Rebecca Atadero

Rebecca Atadero is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU), affiliated with the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. She specializes in structural engineering and construction engineering management, with a focus on infrastructure systems, engineering education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in STEM. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Colorado and teaches courses including civil engineering materials, structural design, and first-year engineering bridge programs.

Dr. Atadero holds a B.S. (2002), M.S. (2004), and Ph.D. (2006) in Civil/Structural Engineering from Colorado State University and the University of California San Diego. Her research spans technical areas like bridge inspection and maintenance, as well as educational initiatives to enhance DEI in engineering curricula. She has led four NSF-funded education grants and pioneered interventions such as interactive theater to promote inclusive team dynamics in engineering.

Her work addresses socially equitable infrastructure management, lifecycle cost analysis of bridge components, and ethical dilemmas faced by early-career engineers. Notable contributions include developing UAV-based bridge inspection frameworks and frameworks for integrating social equity into transportation asset management. She has received the ASEE Best Diversity Paper Award (2015) and contributed to policy-driven research on infrastructure resilience and climate adaptation.

Atadero’s advising focuses on graduate students in civil engineering and construction management, guiding research on extending the lifespan of concrete bridges and socially equitable flood interventions. She collaborates with agencies like the Colorado Department of Transportation and the USDOT Mountain Plains Consortium. Her teaching innovations include equity-focused design projects and group dynamics interventions in first-year engineering courses.