VICKSBURG, Miss. — The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) will hold a change of command ceremony at its main headquarters on the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 14, 2022.
For this centuries old tradition, Maj. Gen. Richard Heitkamp, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), will preside over the ceremony. Col. Teresa Schlosser, ERDC’s first female commander, will relinquish command to Lt. Col. promotable Christian Patterson, ERDC’s first African-American commander.
Patterson is a 28-year veteran with deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Afghanistan and has also completed assignments in France, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and St. Kitts and Nevis. He has served as the ERDC Director of Communications since 2019 building strong relationships within the organization, the USACE and the local community.
A retirement ceremony for Schlosser will be held immediately following the change of command. Schlosser has commanded ERDC since September 2019 and led the organization during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. She has been a steadfast leader providing guidance and counsel and endearing herself to the workforce with her Commander’s Notes.
The ERDC commander is responsible for the site management and planning of all associated installations and laboratories and leads the Command Staff Division. In their role, they assist the ERDC director and deputy director in planning and executing research and development activities, with emphasis on identifying Warfighter requirements and providing liaison to districts, installations and the Engineer Regiment.
ERDC invites the public to view the ceremony via live-stream on the ERDC Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ArmyERDC) or on their YouTube platform (https://youtu.be/Ll7Y9HsBRH0).