In the wake of the deadly series of bombings in Brussels, Belgium, last week, Wired magazine reached out to UT’s Chris Cherry to talk about the attacks and why subways are especially at risk.
Cherry, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, talked about the inherent flaws of subway security.
“The challenge in protecting subways is that they are open targets,” said Cherry. “They are crowded and accessible. To design security into subways is difficult in the conventional sense of active security, like bag checks and metal detectors.”
The story pointed out that Cherry and his colleagues had published research in 2008 about ways to lesson the impact of attacks in subways, including having more open design and using non-flammable materials.
The full story can be read here