O'Connor

James T. (Jim) O’Connor is the C.T. Wells Professor of Project Management at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University, a master’s at the University of Illinois-Urbana, and a PhD at UT Austin. Among research efforts that he has led and that are now considered best practices are studies in constructability, planning for commissioning and startup, and modularization. Jim has been principal investigator on projects funded by the Construction Industry Institute since the Construction Industry Institute (CII) research first began in the 1980s.

He is the author or co-author of more than 330 journal and conference articles and technical reports, has been a consultant or expert witness on more than 60 occasions, and has taught more than 220 industry short courses. At UT Austin, he has supervised more than 120 graduate students and is co-creator of the university’s cross-disciplinary program, Projects for Underserved Communities.

He is the recipient of the American Council on Education’s International Award for Innovative Practices in Higher Education and the Construction Industry Institute (CII) Outstanding Researcher Award, and twice was the recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize.

Jim and Catherine, a landscape architect, have a daughter, Claire, and a son, Patrick. They live in Austin, TX.