Information technology branch chief selected

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Public Affairs
Published June 22, 2017
Dr. Jeff Hensley, chief of the Information Technology Laboratory’s Computational Analysis Branch at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Hensley’s research focuses on a variety of high performance computing projects, including seeking environmental data to rapidly model environmental conditions, and modeling and analyzing ways to mitigate fractures in steel hydraulic structures.

Dr. Jeff Hensley, chief of the Information Technology Laboratory’s Computational Analysis Branch at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Hensley’s research focuses on a variety of high performance computing projects, including seeking environmental data to rapidly model environmental conditions, and modeling and analyzing ways to mitigate fractures in steel hydraulic structures.

VICKSBURG, Miss. (June 22, 2017) -- Dr. Jeff Hensley was recently named chief for the Computational Analysis Branch in the Information Technology Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  “The CAB consists of a team of talented scientists and engineers with expertise in a wide variety of areas,” said Hensley. “In the near future, I envision that the branch will expand its efforts in solving large, complicated problems that require the use of High Performance Computing resources. We will be working on more problems that require supercomputers.”

“The scientists of the Computational Analysis Branch are contributing creative and innovative solutions to help meet the mission requirements of ITL and ERDC by providing valuable experience and expertise. The problems being addressed by CAB personnel include developing methods to improve, and make more robust and resilient, acquisition efforts by the Department of Defense, creating tools to find environmental data and rapidly model environmental conditions, and modeling and analyzing ways to mitigate fractures in steel hydraulic structures, among other projects.” 

Hensley began his career with ERDC in 2000 as a contract employee, soon taking on the role of on-site expert for the Programming Environment and Training program. He was tasked with assisting DOD scientists in better utilizing high performance computing resources.  In this role, he participated in the development or improvement of many of the hydrodynamics code currently being employed at ERDC.

In 2009, Hensley accepted a federal position in ITL in the Computational Analysis Branch, continuing his research in computational science. In 2012, he began to serve as team and project leads where he led the technical component of the Ecological Modeling System, which simulated population dynamics of biological species.  In 2014, he was selected as the Work Package Manager for Environmental Simulation within the Engineered Resilient Systems program.

“The CAB provides experts who are able to create and analyze computational simulations of a wide variety of systems. This ability is necessary in a world which must, more and more, rely on computer simulations to get an accurate, and inexpensive, view of how things work,” he added.

Hensley has received various recognitions during his career, including a pair of ERDC Research and Development Awards and the Commander's Award for Civilian Service.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown College, Kentucky, in 1979, followed by his doctorate from Purdue University in 1991. His experience includes a postdoctoral fellowship at Purdue University and a stint on the faculty of the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.