It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to Purdue University for the second meeting of the Global Leadership Forum for CEM Programs (GLF-CEM 2012). We thank you for accepting our invitation and participating in this event. Along with the Executive Committee of GLF-CEM, I am pleased to host this event at Purdue University.

GLF-CEM is intended to bring together professors from leading universities around the world who play a leadership and/or administrator role in their respective programs. The objective of this forum is to establish a body of academic leadership in the area of construction engineering and management to discuss and share issues of common concern in research, teaching, academic administration, and opportunities for collaboration. Accordingly, the first meeting, GLF-CEM2011, was designed to be a brainstorming session to establish the mission, membership criteria, and goals for such a body. Whereas, the theme for GLF-CEM 2012 is “Graduate Program and Industry Collaboration”.

We hope that the events planned for this meeting would allow a thorough discussion of the issues related to the theme for this forum. We appreciate your participation in GLF-CEM and look forward to bringing our organizations together for the collective improvement of the CEM programs around the world.

I hope that you enjoy your visit to Purdue.