Human-Infrastructure Systems Under Stress: Hazards, Adaptive Governance, and Emerging Technologies
CME Department Seminar
February 25, 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM America/Chicago
Presenter: Sarah Grajdura, PhD, Utah State University
Location: ERF 1043 or Zoom
Meeting ID: 535 718 1241
Passcode: Lin@842cme
Abstract: Understanding how people interact with infrastructure under environmental and institutional stress is essential to improving resilience in civil systems. This talk examines how coupled human–infrastructure systems respond during natural hazards and broader disruptions. The research is organized across four interconnected areas: human behavior and lived experience under infrastructure disruption; cascading dynamics in interdependent infrastructure systems; electrified and emerging infrastructure systems; and infrastructure governance under disruption. Across these domains, the central unifying question is how people use, adapt to, and reconfigure infrastructure during time-compressed events, and how infrastructure design and governance can be engineered to better manage these dynamics.
The presentation centers on a case study of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, during which urban transportation networks experienced extreme congestion and widespread vehicle abandonment. Using an integrated mixed-methods approach that combines semi-structured interviews with evacuees and agency personnel and large-scale vehicle sensor data, this research demonstrates how personal vehicles transition from mobility assets to network constraints, contributing to cascading system disruptions. Findings suggest that vehicle abandonment is not simply an anomaly but a systemic response to network stress, highlighting the need for adaptive governance and improved risk communication infrastructure in both current hazard response and the design of emerging infrastructure systems
Speaker Bio: Dr. Sarah Grajdura is an assistant professor of civil & environmental engineering at Utah State University. Her research examines resilience in coupled human–infrastructure systems and how civil infrastructure performs under hazards, disruptions, and technological transitions, including electrification and automation. She studies how human behavior and system design interact during infrastructure disruption, and how institutional contexts influence system performance, access, and reliability across communities. Her work integrates mixed-methods systems analysis, combining econometric modeling, simulation, and network analysis with qualitative and community-engaged research conducted in collaboration with public agencies and stakeholders. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the NSF ASPIRE Engineering Research Center, and the Natural Hazards Center, among others.
Grajdura collaborates across civil engineering disciplines—including transportation, structural, water resources, and construction systems—as well as with colleagues in urban planning, electrical engineering, computer science, public health, and sociology. She serves as Associate Editor for Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. She received her Ph.D. in civil & environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis, and previously held a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Vermont. She earned her M.S. in applied economics and B.S. in civil & environmental engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign.
Date posted
Feb 19, 2026
Date updated
Feb 19, 2026