StevenAyer

  • Associate Professor
  • Faculty Director for Civil Engineering
  • CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
Address

Office: ECOT 518

Steven Ayer is an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineeringat theUniversity of ĢӰ Boulder. He runs the , where his team explores new and emerging electronic technologies, including augmented reality, virtual realityand other emerging tools. Ayer’s group aims to study how these tools may improve the way that building projects are delivered, but all studies revolve around the single motivation that technology should empower human users. Therefore, most of the studies conducted by Ayer’s team aim to focus on human performance rather than technological innovation. His team has explored the utilization of technology in various areas: students gaining “cyberlearning” experiences related to construction management and engineering,architects aiming to improve the quality of their design concepts;, construction managers interested in improving field communication of BIM content and facility managers looking tobetter leveragemodel information for delivering more maintainable built spaces. Ayer’s work has received fundingfrom federal, stateand industrial sources, enablinghis team to gather data that providesboth scientific and practical contributions.

Education

PhDin architectural engineering from The Pennsylvania State University

BAE/MAE in architectural engineering from The Pennsylvania State University

Latest Publications

  • Guilherme, L.L.F, and Ayer S. (2026). “Systematic Review of AR and VR Learning: Misalignment Between Objectives, Outcomes, and Assessment.” Journal of Architectural Engineering, 23(3).
  • Patil, K., Ayer, S. K., and Bhandari, S. (2026). “Enhancing construction safety training through emotion-eliciting virtual reality.” Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 33(15).
  • Lopez, J., Bhandari, S., Perry, L., Ayer, S., Hallowell, M., and Jones, M. (2025). “Analyzing the Impact of Virtual Reality and Haptic Feedback on the Safety Skills of Construction Workers.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 151(8).
  • Ghorbani, Z., Ayer, S., and Messner, J. (2025). “A Taxonomy for Augmented Reality Use Cases in the AECO Industry.” Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management.
  • McCord, K., Ayer, S.K., Gheisari M., Turkan, Y., Mutis, I., Katz, G., and Fruchter, R. (2024). “Computing in AEC Education: Hindsight, Insight, Foresight.” Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.

Awards

  • Civil Engineering Faculty Appreciation Award, 2025
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award from ASCE’s Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 2024

Affiliations

  • ASCE Associate Member

Interests

  • Building Information Modeling
  • Visualization Technologies (Virtual and Augmented Reality)
  • Engineering Education