Dr. Mihan H. McKenna Taylor is the Army ST for Near Surface Phenomenology for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), a group of 7 R&D laboratories for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Army.
Recipient of the 2013 USACE Researcher of the Year award for innovative remote monitoring of structures, Dr. McKenna Taylor specializes in bringing reality to intelligent decision making. She leads multi-disciplinary near-surface phenomenology research to create adaptive, effective, and revolutionary tools and scientific programs to shape future operational environments, including terrain shaping and near-surface persistent surveillance. Using geophysics and geotechnical engineering to proactively manipulate and assess the near-surface interface, she executes and fosters research to meet multi-domain threat assessment and maneuver goals, through high-performance computing simulations, analytical analysis, and laboratory and field experimentation, with applications for both civil and military end-users across multiple Department of Defense (DoD), federal, intelligence and academic communities. Dr. McKenna Taylor is the Co-Chair of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Augmentation Working Group, (AAA WG) and serves as the Basic Research 6.1 Advisor for the ERDC Adaptive Protection, Maneuver, Geospatial, and Natural Sciences Research Portfolio.
Dr. McKenna Taylor is the author of numerous journal articles, technical reports, and other publications on a wide variety of geophysical and geotechnical topics. Dr. McKenna Taylor holds a B.S. in Physics with a Chemistry minor from Georgetown University (1999) and a Ph.D. in Geophysics from Southern Methodist University (2005). She is a Certified Professional Geologist (#11410) from The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) and a Registered Professional Geologist in the state of Alaska (#661). Dr. McKenna is actively involved in the Military Sensing Symposiums (Battlefield Acoustics, Magnetic, and Seismic/Electromagnetics), as well as the American Geophysical Union and the Acoustical Society of America.
Prior to joining ERDC in 2005, and while pursuing her Ph.D, Dr. McKenna Taylor taught Geophysics and Geology at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas (1999-2005), and conducted research in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. She is currently an adjunct professor in the Huffington Department of Geological Sciences at SMU and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Mississippi State University.