Researchers from UC Berkeley, NYU, Stanford and the World Bank simulated a M7.25 Hayward Fault earthquake to examine how damage to hospitals and transportation systems could interact to hinder access to emergency healthcare across the San Francisco Bay Area. By analyzing 76 hospitals (426 buildings, 16,639 beds) and 5,163 bridges, the team found that simultaneous infrastructure failures could reduce available hospital bed capacity region-wide to roughly 51% — with Alameda County worst hit, retaining only about 20% (651 of 3,221) functional beds. 

Concrete is everywhere—from sidewalks to skyscrapers—but it comes with a heavy environmental cost. Cement production alone accounts for a large share of global carbon emissions. At UC Berkeley, the Science of Cementitious Materials group (SCiM) is taking on that challenge.

CEE Professor Kenichi Soga has co-authored the newly released Fundamentals of Soil Behavior, Fourth Edition (Wiley) with the late Professor Emeritus James K. Mitchell and Professor Catherine O’Sullivan of Imperial College London, a former PhD student in Berkeley CEE.