Eileen Pesantes-Taveres

M.E Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management
Instructional Assistant Professor
RINKER 340

B.S. in Civil Engineering, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
M.S. in Engineering with concentration on Structural Engineering Mechanics and Materials, University of California at Berkeley
M.S. in Civil Engineering with concentration on Construction Engineering and Management, Stanford University
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with concentration on Construction Engineering and Management, University of Florida

Eileen Pesantes-Tavares, PhD, graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in 1994. She earned a M.E. in Structural Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in 1995. After working as a structural engineer, she decided to pursue a construction degree and went back to school. She earned a MS in Construction Engineering and Management from Stanford University in 1998. While teaching at her Alma Mater, she decided to pursue a PhD in Construction Engineering and Management at the University of Florida. She graduated in 2011.

Pesantes worked as a research engineer with the US Army Corp of Engineers at their Engineer Research and Development Center before graduate school. After completing two Master’s degrees, she worked in two different construction companies in the San Francisco Bay Area in projects that ranged from a small office remodeling up to a complete new campus for a major Hi-tech Company. When she moved back to Puerto Rico, she was offered a teaching position at her Alma Mater. Teaching was something that Pesantes always contemplated as a career path. After six years of teaching, she went back to graduate school. After finishing her PhD, she taught as an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at UF, as a lecturer and academic advisor at the School of Engineering at UNF and, currently as a lecturer at the Rinker School of Construction Management at UF.

The courses Pesantes teaches are varied. Construction Materials and Temporary Structures focus on the design and materials side of construction. International Sustainable Design focuses in key concepts related to sustainable development worldwide. Introduction to Construction presents first year students the different types of work they can do in construction through weekly guest lectures that include professionals from the construction industry.

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