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  • September

    Bats can be vectors for diseases, such as rabies, and can therefore be classified as a naturally occurring threat to the Soldier entering a subterranean environment in an overseas military operation. Team members from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center are currently investigating how to develop sensors that would eventually be fitted to unmanned vehicles to detect these naturally occurring threats, which can be subdivided into the macroscopic type, such as bats, arachnids and reptiles, and the microscopic threat agents — or the diseases that the macroscopic species may carry that could spread to people.

    Research project will explore using unmanned systems to detect naturally occurring hazards for the Soldier

    A multidisciplinary team at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center-Environmental Laboratory (ERDC-EL) is currently cataloguing the naturally occurring threats that Soldiers encounter in such situations, with the goal of eventually developing an unmanned solution.
  • A team at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) was recently honored with an award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for their collaborative effort to address the worldwide problem of potholes with a unique innovation, Induction Hot-Mix Asphalt (iHMA).

    ERDC’s ‘simple but unique’ pothole solution honored with Federal Lab Consortium award

    From NASCAR racetracks to aircraft runways on military bases across the world, wherever they develop, potholes can cause serious problems. A team at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) was recently honored with an award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for their collaborative effort to address the worldwide problem of potholes with a unique innovation, Induction Hot-Mix Asphalt (iHMA).
  • As Dr. Robert Hall walked around the spacious hangar, he came across components and materials used in his more than 40 years of research at the Waterways Experiment Station, the predecessor to the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).

    No Detail Too Small: Engineer Recalls Vital Work Following 9/11

    As Dr. Robert Hall walked around the spacious hangar, he came across components and materials used in his more than 40 years of research at the Waterways Experiment Station, the predecessor to the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).
  • Maj. Jarrod Gillespie, deputy chief of contracting for the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, signed an ROTC contract the day of Sept. 11, 2001, in response to seeing the attacks on America. Today, 20 years later, Gillespie is proud of the choice he made to defend his nation.

    A call to serve: One Soldier remembers 9/11

    On Sept. 10, 2001, Maj. Jarrod Gillespie, who now serves as deputy chief of contracting at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), was a junior at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. He enlisted in the Army Reserves right out of high school, and while he enjoyed being a Soldier, his plan was to graduate from Alcorn State, finish his military service and begin civilian life as a culinary arts student with plans to open his own restaurant. The next day, everything changed.
  • PFAS Effluent Treatment System (PETS) testing at Hurlburt Field

    ERDC honored with Federal Laboratory Consortium Southeast Regional Excellence in Technology Transfer Award

    A U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Environmental Laboratory (ERDC-EL) team led by Research Engineer Dr. Victor Medina has been recognized by the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Southeast Region for accomplishing outstanding work in the process of transferring federally developed technology.
  • Dr. Paul Mlakar, retired force projection technical director at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, remembers exactly where he was the morning of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Hours later, he was tapped to lead the study of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Today, 20 years later, his findings are still being used in blast resistant building design.

    20 years later, ERDC engineer reflects on 9/11, Pentagon wreckage

    The morning of Sept. 11, 2001, began like most others did for Dr. Paul Mlakar, who was serving at the time as technical director for force projection for the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). On that particular Tuesday, Mlakar was working out of a hotel room near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he had traveled for a seminar that took place the day before. As he sat in his room preparing for a 9 a.m. EST conference call, an unsettling news report came across his muted TV—the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 had struck the north Twin Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

  • USACE announces launch event for International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will hold a virtual international launch event with its partners on Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. CDT, to celebrate release of the seminal publication, International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) for Flood Risk Management.

  • Brewer lauded with USACE Chief Counsel's Honorary Award

    An attorney at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) was recently recognized during the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Chief Counsel’s Honorary Awards ceremony. Allison Brewer, who has been with the ERDC Office of Counsel for more than five years, was awarded the E. Manning Seltzer Award for Special Contributions, which is named for the Chief Legal Advisor to the Chief of Engineers and General Counsel of the USACE from 1956 until 1977. The award recognizes an attorney who has made one or more special contributions to the USACE legal service mission through the development of a legal theory, a legal management innovation or practice or outstanding performance in solving a legal or management problem.

  • August

    Aerial view of the Prado Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers structure near Corona, California.

    New trial for using advanced weather forecasts to retain more water proves successful

    A new report evaluating a pilot program to use advanced weather and streamflow forecasts to enhance water storage capabilities at a Riverside County, California, dam found that enough water could be conserved to supply an additional 60,000 people per year.
  • A tube operated in gas proportional mode produces waveforms displayed on an oscilloscope. Subsequently these waveforms were captured with high-speed, analog-to-digital electronics. The instrumentation was used by U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Environmental Laboratory researchers in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to develop an electronic collimator invention for detecting gamma radiation, a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. The invention enables the warfighter with a detector capable of directional detection without the use of shielding. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

    Patented Electronically Collimated Gamma Radiation Detector aids Warfighters

    A team of researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory (EL) will be recognized later this year for an electronic collimator invention that enables the warfighter with a gamma radiation detector capable of directional detection without the use of shielding.         
  • Amy Bednar (center), a research mathematician at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Information Technology Laboratory, graduated from the Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, July 23, 2021,. Bednar was part of a two-year distance education class, which included 391 students from military, federal agencies and other countries around the world.

    ERDC employee graduates from U.S. Army War College

    Earlier this summer, Dr. Amy Bednar, an employee of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), joined the prestigious ranks of U.S. Army War College alumni.
  • U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center researchers evaluate dredged material from the Houston Ship Channel Expansion Improvement Project with instrumentation in the Environmental Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi, September 2018. The researchers evaluated the material from the 52-mile-long ship channel and modeled its potential environmental impacts using agreed-upon, site-specific modeling parameters in consultation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

    ERDC researcher’s detective work helps ship channel improvement project stay on track

    A construction effort as massive as the Houston Ship Channel Expansion Improvement Project — designed to accommodate the wider and deeper ships now carrying goods back and forth between Asia and the U.S. — has many regulatory requirements that need to be met.
  • Dr. Brian McFall, a research civil engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, discusses the SandSnap initiative with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District employees.

    ERDC researchers engage citizen scientists in data collection

    Researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), along with the U.S. Geological Service, Marda Science and James Madison University, are engaging citizen scientists in a national SandSnap initiative to amass a spatial and temporally varying nationwide beach grain-size database.
  • Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Donna R. Williams, a Vicksburg, Mississippi, native and former deputy commanding general of the 412th Theater Engineer Command, is one of the newest inductees to the U.S. Army ROTC Hall of Fame, which honors graduates who have distinguished themselves in both military and civilian pursuits and made lasting, significant contributions to the nation, the Army and the history and traditions of the ROTC program.

    ERDC’s Williams to be inducted into ROTC Hall of Fame

    The U.S. Army recently announced that Donna R. Williams, a computer scientist at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), would be inducted into the U.S. Army ROTC Hall of Fame.
  • Seven employees of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) were recently named recipients of 2021 Women of Color STEM awards. The national-level awards recognize outstanding achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. ERDC awardees include Dr. Leslie Leonard, Dr. Niki Goerger, Dr. Brianna Thompson, Cheryl Wallace-Sims, Joycelynn Brooks, Melanie Sias and Lakeythia Steed, all of the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL).

    Seven ERDC employees honored with Women of Color-STEM awards

    Seven employees of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) were recently named recipients of 2021 Women of Color STEM awards. The national-level awards recognize outstanding achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
  • The Hardened Alternative Trailer System (HATS) two-story protective structure used by Department of State, with additions of the recently patented weather-resistance and connective flashing components. The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory Research Civil Engineer Justin Roberts of Vicksburg, Mississippi, improved his previously patented Modular Anti-Ballistic, Blast and Forced Entry Resistant Shelter invention, part of HATS, with these capabilities. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photos by Justin Roberts)

    ERDC engineer improves Department of State protective shelter patent

    U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Geotechnical and Structure Laboratory (GSL) Research Civil Engineer Justin Roberts recently made improvements to a previous patent that will enhance protective shelters leveraged by the Department of State (DOS).
  • Dr. Irene MacAllister, a research chemist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, receives the Czech Republic’s University of Defence Medal.

    MacAllister honored for vital research in Czech Republic

    Dr. Irene MacAllister, a research chemist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), has been awarded the Czech Republic’s University of Defence Medal honoring her “for the immense contribution she has made to the research effort in protection against high-risk biological agents.” She received the award upon recent completion of her assignment with the U.S. Army Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program (ESEP) to the Czech Republic.
  • Dr. Don Perovich holds a plaque in the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory’s (CRREL) Gallery of Distinguished Employees in Hanover, New Hampshire, July 15, 2021. CRREL leadership announced Perovich as the newest employee to be recognized in the gallery during CRREL's annual Engineer Day celebration, which provides the opportunity for the laboratory to commemorate employee accomplishments from the previous year. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by David I. Marquis)

    Cold Regions Laboratory celebrates Engineer Day by recognizing personnel

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire, celebrated Engineer Day July 15.

  • July

    Engineering With Nature’s Tyndall Coastal Resilience Study recognized with international award

    Engineering With Nature’s Tyndall Coastal Resilience Study recognized with international award

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its partners received the U.K. Environment Agency Flood & Coast International Excellence Award June 30 for the Tyndall Coastal Resilience Study.
  • Researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory’s Field Research Facility position equipment along the shore in Duck, North Carolina, in preparation of the During Nearshore Event Experiment beginning fall 2021 along the Outer Banks.

    U.S. Coastal Research Program’s During Nearshore Event Experiment begins fall 2021

    Leading coastal scientists and engineers from across the U.S. will descend upon the Outer Banks of North Carolina this fall as part of the U.S. Coastal Research Program’s During Nearshore Event Experiment, or DUNEX, to study the physical processes behind storm impacts to beaches, dunes and coastal communities.