This is a past event.

Abdolmajid Erfani

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering, Michigan Tech

Abstract:

As artificial intelligence increasingly informs decisions in engineering, the ability to understand, trust, and responsibly deploy AI models has become critical. Traditional black-box models may achieve high predictive accuracy but often provide limited insight into how decisions are made, raising concerns about transparency, fairness, and reliability in real-world applications. This talk presents a series of research projects demonstrating how Large Language Models (LLM) reasoning and Explainable AI (XAI) techniques can help bridge the gap between predictive performance and human understanding. Beyond technical explainability, it also discusses principles of Responsible AI, including model calibration, bias detection, and ethical considerations in deploying AI systems that affect communities and the public. 

Biography:

Dr. Abdolmajid (Mazi) Erfani is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering at Michigan Tech. His research interests include construction economics, project delivery, smart construction, data analytics, and the application of artificial intelligence to infrastructure management. He earned a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park. Prior to that, he obtained his Master and bachelor’s degrees in construction engineering and civil engineering from University of Tehran. Dr. Erfani is a leading researcher in the area of workforce development and leads data-driven studies on workforce in the transportation and construction industries. He has authored and co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. Dr. Erfani has received several ASCE awards, including the 2024 Arthur M. Wellington Prize, the 2024 Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize, the 2024 ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering Best Paper Award, and ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering Outstanding Reviewer Award. He is also an editorial board member of ASCE Journal of Management in engineering.