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  • May

    Ray Dos Santos, a mathematician and computer scientist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Geospatial Research Laboratory, Alexandria, Virginia, uses large amounts of historical data, social media activity and news articles to identify the best indicators of when and where a terrorist attack may take place. This “Big Data” approach uses massive amounts of available information, along with high-end parallel computing, to find important clues in the fight against rogue activities. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

    Using a “Big Data” approach to find threats, fight terror

    Whether at home or abroad, the main goal of any commander is to keep Soldiers safe. With that in mind, researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) have been using large amounts of historical data, social media activity and news articles to identify the best indicators of when and where a terrorist attack may take place. This “Big Data” approach uses massive amounts of available information, along with high-end parallel computing, to find important clues that aid in the fight against rogue activities.
  • Staff Sgt. Russell Gaskin, U.S. Army Prime Power School instructor, reviews an electrical panel during the Prime Power Capstone Training Exercise at the Contingency Basing Integration Training and Evaluation Center (CBITEC) in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Aug. 11, 2020. Prime Power School students are tested at the CBITEC on the knowledge, skills and abilities they gained over the year-long course to become prime power specialists. CBITEC is a U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory facility that supports the operational energy continuum and safely trains the warfighter to tackle the nation’s power challenges.

    Institute for Systems Engineering Research takes on new task: talent management

    The Institute for Systems Engineering Research (ISER) team at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is applying their expertise to an unexpected field: talent management. The need for a hard-to-find skillset to fill the role of prime power production specialist — which is a high-demand position involving electrical assessments, quality assurance and control and medium-voltage electrical power production and distribution ― has driven the Army to seek new methods to help fill and retain these vital roles.
  • As part of an U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)-University project, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District Biologist Damian Walter is netting flowering rush plants for a feeding study at the ERDC Environmental Laboratory’s greenhouse on the Vicksburg, Mississippi, installation. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Dr. Nathan Harms)

    Aquatic Botany journal features biologist Damian Walter’s ERDC-U project

    U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory Research Biologist Dr. Nathan Harms co-authored a journal article as one of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Walla Walla District Wildlife Biologist Damien Walter’s 2019 ERDC University mentors.

  • April

    A new podcast series tells the stories of how, over the last 10 years, a growing international community of practitioners, scientists, engineers, and researchers across many disciplines and organizations are working together to combine natural and engineering systems to solve problems and diversify infrastructure value by applying the principles and practices of Engineering With Nature®.

    Expanding the Practice of EWN through Landscape Architecture

    VICKSBURG, Miss. – In this episode of the Engineering With Nature (EWN) Podcast, Dr. Jeff King, deputy national lead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) EWN program, discusses how three landscape architects ― Auburn University’s Rob Holmes, University of Pennsylvania’s Sean Burkholder and the University of Virginia’s Brian Davis — have joined forces with EWN to explore innovative solutions to coastal resilience. The group describes their efforts to synthesize the engineering and landscape architecture disciplines and the opportunities and potential for advancing EWN practices. The EWN approach of leveraging natural processes to accomplish the desired engineering outcome while creating environmental and social benefits aligns well with the discipline of landscape architecture in which landscapes are co-designed by humans and natural processes. King and his guests discuss the power of integrating landscape architecture practices into the work Burkholder, Holmes and King are doing with colleagues at the Philadelphia District along the New Jersey coast.
  • Dr. Edith Martinez-Guerra (bottom) and Damarys Acevedo, both U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center-Environmental Laboratory environmental engineers, conduct a virtual meeting with Dr. Farith Diaz, one of the co-founders and co-directors of the Clean Water Science Network (CWSN), an organization dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of developing communities across Latin America by fostering relationships at the local level. Since the start of the fiscal year, the two researchers have been contributing their time and expertise as CWSN mentors to college-aged students.

    Two ERDC researchers give back to Latin American developing communities

    Since the start of the new fiscal year, two environmental engineers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory have contributed their time and expertise as mentors to college-aged students as part of an all-volunteer organization dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of developing communities across Latin America.
  • Dr. Igor Linkov, senior science and technology manager at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, has been selected by the George Washington University and Arthur S. Flemming Commission as one of 12 exceptional public servants in 2020. His research vision and methodology in risk, resilience and decision science have generated tools and practices that are in use by the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies.

    ERDC scientist honored with Arthur S. Flemming Award as outstanding federal employee

    VICKSBURG, Miss. – Dr. Igor Linkov, senior science and technology manager at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory, has been selected by the George Washington University and Arthur S. Flemming Commission as one of 12 exceptional public servants in 2020.
  • Dr. Todd Bridges, national lead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering With Nature (EWN) program, opens the virtual international Book Launch Event at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, April 7, 2021, by welcoming virtual attendees. The event celebrated the release of Engineering With Nature, an Atlas, Volume 2, with the public, and included speakers from a range of U.S. and overseas partner organizations conveying a shared goal for expanding EWN practices globally through collaboration.

    Collaboration a key theme at Engineering With Nature book launch event

    VICKSBURG, Miss. (April 9, 2021) ― The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering With Nature (EWN) program’s Book Launch Event celebrated the release of Engineering With Nature, an Atlas, Volume 2 with the public, and included speakers conveying a shared goal for expanding EWN practices globally through collaboration, April 7.
  • U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory research civil engineer David Nguyen, center, and his team calibrate and tune the motor and rudder sensors on the ERDC’s Research Vessel Martin during its commissioning in the Vicksburg, Mississippi, harbor April 1, 2021. The inland survey vessel is the first full-size, semi-autonomous craft of its kind for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Jared Eastman)

    ERDC researchers commission full-size, semi-autonomous research vessel

    Making its way through the murky waters and swift current of the Mississippi River at the Vicksburg riverfront, the Research Vessel Martin looks like any other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survey boat. However, there is one major difference. The inland survey vessel has been converted into a semi-autonomous craft, making it the first of its kind for the organization.
  • Ross Alter, a research meteorologist at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, spoke virtually at an event April 8, 2021, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Alter’s paternal grandfather, pictured in the PowerPoint image, was liberated at the age of 17 from Auschwitz- Birkenau, the largest concentration and extermination camp, where more than 1.1 million men, women and children were killed during the Holocaust. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Mary Margaret Edney)

    ERDC honors Holocaust Remembrance Day with virtual event

    An employee with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor spoke at a virtual event April 8 to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ross Alter, a research meteorologist in the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, spoke to more than 100 ERDC employees who signed on for his online talk, “The Holocaust: What was it, why did it happen, and… why should I care?”
  • Alan Kennedy, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Environmental Laboratory ― along with National Institute of Standards and Technology researcher Elijah Petersen and University of Alberta (Canada) researcher Greg Goss — led a team of 23 international researchers over seven years to develop guidance for the testing of nanomaterials. These standards were accepted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in July 2020.

    Researcher leads development of internationally recognized nanomaterial testing guidance

    In the world of science, established standards of testing make replication of research possible, which aids in the advancement of technologies. Testing standards are vital on even the smallest of scales, and Alan Kennedy, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory, has helped to achieve such standards for nanomaterials on an international stage.
  • U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center leaders and special guests participate in a dirt turn at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new annex building at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, April 6, 2021. The $4.3-million annex will consist of laboratory and research administrative spaces to support the organization’s expanded military research mission. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Sheree Perry, Norfolk District)

    ERDC’s Field Research Facility holds groundbreaking ceremony for new annex

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new annex building at its Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, April 6, 2021. ​The $4.3-million annex will consist of laboratory and research administrative spaces to support the organization’s expanded military research mission. In collaboration with the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence, the Field Research Facility develops methods to protect forces, conduct forcible and early entry and transition rapidly to offensive operations.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center's Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory uses a Heavy Vehicle-load Simulator-Aircraft system to test AM2 matting for the U.S. Navy's P-8 Poseidon aircraft in March 2021 at the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

    ERDC team uses unique tool in Navy aircraft runway testing

    Since aircraft have been used as wartime weapons, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has led the charge of creating tools that allow those planes to land anywhere in the world. Today, that mission has not changed, and the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) is using a unique machine to better understand the Navy’s P-8 Poseidon and how it distresses temporary, rapidly constructed runways.  

  • March

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering With Nature Program will hold a virtual Book Launch Event April 7, 2021, from 10-11 a.m. CDT, to celebrate the release of the Engineering With Nature Atlas, Volume 2.

    USACE Engineering With Nature Program announces Atlas Volume 2 Book Launch Event

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering With Nature (EWN) Program will hold a virtual international Book Launch Event April 7, 2021, from 10-11 a.m. CDT, for the release of the Engineering With Nature Atlas, Volume 2.
  • Construction to restore the southern shoreline of Deer Island, off the coast of Mississippi.

    Expanding Engineering With Nature – What’s New in Season 2

    Dr. Todd Bridges, senior research scientist for environmental science for the U.S. Army and national lead for the Engineering With Nature (EWN) program, kicks off Season 2 of the EWN Podcast by announcing that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mobile District is joining EWN as its fourth proving ground.
  • An artist rendering of the new 4,008-square-foot annex building to be built at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina. The $4.3-million annex will consist of laboratory and research administrative spaces to support the organization’s expanded military research mission. A groundbreaking ceremony for the facility will be held April 6, 2021, at 10 a.m. EDT.

    ERDC’s Field Research Facility to hold groundbreaking ceremony for new annex

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a new annex building at its Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, April 6 at 10 a.m. EDT.
  • Personnel from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and U.S. Geological Survey watch as a 350-ton crane lowers the 105-foot-long weldment, or underwater Acoustic Deterrent System, into the lock approach of Lock 19 near Keokuk, Iowa, Feb. 3, 2021. Laboratory-tested sounds that proved to be irritating to invasive Asian carp will be broadcast underwater from the weldment as part of a study to evaluate fish behavior.

    USGS, ERDC install underwater Asian carp deterrent system successfully

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and partners installed a temporary, experimental underwater Acoustic Deterrent System, or uADS, at Mississippi River Lock 19 between Keokuk, Iowa, and Hamilton, Illinois, Feb. 3. The deployment is part of a study to understand how invasive Asian carp respond to acoustic, or sound, signals.
  • Alan Katzenmeyer, left, and Anna Miller Jordan, right, both got their start at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) participating in an ERDC-sponsored robotics team while students at Warren Central High School in 2004. Sixteen years later, the two hold supervisory branch chief positions in their respective laboratories, and they credit their successful careers to a solid foundation with the robotics program.

    Starting with STEM: ERDC researchers climb from after-school robotics to branch chief

    At Anna Miller Jordan’s very first robotics team practice as a high-school senior in 2005, she was deemed responsible for piloting a robot to shoot balls into a net, once her classmate Alan Katzenmeyer steered the bot down the court toward the goal. Now, 15 years later, Jordan and Katzenmeyer are both still leading teams at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). But today, instead of high-school peers, those teams are made up of scientists, engineers and researchers working to solve some of the nation’s toughest challenges.
  • Eric Lam, an environmental engineer from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District, has been selected to participate in the 2021 session of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center University. This year’s participants were introduced to the organizations’ senior leaders during virtual presentations March 11, 2021.

    ERDC University 2021 selectees announced

    Engineers from four U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) districts have been selected for the 2021 session of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center University (ERDC-U). Now in its sixth year, ERDC-U pairs USACE division and district participants with relevant laboratory mentors for six-month research projects.
  • A U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) prototype site characterization vehicle demonstrates its amphibious capabilities during testing at the ERDC Levee Breach Model in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Oct. 7, 2020. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

    ERDC researchers combine robotics, imagery technology to solve problems

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Construction Engineering Research Laboratory’s Robotics for Engineer Operations (REO) team is combining efforts with the Information Technology Laboratory’s Robotic Assessment of Dams (DamBot) team to tackle challenges posed by both combat engineer operations abroad and infrastructure at home.
  • ERDC researcher uses sound to sustainably deter invasive Asian carp in USGS project

    ERDC researcher uses sound to sustainably deter invasive Asian carp in USGS project

    When Dr. Christa Woodley, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), heard about the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study to control invasive Asian carp through acoustics, she was excited by the possibilities.