Tommy TafazzoliRESEARCHER · EDUCATOR · ENGINEER

INDUSTRY & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Construction experience that informs academic work.

Field engineering, project scheduling, bid development, and construction administration provide practical context for teaching, research, and student mentoring.

Illustration showing fish passage ramps, an underground tunnel, a passage helix, and the adult fish collection facility at Cle Elum Dam.
Cle Elum fish passageCle Elum Dam Fish Passage project illustration. During the 2018 Kiewit faculty internship, Tafazzoli served as primary scheduler for the bid.

The 2018 Kiewit faculty internship included bid scheduling and project exposure in the Pacific Northwest.

Tafazzoli wearing a hard hat and high-visibility vest at a construction site.
Industry in the fieldA construction-site visit documented in the Kiewit faculty internship materials.
Tafazzoli standing beside the Kiewit Bridge & Marine District sign.
Kiewit faculty internshipAt Kiewit’s Bridge & Marine District office during the faculty internship.
Tafazzoli in a high-visibility vest beside a Redmond road sign.
Sound Transit projectField visit to a Sound Transit project in the Seattle area, documented in the internship materials.
2018

Kiewit · AGC faculty internship

Cle Elum Lake, Washington

Primary Project Scheduler

Cle Elum Lake Fish Passage Facility

Worked with a 31-member Kiewit engineering team on competitive-bid development, serving as primary project scheduler at Kiewit Bridge & Marine’s Vancouver office.

Approx. $125M bid

Academic connection: Planning, constructability, coordination, production constraints, and schedule-driven bid development.

2018

Kiewit / Sound Transit

Washington State

Project-Team Scheduling Support

East Link Extension

Supported scheduling in a complex public-transit project environment, with exposure to infrastructure planning, coordination, and schedule integration.

Approx. $53M project scope

Academic connection: Project controls and coordination across a major infrastructure delivery environment. The listed value refers to the documented project scope, not the entire East Link program.

2016

Nevada Department of Transportation

Carson City, Nevada

Field Engineer

I-580 / U.S. 395 Carson City Freeway

Field experience on Phase 2, including approximately 4.9 miles of controlled-access freeway with roadway paving, landscaping, sound walls, signals, and related works.

Approx. $42M project

Academic connection: Field execution, documentation, safety, and the relationship between planning and construction delivery.

2016

Nevada Department of Transportation

Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Field Engineer

U.S. 50 Cave Rock Tunnel Extension

Supported work on an approximately 60-foot-long, 27-foot-tall extension at the westbound tunnel entrance, designed to intercept rockfall before it reached the roadway.

Approx. $6M project

Academic connection: Safety-focused infrastructure, field coordination, and construction in a constrained physical setting.

Project scales and roles are reported in the supplied CV. These are professional-practice project values and are excluded from research-funding totals.

EARLIER FIELD EXPERIENCE

Residential construction and project administration.

How practice connects with academic work
Diagram tracing connections from professional practice to academic activities and contributions.
Practice informs academic workIndustry experience connects practical knowledge with teaching, student mentoring, research, and service.

Earlier residential-construction work in Tehran included field engineering and project administration, with responsibilities related to safety support, coordination, documentation, and job conferences.

Across these settings, professional practice informs realistic course problems, industry engagement, project controls, and the research-to-practice orientation of the safety program.

Industry-informed teaching ↗