Royce Francis

Royce Francis

Royce Francis

Associate Professor


Department: Engineering Management and Systems Engineering

Contact:

Email: Royce Francis
Office Phone: (202) 994-3892
SEH 2710 | Office hours: By appointment

Dr. Royce Francis is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. His overall research vision is to conduct research, teaching, and service that facilitates sustainable habitation of the built environment. This vision involves three thrusts: 1.) infrastructure management, including sustainability, resilience, and risk analysis; 2.) regulatory risk assessment and policy-focused research, especially for environmental contaminants and infrastructure systems; and, 3.) engineering education research exploring the linkages between professional identity formation and engineering judgment. Dr. Francis is a member of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) and an Associate Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is an Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. Dr. Francis is passionate about working with high-acheiving undergraduate students and served as the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (SJT) Scholars Faculty Mentor from 2017-2023 and is currently serving as the GWU Clark Engineering Scholars Program Faculty Director. Dr. Francis earned the Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy and Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and the B.S. in Civil Engineering from Howard University.


  • Postdoctoral Fellow: Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 2009-2010
  • Ph.D., Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, 2009
  • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University. 2009
  • Dissertation Title: Topics in Occurrence and Mixture Risk Assessment Supporting Formulation and Analysis of the Stage II Residual Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts (D/DBP) Rule.
  • M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2006
  • B.S., Civil Engineering, Howard University, summa cum laude, 2004

Peer-Reviewed Technical Reports

  1. Kwasinski, A., Francis, R., Trainor, J., Chen, C. (2017) “Further Development of a Conceptual Framework for Assessing Resilience at the Community Scale.” National Institute of Standards and Technology. Bethesda, MD, USA. Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR) - 17-013. https://www.nist.gov/publications/further-development-conceptual-framework-assessing-resilience-community-scale
  2. DeFries, R..S., and Hornberger, G.M. (2021) “Next Generation Earth Systems Science at the National Science Foundation.” National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC, USA

Edited Book Chapter

  1. Riedner, R.C., Francis, R.A., and Paretti, M.C. (2024, Forthcoming) “Chapter 5: Promoting Inclusion Through Participation in and Construction of Engineering Judgments”, in Inclusive STEM: Transforming Disciplinary Writing Instruction for a Socially Just Future, H.M. Falconer and L. McClary, Editors. The WAC Clearinghouse.

Journal Articles

  1. Francis, R., Paretti, M., and Riedner, R. (2022) Theorizing engineering judgment at the intersection of decision-making and identity. Studies in Engineering Education. <https://www.seejournal.org/articles/10.21061/see.90/>.
  2. Rao, V. and Francis, R. (2022). New conceptual approaches to cognition in systems engineering: applying the 4E’s of cognition. Systems Engineering, <https://doi.org/10.1002/sys.21637>.
  3. Amodeo and Francis (2021). Assessing the System Resilience Trade-Off Space: Empirical Model of the Port of Houston Waterway Recovery Process, ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, <https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000606>.
  4. Amodeo, D., and Francis, R. (2019), The role of protocol layers and macro-cognitive functions in engineered system resilience.  Reliability Engineering and System Safetyhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2019.106508.
  5. Amodeo, D., and Francis, R. (2019), Investigating Adoption Patterns of Residential Low Impact Development (LID) Using Classification Trees. Environment, Systems, and Decisionshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10669-019-09725-3
  6. Rao, V.M., Francis, R., and Tanir, J.Y. (2019), Analyzing chemical substitution decisions among chemical and product manufacturers. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy21(2):395-411.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-018-1643-y
  7. Francis, R. and Amodeo, D. (2018), On the Role of Protocol‐Driven Resilience in Coupled Infrastructure and Natural System Resilience. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 14: 578-580. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4074
  • Assistant Professor: Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, The George Washington University, September 2010-Present
  • Visiting Scholar: Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 2010-2011
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (Assoc. M. ASCE)
  • ASCE Environment and Water Resources Institute (EWRI)
  • Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)
  • Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)