Bio
Lt Col Steven M. Vick is currently the Director of Staff, Dean of Faculty, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado. In this capacity he exercises command authority and executive oversight of approximately 750 military and civilian faculty and staff across 20 academic departments and 7 staff agencies, a $16.6 million budget, and facilities totaling two-million square feet to deliver an accredited Bachelor of Science degree and graduate 1,000 Air Force and Space Force officers annually. Lt Col Vick also serves as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, where he advises and instructs cadets in officership, engineering sciences, and construction practices.
Prior to joining the faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Lt Col Vick served as Commander, 8th Civil Engineer Squadron, Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, where he led 320 military and civilian engineers in providing engineering expertise and operational support to the 8th Fighter Wing’s two F-16 squadrons and forward deployed forces, including maintenance, repair, design and construction activities supporting $3.9 billion worth of facilities and infrastructure systems on a 2,169-acre base complex. Additionally, his squadron provided critical fire protection, readiness and emergency management, environmental compliance, unaccompanied housing, and explosive ordnance disposal services to Kunsan’s 2,700 warfighters.
Lt Col Vick entered the Air Force in June 2004, commissioning through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program upon graduating from Loyola Marymount University. His background includes experience in design engineering, construction project management, asset management, contract oversight, construction programming, civil engineer readiness, and automation for infrastructure applications. As a career civil engineer, he has served in a variety of installation, staff, and special duty assignments.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Construction Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (2018)
Master of Science, Construction and Engineering Management, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (2008)
Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA (2004)
Professional Experience
Director of Staff, Dean of Faculty, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2024-Present)
Assistant Professor & Construction Division Chair, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2022-2024)
Commander, 8th Civil Engineer Squadron, Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea (2021-2022)
Civil Engineer Readiness Branch Chief, Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hick, Hawaii (2018-2021)
Doctoral Student, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (2014-2018)
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2012-2014)
Director of Operations, 39th Civil Engineer Squadron, Incirlik Air Base, Turkey (2009-2012)
Asset Management Flight Commander, 8th Civil Engineer Squadron. Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea (2008-2009)
Masters Student, Stanford University, California (2007-2008)
Executive Officer, Installations and Mission Support Directorate, Thirteenth Air Force, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii (2006-2007)
Chief of Simplified Acquisitions for Base Engineer Requirements, 15th Civil Engineer Squadron, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii (2004-2006)
Honors & Awards
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Joint Service Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster
Air Force Achievement Medal
Cambridge Trust Scholarship (2014-1017)
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Outstanding First Year Instructor (2013)
39th Air Base Wing Company Grade Officer of the Year (2010)
Distinguished Graduate & Outstanding Flight Contributor, Squadron Officer School (2009)
Stanford Construction & Engineering Management Program Fellowship (2008)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Construction Engineering & Management, Computer Vision, Automation and Artificial Intelligence for Construction Applications, Digital Twins
Publications
Vick, S., Brilakis I., “A Review of Linear Transportation Construction Progress Monitoring Techniques,” The 16th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (2016)
Vick, S., Brilakis, I., “Asphalt Road Layer Detection for Construction Progress Monitoring,” LC3 2017: Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Computing in Construction (JC3) (2017)
Vick, S., Brilakis, I., “Road Design Layer Detection in Point Cloud Data for Construction Progress Monitoring,” Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 32 (5), 04018029 (2018)
Vick, S., “Automated Spatial Progress Monitoring for Asphalt Road Construction Projects,” Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (2018)
Li, X., Wu, C., Wu, P., Liqun, X., Shen, G., Vick, S., Li, C., “SWP-enabled constraints modeling for on-site assembly process of prefabrication housing production,” Journal of Cleaner Production, 239: 117991 (2019)
Paal, S.G., Vick, S., Kopsida, M., “Chapter 5 – Use Cases for Architects and Engineers” in Infrastructure Computer Vision, 203-266 (2020)
Tang, P., Vick, S., Chen, J., Paal, S.G., “Chapter 2 – Surveying, Geomatics, and 3D Reconstruction” in Infrastructure Computer Vision, 203-266 (2020)