Measuring Access to Critical Services Under Extreme Disruptions: Infrastructure and Smart Data Perspectives
CME Department Seminar
March 4, 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM America/Chicago
Presenter: Gretchen Bella, PhD, University of Maryland
Location: ERF 1047 or Zoom
Meeting ID: 535 718 1241
Passcode: Lin@842cme
Abstract: Climate-driven hazards such as floods, wildfires, and extreme weather increasingly test the reliability of urban infrastructure systems. While transportation networks are often evaluated in terms of physical damage or recovery time, less attention has been given to how infrastructure performance under disruption translates into access to critical services. In this talk, I present a research agenda focused on evaluating infrastructure performance under climate disruption with a focus on bias-aware smart data and systems-based engineering metrics.
Drawing on large-scale mobility datasets, rigorous statistical modeling, and interdisciplinary case studies, I examine how both built and social systems respond to extreme events and how changes in system reliability and connectivity shape access to critical services such as food and healthcare. I develop community-focused approaches to evaluating how infrastructure performance under disruption shapes access to critical services, providing a partnering to travel-demand perspectives. I also demonstrate how emerging smart data sources, while powerful, can contain systematic representation biases that affect infrastructure assessment and decision-making if left unexamined.
I conclude by outlining a forward-looking research program that integrates infrastructure systems, environmental resilience, and smart data analytics to support climate adaptation and interdisciplinary collaboration within civil engineering.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Gretchen Bella is a civil engineer whose research examines infrastructure resilience, smart technologies, and access to essential services under chronic and extreme disruptions. She is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland’s Center for Disaster Resilience. Her work integrates large-scale mobility data, infrastructure analysis, and mixed methods frameworks to evaluate how civil infrastructure performs during extreme events and how those performance shifts influence access to critical services.
Bella received her B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and completed her M.S. and Ph.D. in transportation systems analysis and planning within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University. Her dissertation research on emerging hybrid-digital infrastructure systems was recognized with the 2025 Center for University Transportation Centers Charley V. Wootan Memorial Award. In her postdoctoral work, she collaborates on research examining access to shelter, food systems, and civic infrastructure under disaster contexts, continuing to advance bias-aware approaches to evaluating smart, data-enabled infrastructure systems.
In addition to research, Bella is an award-winning instructor with teaching experience across undergraduate and graduate courses in civil engineering and social policy.
Date posted
Feb 25, 2026
Date updated
Feb 25, 2026