Rate My Professor Floraliza Bornasal

Floraliza Bornasal, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor and Chair of Civil Engineering at Saint Martin’s University, where she also holds the position of Associate Dean of the College of Business, Engineering and Technology. An alumna of the institution, she graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2009, earning Cum Laude honors with a concentration in transportation. She continued her studies at Oregon State University, obtaining an M.S. in Civil Engineering in 2012, with a thesis on transportation network connectivity, facilities encouraging walkability, and crime, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 2015, focusing her dissertation on knowing concepts in the social and material context of engineering practice. Dr. Bornasal began her academic career at Saint Martin’s as Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering in 2015, advancing to Associate Professor in 2021. Her teaching portfolio includes foundational courses such as Graphics, Computer-Aided Drafting and Solid Modeling, Statics, Dynamics, and Materials Lab; fundamental design courses like Senior Design I and II; and advanced electives and graduate courses including Transportation Engineering, Pavement Design, Traffic Capacity Analysis, Transportation Facility Design, and Project Management. Complementing her academic roles, she maintains professional engineering practice as Traffic Engineer II (EIT) at Skillings Inc. since 2017, with prior experience as Consulting Engineer and Project Inspector for Garfield County Public Works, and internships at CH2M Hill and other firms.

Dr. Bornasal’s research specializes in situated cognition, conceptual understanding and growth, research methods, discourse analysis, and safety in transportation engineering, with a focus on bridging engineering education and workplace practices. Key publications include “Conceptual Growth in Engineering Practice” (Journal of Engineering Education, 2018, Honorable Mention for William Elgin Wickenden Award), “Tangibility of representations in engineering courses and the workplace” (Journal of Engineering Education, 2021, William Elgin Wickenden Award), “Learning theories applied to teaching and improving hydrogeological conceptualization” (Groundwater, 2023), and “Exploring the differences in hydraulic engineering problem-solving behavior of undergraduate students and engineering practitioners with multiple representations using eye tracking techniques” (Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 2024, Best Technical Paper Award 2025). She has received prestigious honors such as Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education (2019), Outstanding Editor Award from ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education (2023), Monks of Saint Martin’s Abbey Outstanding Faculty (2017), and Associated Students of Saint Martin’s University Club Advisor of the Year (2023, 2025). Dr. Bornasal contributes to university service through Faculty Senate, academic committees, and advising organizations including Society of Women Engineers and Benedictine Scholars.