Berkeley GeoWall Team Competes at National Geo-Congress

Did you know that GeoWall at Berkeley is UC Berkeley’s only geotechnical engineering competition team that competes each year at ASCE’s Mid-Pacific Conference and the National Geo-Institute Conference? They recently returned from the National Geo-Institute conference (Geo-Congress) held on March 9-12, 2026, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where, as finalists, they competed against other finalist teams from around the nation.

Rune De Anda, Project Manager of GeoWall and Senior in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, described the competition and the team.
The objective of the GeoWall competition is to design and construct a small-scale mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall system using paper reinforcements and unsaturated sand. Each year, teams are provided with a set of engineering parameters and constraints, challenging us to develop an innovative design. This year our engineering challenge was to hold a 50 lb vertical surcharge, a 20 lb hanging weight, and a 5 lb impact load. The ultimate goal is to minimize the amount of paper reinforcement used while having the wall withstand load. We must submit a design report, which is then judged based on our analysis, engineering design, and reasoning against over 50 teams nationwide. 16 finalists are selected to advance to the National Competition to physically construct their walls!

GeoWall at Berkeley is composed of about 20 active undergrads and 2 graduate student advisors. The group continues to collaborate closely with industry and professionals who help bridge the gap between academic theory and real world geotechnical practice. People can reach us at our website at https://geowall.studentorg.berkeley.edu/or on Instagram, where we are more active: geowallberkeley.

Rune’s thoughts reflect the collaborative and community spirit in the team: “GeoWall has evolved a lot in the past three years and quickly became one of the most meaningful parts of my college experience. Not only did this club help me find what I’m interested in pursuing in my career but it gave me a community. Nothing makes me more proud than seeing the enthusiasm people have not only for the club but also for the field of geotechnical engineering.”

Congratulations to our GeoWall finalists!