She has a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to her graduate education, she worked as a Project Manager in her home country Brazil, in multiple government and commercial building construction projects. Her technical interests include information technology for project management, building information modeling, collaboration and coordination technologies, and information technology-supported construction safety management. At the University of Texas, Dr. Leite teaches Project Management and Economics, as well as graduate-level courses on Building Information Modeling, Project Controls, and Construction Safety.