The SPARC Laboratory
Solutions for Profitability and Assessment of Risk in Construction
The SPARC laboratory was founded by Dr. Mark Hastak at Purdue University in August, 2002. The broad aim of the SPARC Laboratory is to cultivate new forms of knowledge and research in the area of risk management in construction engineering and management. Currently, our objectives include:
- To pursue outstanding research directed toward understanding, assessment, and management of risk in construction.
- To improve understanding of profitability in the construction industry.
- Disaster Impact Assessment and Hazard Risk Reduction.
- Infrastructure management.
While the objective discussed above state the position of the SPARC Laboratory in construction engineering research, the application areas and the types of the projects undertaken by the SPARC team show an extensive range. Our projects are characterized by the following general categories: manufactured housing, Front-End Planning process, achieving radical reduction in project cycle time, cost schedule optimization and warranty contracting as an innovative contracting method, Infrastructure management, risk in global construction, and impact of natural hazards on infrastructure industries and communities. Each of our projects has its own purpose and activities, and taken together they represent out approach to risk and profitability solutions for the real world problems in the construction industry.
The SPARC Laboratory has helped bring additional education and research funding to Purdue University. Its resources for funding include but are not limited to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Construction Industry Institute (CII), the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), and state Department of Transportation (DOTs).
The SPARC Laboratory research team is highly motivated group of people that cares passionately about innovative construction research including Ph.D. and Master's students in the Construction Engineering and Management Program at Purdue University. The professor in charge, SPARC Laboratory, Dr. Mark Hastak, can be reached for additional information by phone at (765) 494-0641, and by e-mail at hastak@purdue.edu.