Kamila Crane, who earned a bachelor’s degree (1985) and master’s degree (1986) in civil engineering, was prepared to start rebuilding the Bay Area of California almost immediately after the Loma Linda earthquake of Oct. 17, 1989 — the same earthquake that interrupted the first game of that year’s baseball World Series. 

Crane worked in the bridge structures department of Sverdrup Corp. and was assigned to the California Department of Transportation in San Francisco at the time. She supervised falsework erection on the Cypress Freeway (I-880), which had partially collapsed on itself. The temporary supports that Crane helped install gave rescue workers the opportunity to search for survivors while preventing further collapse.