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  • July

    ERDC Contracting Office selected as USACE Center of the Year

    The Excellence in Contracting Awards Program (ECAP) has selected the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Contracting Office as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Center of the Year. The ECAP recognizes the achievements and contributions of the USACE contracting workforce for their continuing and exceptional commitment to the country. The awards honor those who have singularly and collectively fulfilled the USACE acquisitions mission and demonstrated leadership, contracting expertise, professional development and achieved exceptional successes over the past year.
  • Dr. Ricky Massaro, a U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development physical scientist, received a patent for his “Method of Processing Full Motion Video Data for Photogrammetric Reconstruction." The patent was primarily designed for special operations forces, intelligence community analysis, terrain specialists and those working with geospatial intelligence as a system for photogrammetric analysis of full motion video (FMV), which converts FMV to image files, extracts metadata and produces accurate 2-D and 3-D geospatial images in real time.

    ERDC scientist receives patent for Soldiers’ 3-D terrain support

    Recognizing that accurate and timely terrain models are critical for Soldiers in many areas of the world, scientists at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Geospatial Research Laboratory (GRL) invented a cost-efficient method to generate high-resolution 3-D terrain data using existing unmanned platforms.
  • U. S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Commander Col. Teresa Schlosser, front right, welcomed the five selectees for the 2020 six-month session of ERDC University, sponsored by the Office of Research and Technology Transfer and the Human Capital Office. Participating in kickoff activities March 3-6 were, from left, ERDC U Program Manager and ORTT Technology, Knowledge and Outreach Division Chief Tisa Webb; Civil Engineer Ceyda Polatel, Jacksonville District, assigned to the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory; Natural Resource Specialist Jason Knight, Tulsa District, assigned to the Environmental Laboratory; Cost Civil Engineer Ian Pumo, Seattle District, assigned to EL and the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory; Biologist Aaron McFarlane, St. Paul District, assigned to EL; Geologist David Robison, Louisville District, assigned to Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory; and Human Capital Office Director Dr. Gary Anderton. U.S Army Corps of Engineers division and district participants partner with ERDC subject matter experts to apply and implement technical solutions.

    USACE Jacksonville District hydraulic engineer selected for ERDC U

    Although Dr. Ceyda Polatel first heard about the Engineer Research and Development Center University (ERDC U) through a former U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) employee, it wasn’t until she received an email and advice from her professional colleague, ERDC researcher Dr. Chuck Downer that she applied for the program.
  • Sears Point Wetland Restoration, a project completed in 2016 by Sonoma Land Trust, Ducks Unlimited and many other partners, is an excellent example of using natural and nature-based features to restore a tidal marsh, which helps mitigate flooding in the area, one of the many social, environmental and economic benefits this project delivers. The marsh mounds were used to attenuate wind-wave energy and allow the natural accretion of sediment near San Pablo Bay, north of San Francisco, California

    Knauss Fellow, Engineering With Nature initiative a perfect match

    To Samuel Fielding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Engineering With Nature (EWN) initiative seemed like a perfect fit. As a prospective John A. Knauss Marine Fellow, Fielding was searching for a host organization where he could utilize his interdisciplinary education in economics, international relations and biology. His doctorate research was focused on the economics of coastal adaption and the socioeconomics of coastal hazards within flood insurance markets.

  • June

    A Gamma Portable Radar Interferometer and a Robotic Laser Theodolite sit on top of a large pressure ridge near a U.S. Navy ice camp on the Beaufort Sea, March 4, 2020. The Gamma Portable Radar Interferometer continuously measures precise distances from itself to an array of reflectors deployed around the camp and runway. It is able to detect small movements of the reflectors in relation to each other, and can tell researchers how the ice is expanding and contracting. The radar interferometer in an alternate method to accomplish a similar goal, sending out radar pulses that reflect off of various ice surfaces and records the reflected signal.

    ERDC researchers study arctic sea ice

    The U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) collaborated with the U.S. Navy during the annual Sea Ice Dynamics Experiment (SIDEx) from February through March 2020 by predicting potential breaks in sea ice.
  • Photo of Dr. Kent Newman.

    ERDC researcher honored by University of Southern Mississippi

    Dr. Kent Newman of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) received a distinguished honor from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) – the 2020 Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Arts and Sciences – in the spring of 2020.
  • Photo of Joe Bush

    CERL employee named USACE’s ‘Mechanical Engineer of the Year’

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) recently named Joseph Bush, a mechanical engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) headquarted in Champaign, Illinois, the 2020 “Mechanical Engineer of the Year.”
  • The Ship Tow Simulator at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory aides in testing and improving navigation channel design. The Navigation Research, Development and Technology (RD&T) program is part of the ERDC’s overall civil works mission.

    Civil Works Research Area Review Groups go virtual during COVID-19 pandemic

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently overcame the hurdle of conducting its annual Environmental, Navigation and Flood Risk Management Research Area Review Groups (RARGs) virtually due to physical distancing considerations related to COVID-19. The RARG meetings, typically held over the course of a few days in April, are the cornerstones of the present USACE civil works research and development (R&D) process, facilitating review and ranking of research needs submitted by districts, divisions, centers of expertise and researchers across the organization. During typical in-person RARGs, the meetings also facilitate team-building, technology transfer and hands-on learning about facilities, emerging products and methods.
  • Led by Research Physical Scientist David “Keith” Wilson, Ph.D., third from left, his research team with CRREL’s Signature Physics Branch received a patent for their “System for Modeling Intelligent Sensor Selection and Placement” awarded July 2019. Team members included, from left, Rachel Romond, postdoctoral student; Jordan Bates, research computer scientist; Wilson; John Gagnon, retired civil engineering technician; Lauren Waldrop, computer scientist; and Matthew Kamrath, research physical scientist.

    ERDC inventors earn patent for sensor planning software

    Inventors at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) recently received a patent for sensor planning software tools designed to assist the U.S. Soldiers’ need to identify effective placement locations for sensors to accomplish their mission. Led by Research Physical Scientist Dr. David “Keith” Wilson, the research team, consisting of CRREL’s Signature Physics Branch, received the patent for their “System for Modeling Intelligent Sensor Selection and Placement” in July 2019.
  • Capt. Carolyn N. Ortiz-Merced discusses the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago District’s COVID-19 projects while serving as the battle captain in the district’s Emergency Operations Center during the fight against COVID-19.

    ERDC Soldiers serve in the fight against COVID-19

    Although the vast majority of employees with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) are Department of Defense civilians, the select few U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the ERDC are making a significant impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 2020, Soldiers from across the ERDC have deployed around the country to aid in the fight against the disease, many mobilizing to “hotspots” to confront the unique challenges of fighting an unseen enemy.

  • May

    U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Research Associate Army 1st Lt. Eoghan Matthews walks across the Brooklyn Bridge on his way to work at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District, March 26, 2020. Matthews was activated to assist the USACE New York District with completing site assessments, which are provided to local, state and federal partners, so that decisions can be made about where and when alternate care facilities are constructed as additional support to hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak.

    Answering the Call

    In late March 2020, Army 1st Lt. Eoghan Matthews, a Soldier assigned to the U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Region Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), received a call. The instructions were cryptic but direct: “Pack a bag, and be ready to go somewhere in the Northeast.”
  • The screenshot illustrates the May 22 debut of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Susceptible Exposed Infected Recovered (ERDC-SEIR) model on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website. The ERDC-SEIR is one of 16 models featured on the CDC’s COVID-19 model ensemble website, and the ERDC COVID-19 Modeling and Analysis Team will continue to provide results to the CDC going forward.

    ERDC COVID-19 model debuts on CDC website

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) COVID-19 Modeling and Analysis Team (C-MAT) developed a COVID-19 model that debuted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website, May 22. The ERDC model, also referred to as the ERDC-SEIR (Susceptible Exposed Infected Recovered) model, is one of 16 models featured on the CDC’s COVID-19 model ensemble website.
  • The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Team developed a three-step process for assessing regionally adjusted COVID-19 outcomes in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

    ERDC researchers model COVID-19 for the Nation

    VICKSBURG, Miss. – When the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Dr. Brandon Lafferty sleeps these days, he dreams about predictive models. That’s because since mid-March, Lafferty, a researcher from the ERDC Environmental Laboratory, has been helping lead ERDC’s Modelling and Simulation Team develop the ERDC Susceptible Exposed Infected Recovered ⸺ or SEIR ⸺ model for COVID-19, and it’s an intense effort.
  • Louisville District Geologist David Robison, far left, toured the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory’s Concrete Materials Lab on the Vicksburg, Miss., campus of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. He will work with a GSL mentor during his six-month ERDC University session. Robison was joined by his fellow ERDC-U selectees on four laboratory tours on the 700-acre campus during kickoff week activities the first week of March.

    Louisville District Geologist Selected for Engineer Research and Development Center University

    A developmental assignment and subsequent deployment delayed his Army Engineer Research and Development Center University application, but Louisville District geologist David Robison was selected for the class of 2020 and is now working with his mentors to develop tools and methods for possible incorporation into regular levee inspection and risk assessment programs.   

  • April

    Ryan James, a digging contractor, breaks through into the back of the gravel room for the first time from the new back crosscut in the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory's Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility in Fox, Alaska. The excavation was part of the phase four expansion of the permafrost tunnel, which added a new 300-foot tunnel and improved 200 feet of the pre-existing tunnel.

    Discovering the Mural in Permafrost

    In the forests of Fox, Alaska, carved into a frozen hillside is a unique manmade 350-meter long research tunnel. Situated on a 16-acre parcel near the confluence of Goldstream and Glenn Creeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory’s Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility was excavated deep into a large block of discontinuous permafrost that has been going through several recent periods of expansion. The expansion project began back in 2011, taking advantage of the digging seasons when the ground is at its coldest, with an overall project goal of expanding the tunnel facility to better support ongoing and growing research and engineering needs. The most recent expansion effort, this year, has added 300-feet of new tunnel, improved 200 feet of the existing tunnel and added links between the old and new tunnel sections at several locations, to include at an interface between subsurface bedrock and overlying gravels.
  • The U.S. Army Engineer and Development Center’s Justin Wilkens, a research biologist with the Environmental Laboratory, checks the waypoints using the SubSeaSail’s G6 navigation software on his laptop. The unmanned surface vessel was taken to Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, for a demonstration by Wilkens and a team of ERDC-EL research biologists, including Dr. Guilherme Lotufo and Dr. Mark Ballentine. The USV gathered data indicating the presence of munitions constituents from unexploded underwater ordnance, a problem at sites around the world. Chris Todter, far left, a SubSeaSail partner, and Tom Goddard, far right, SubSeaSail Fabrication and Testing, are also visible in the photo.

    Team successfully tests new unmanned autonomous surface vessel

    Anxious at first about the specter of possible software glitches that would derail the project, the U.S. Army Engineer and Development Center’s Justin Wilkens, a research biologist with the Environmental Laboratory, soon confirmed that everything was functioning well. He and a team of other EL research biologists, including Dr. Guilherme Lotufo and Dr. Mark Ballentine, visited Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, for five days in February to demonstrate a new unmanned autonomous surface vessel, or USV.
  • ERDC’s Directorate of Public Works staff work to build two types of mock-up hospital rooms.

    U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center prototypes makeshift hospital rooms

    The Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite has made headlines for his plans to construct makeshift hospital rooms across the country as the Nation prepares for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients. Recently, Semonite called on the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Develeopment Center in Vicksburg to ask for help in accomplishing that mission.

  • March

    Dr. Cody Gray congratulates Dr. Linda Nelson as she receives the President’s Award from the Aquatic Plant Management Society in 2015 for her dedication to the organization over the course of her career. Nelson retired from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Environmental Laboratory, February 28, 2020, wearing three hats: associate technical director for Civil Works, Environmental Engineering and Sciences, and program manager for the Aquatic Nuisance Species Research and the Aquatic Plant Control Research Programs.

    Career opportunities made Corps a compelling place for Nelson

    Looking back on her 35-year career, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Dr. Linda Nelson thinks the opportunities were so plentiful, she couldn’t resist staying with the Corps. The associate technical director for Civil Works, Environmental Engineering and Sciences, wore three hats until she retired, February 28, 2020, serving also as program manager for the Aquatic Nuisance Species Research and the Aquatic Plant Control Research Programs.
  • A Civil Works titan retires from 40-year research career with the Corps

    A Civil Works titan retires from 40-year research career with the Corps

    A noteworthy but humble figure exited the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Environmental Laboratory for the last time, February 28, 2020. Dr. Alfred Cofrancesco, Jr. retired from his position as senior scientific technical manager and director of the Civil Works environmental research area for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • Daniel Hickman, a civil engineering technician and member of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team, sets up equipment for a UAS flight over a landslide at the Vicksburg National Military Park

    U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center assists in mudslide assessment

    A team of researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center assisted the Vicksburg National Military Park in assessing landslides and erosion on the grounds.