The late Dr. Mark Moran, a research geophysicist whose work is credited with saving the lives of countless Warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan, was inducted into the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory’s (CRREL) Gallery of Distinguished Employees on Nov. 19.
Dr. Moran retired in 2021 after a 35-year career at the Hanover, New Hampshire, laboratory, part of the U.S Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). During his time at CRREL he led numerous advancements in radar, seismic and acoustic computational methods and sensing.
Among his most consequential and noteworthy projects was a series of Office of the Secretary of Defense-ordered aerial sensing platforms designed to identify and assist in removing improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which at the time were emerging as a significant battlefield threat to U.S. Warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. Technologies developed through Moran’s groundbreaking work were rapidly tested and fielded and led directly to a dramatic reduction in IED-related casualties.
“I don’t know anybody at ERDC who saved more lives than Mark Moran,” said ERDC Director Dr. David Pittman during an induction ceremony that included warm recollections from family, friends and colleagues. “He was in the business of saving lives and nobody did it better than Mark. That’s why he is a legend.”
One such counter-IED program, Saturn Arch, flew from 2012 to 2022 and tallied approximately 72,500 mission hours while creating more than 18,000 intelligence reports.
During the induction ceremony Moran was remembered as a visionary – he was integral to the formation of CRREL’s Seismic-Acoustic team, which would later become the laboratory’s Signature Physics Branch – and caring coach and mentor.
“When Mark would come down the hallway looking for researchers for one of his projects, people knew that it was probably going to become the most important project of their career and that they had better join in,” said ERDC-CRREL’s Senior Scientific Technical Manager Dr. Robert Davis.
With his induction, Dr. Moran became the 64th member of CRREL's Gallery of Distinguished Employees, which was established in 1966 to honor employees who accomplished their duties in an exceptional manner while contributing to the reputation and honor of CRREL and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Dr. Mark Moran joined CRREL's technical staff in 1986 as a research geophysicist. Prior to his retirement in 2021, Moran was named ERDC’s Technical Director for Terrestrial and Geospatial Sciences and Military Programs, and then ultimately promoted to Senior Scientific Technical Manager.
Moran died as a result of a car accident in Virginia in 2022.
“Mark touched so many people in such positive way,” said Dr. Keith Wilson, a longtime CRREL colleague of Moran. “We are all the better for knowing him.”