Frank X. DarConte, Ph.D., RA, is the inaugural Director of Applied Research for the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering – Institute of Design and Construction (IDC) Innovation Hub. Through research-driven initiatives, engineering and construction management students are provided a unique space to connect theory with practice. An advocate of “Project First Thinking”, Dr. DarConte brings to the IDC Innovation Hub an extensive practice-based and theoretical expertise in construction project delivery focused on the building of collaborative, high-performance teams. Project team alignment process models resulting from his research at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have been utilized by the State University Construction Fund and the Metropolitan Transit Authority as team building and risk management tools.

For over two decades Dr. DarConte had served as a senior construction management executive with full leadership responsibilities providing pre-construction and construction phase services for both private and public sector clients at a regional and national scale. Complex building programs have been constructed under a variety of delivery methods for the successful completion of more than $1billion of diverse construction projects including K-12, higher education, commercial, institutional, sports facilities, and multi-family housing.

Dr. DarConte holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, an MS in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute School of Architecture, and a BS in Architectural Technology from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). His teaching assignments include the graduate construction management capstone, Leadership, Ethics, and Project Execution. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Associated General Contractors of New York State, the Society of American Military Engineers, and the Hughes Energy Group.