation, respectively, through collaborations with experts in Civil and Construction EngineeringMechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering Technology, Computer and Information Technology, Technology Leadership & Innovation​, Construction Management Technology, Psychological Sciences, and industrial partners. Dr. Zhang has served as an NSF panelist many times for proposal reviews at different programs such as CMMI, IIP, FW-HTF, and DUE.