Amos Darko

John E. Schaufelberger Endowed Assistant Professor in Construction Management

Amos Darko, Ph.D., M.ASCE is a John E. Schaufelberger Endowed Assistant Professor in the Department of Construction Management at the University of Washington. He earned his Ph.D. degree from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 2019, and his BSc degree (First Class Honors) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 2014. Before joining the University of Washington, Dr. Darko was a Research Assistant Professor at PolyU. Dr. Darko has also worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and as a Research and Teaching Assistant at PolyU and KNUST, respectively.

Dr. Darko has published over 140 papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and books. His papers have been rated as highly cited and hot papers by the Web of Science. His paper is the most cited paper of all time in the International Journal of Construction Management.

Teaching:
In his teaching, Dr. Darko values student learning experience and prides himself on what the learner says about his teaching: “I really appreciated Dr. Darko’s helpfulness and responsiveness as a teacher, it is clear that he is very knowledgeable in this field and cares a lot about student success. He was very receptive to feedback as the course progressed and made a huge effort to make this class meet everyone’s needs. Thanks Dr. Darko!” Dr. Darko is always available to students beyond the classroom environment. He creates opportunities for students to learn in real-world settings through site tours, guest lectures, and practical homework assignments. He actively engages students in the classroom through questioning, classroom response systems, debates, and discussions, and integrates his research into his teaching (research-informed teaching). Dr. Darko teaches/has taught courses in Sustainable Construction, Project Management, Research Methods, Construction Practice, and Construction Economics.

Research:
Dr. Darko’s research interests cover sustainability, sustainable built environment, sustainable construction, green building, modular and offsite construction, project management, and digital technologies including building information modeling (BIM) and artificial intelligence. Dr. Darko has developed and disseminated knowledge, models, frameworks, and tools for adoption and promotion of green building technologies, green building project management, and retrofit of existing buildings. His research is typified by in-depth quantitative and technology-led studies. Key technologies used in his research lab to study building performance and sustainability include FARO 3D laser scanners, Senva and Milesight IoT sensors, Ricoh THETA 360-degree cameras, machine learning and large language models, and BIM and digital twin models. The overarching research goal of Dr. Darko is to improve the performance of buildings and the construction industry for the betterment of humanity, the economy, and the environment. Dr. Darko’s research has been supported by several internal and external competitive grants.

Service:
Dr. Darko provides important professional and scholarly service to the University and the public. He is an Assistant Specialty Editor in the Sustainable Construction area for ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Associate Editor of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Academic Editor of Advances in Civil Engineering, and member of editorial boards of other international peer-reviewed journals. He is also an active reviewer for several international peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Darko has served on the organizing committee of the CIB World Building Congress (WBC) 2025 Doctoral School. He served as the Co-Chair of the 4th International Conference on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (CCES) held in September 2024. He is an external Ph.D. examiner for RMIT University, University of Johannesburg, and KNUST. He has served on the UW Sustainability Working Group – Buildings, Energy, and Climate, and is a faculty coach for the annual ASC Regions 6 & 7 Student Competition.

Awards and Recognitions:
Dr. Darko has received several awards and recognitions for his outstanding work, including the Best Construction Technology and Management Student Award from KNUST in 2014, the Outstanding Overseas Young Scholars Award from Central South University in 2019, the Global Top Peer Reviewer Award from the Web of Science Group in 2019, the Green Talents Award from the Cabinet-Level German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2020, the Sustainability 2023 Young Investigator Award from the Sustainability journal in 2024, and five Best and Highly Commended Paper Awards in 2020, 2023, & 2024. Dr. Darko is ranked among the world’s top 2% and top 0.05% scientists, identified by Stanford University and ScholarGPS, respectively. He is also ranked as the world’s #1 green building scholar by ScholarGPS.