Kayoumars Bakhtar
Ph.D. Conflict Analysis & Resolution
KAY
Dr. Bakhtar has over 46 years of strategic project management consulting experience in the United States and overseas. His career includes 15 years in the National Iranian Oil Company, 27 years with consulting engineers and 4 years with general contractors in U.K. and the United States. His oil facilities experiences included refineries, treatment plants, petroleum and gas pipelines, pumping stations, tank farms, and inland terminal installations. Kay has also worked on heavy construction projects, such as highways and bridges, as well as office and residential buildings, recreational and commercial facilities, motel projects, restaurants, and manufacturing plants.
In April 1990, Kay was offered an opportunity to work with the newly established consulting engineering firm of McDonough Bolyard Peck (MBP) in Fairfax, VA. Since the end of 2015, after 25 years of full time employment; including 12 years as Vice President; Kay has continued to provide Construction Dispute Resolution services on behalf of MBP in the capacity of Senior Consultant. Kay’s clients have included many public agencies and private sector corporations.
Despite his extensive professional engineering commitments, Dr. Bakhtar has remained active in the academia. In addition to teaching at several Tehran educational institutions before coming to America, as Adjunct Professor, Kay has taught “Construction Management” and “Conflict Analysis and Resolution” in the United States. Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar at George Mason University, working on a research paper. Dr. Bakhtar participates as a speaker at various events and seminars. Dr. Bakhtar is currently working on strategic topics that bring attention to the deteriorating US. infrastructure.
Ph. D. Conflict Resolution; GMU School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, VA, The U.S
M.S. Management, Hult International Business School, MA, The U.S.
M.S. Public Administration, Tehran School of Business and Public Administration, Iran
B.S. Civil Engineering, Loughborough College of Advanced Technology, U.K.
PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Bakhtar is an advocate for raising the public awareness of America’s Infrastructure crisis as a “National Movement”. Armed with more than four decades of Civil Engineering experience, Kay supports the efforts of many individuals and institutions that keep the debate in perspective. Kay especially admires ASCE’s candid assessment of the nation’s infrastructure status through the publication of the enlightening “Infrastructure Report Card”.
KEEPING AMERICA’S
INFRASTRUCTURE DEBATE IN PERSPECTIVE
BY KAY BAKHTAR, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
Describing the state of nation’s infrastructure in terms of such pessimistic jargon as “shoddy”, “crumbling”,
“deteriorating”, and “in disrepair”, appears to receive a high level of popularity in the media and elsewhere. Ironically,
the majority of the steadfast skeptics do not offer any concrete remedial solutions to the problem other than urging the
Government to inject billions of dollars into the construction without considering the viability and sustainability of such
a program. Fortunately, at the other end of the spectrum, there are personalities, experts and think-tanks who—while
acknowledging both the shortcomings of the system and the need for corrective action—intellectually and passionately
strive to seek means to address the issues surrounding this fundamental national interest. And, in between, there are
those who unceasingly work in the trenches to keep the infrastructure system functional and advancing.
Considering the complexities inherent in the national infrastructure debate, this article aims to transcend the
customary mindset that funding is the mere “panacea” for the resolution of America’s Infrastructure deficiencies and
present a more comprehensive view of the issue. Instead of focusing on a singular “road map” for the transformation
of America’s national infrastructure into the 21st century, it would be more effective to shift paradigms into a “systems
thinking” approach, where one considers the system holistically, with the emphasis on both the significance of the
whole and the interdependence of its parts, in order to keep the debate in proper perspective.
