Dr. Stacy Howington became the US Army’s Senior Research Scientist for Near Surface Phenomenology in November 2015. This position is located in the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In this role, Dr. Howington leads research and development to address military engineering challenges facing warfighters and military planners and to support the Corps of Engineers in executing its civil works mission. He applies understanding of environmental physics to improve detection of explosive hazards and interprets remote assessment of natural systems and infrastructure to enable force projection into austere locations. Dr. Howington champions the development and application of numerical models as essential tools for
integrating multiple data types and qualities, interpreting observations and comparing courses of action.
Career Chronology:
- Senior Research Scientist (Near Surface Phenomenology), Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, ERDC, Vicksburg, Mississippi, November 2015 - present.
- Research Hydraulic Engineer, Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Division, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Vicksburg, MS, August 1991 - November 2015.
- Visiting Scientist, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, August 1990 - August 1991.
- Research Hydraulic Engineer, Hydraulic Structures Divisions, Hydraulics Laboratory, US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Vicksburg, MS, June 1983 - August 1990.
College:
- Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 1997
- M.S., Civil Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 1988
- B.S., Civil Engineering (magna cum laude), Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 1983
Certifications:
- Registered Professional Engineer, MS
Awards and Honors:
- US Army Modeling and Simulation Award 2013
- Best Paper Award, Environmental and Geosciences Area, Army Science Conference, 2010
- Department of the Army Research and Development Award, 1998, 2009
- Army Civilian Superior Service Award, 2007
- Finalist, Service to America Medal, 2008
- American Society of Civil Engineers, MS Civil Engineer of the Year Award, 2000
Professional Memberships and Associations:
- American Society of Civil Engineers (Hydraulics Committee Chair, MS Section, 2000-2002)
- American Geophysical Union (groundwater committee, 1996-2000)
Major Publications:
- Wallen, B. M., Smits, K. M., Sakaki, T., Howington, S. E., and C. Deepagoda (2016), Thermal Conductivity of Binary Sand Mixtures Evaluated through Full Water Content Range, Soil Science Society of America Journal, doi:10.2136/sssaj2015.11.0408
- Smits, K.M., A. Cihan, T. Sakaki, S.E. Howington, J.F. Peters, and T. H. Illangasekare (2013). Soil Moisture and Thermal Behavior in the Vicinity Of Buried Objects Affecting Remote Sensing Detection: Experimental and Modeling Investigation, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, TGRS-2011-00279.R1
- Ballard, J. R., Jr., Howington, S. E., and S. C. Wilhelms, (2013) Laboratory-Based Rainfall Effects on LWIR Soil Reflectance, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, GRSL-00453-2012.R1
- Smits, K. M., Sakaki, T., Howington, S. E., Peters, J. F., and T. H. Illangasekare (2013), Temperature Dependence of Thermal Properties of Sands Over a Wide Range of Temperatures [30-70oC], Vadose Zone Journal, 12:10.2136/vzj2012.0033
- Howington, S. E., Peters, J. F., Ballard, J. R., Jr., Eslinger, O. J., Fairley, J. R., Kala, R. V., Price, S. J., Goodson, R. A., Hines, A. M., and L. D. Wakeley (2012), Using Computer Simulation to Explore the Importance of Hydrogeology in Remote Sensing for Explosive Threat Detection, in Military Uses of Hydrogeology: Past and Present, edited by J. D. Mather, and E. P. F. Rose, Geological Society, London, Special Publications. SP362.16, p 287-300, doi:10.1144/SP362.16
- Winton, C. W., J. Pettway, C. T. Kelley, S. E. Howington, O. J. Eslinger (2011), Application of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition to Saturated Groundwater Flow, Advances in Water Resources, 34(12), 1519-1526, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2011.09.007
- Horner, D. A., O. J. Eslinger, S. E. Howington, S. A. Ketcham, J. F. Peters, J. R. Ballard, Jr. (2010), Integrated High-Fidelity Geoscience Simulations for Enhanced Terrain-Related Target Detection, Computing in Science and Engineering, 12(5), 56-63
- Committee on Hydrologic Science, Groundwater Fluxes across Interfaces, (2004). Water Science and Technology Board, National Research Council, National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
- Maier, R. S., D. M. Kroll, R. S. Bernard, S. E. Howington, J. F. Peters, and H. T. Davis (2003), Hydrodynamic Dispersion in Confined Packed Beds, Physics of Fluids, 15(12), 3895-3815
- Maier, R. S., D. M. Kroll, R. S. Bernard, S. E. Howington, J. F. Peters, and H. T. Davis (2002), Enhanced Dispersion in Cylindrical Packed Beds, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 360, 497-506
- Berger, R. C. and S. E. Howington, (2002), Discrete Fluxes and Mass Balance in Finite Elements, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 128(1), 87-92
- Maier, R. S., D. M. Kroll, R. S. Bernard, S. E. Howington, J. F. Peters and H. T. Davis (2000), Pore-Scale Simulation of Dispersion, Physics of Fluids, 12(8), 2065-2079
- Peters, J. P., S. E. Howington, J. P. Holland, F. T. Tracy and R. S. Maier (1998), High Performance Computing as a Tool for Groundwater Cleanup, Journal of Hydraulic Research, 36(6), 897-912