The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) recently hosted six cadets from the U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy for a hands-on research and development experience in support of its Intelligent Environmental Battlespace Awareness Program. The two-week internship focused on field data collection at the U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, and modeling development at ERDC’s Environmental Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The work the cadets performed during their time at ERDC will have real world impacts. Data collected will be used to inform predictive global vegetation models that can be used to inform military operational planning. Before returning to their respective academies, some of the cadets took a moment to share their thoughts about their time at ERDC. Watch the video here.

Clean water can often be an afterthought in our daily lives, but not for the ERDC researchers who are performing state-of-the-art science and engineering to address sustainable water infrastructure challenges, such as providing clean water, as well as removing contaminants and extracting resources from water. This research space is focused on emerging contaminants, which are a consequence of high technology and advanced chemicals. To meet this challenge, ERDC is implementing a multidisciplinary approach that harnesses material technologies and processes that not only treat and remove contaminants from various water sources, but also target specific contaminants. These water infrastructure solutions will serve not only our military, but the nation too.

The Wetlands Regulatory Assistance Program (WRAP) is a research and development program which connects the power of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to the people, policies, and practices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Regulatory Program. Through the multi-disciplinary expertise of ERDC's seven laboratories, WRAP provides solutions to the unique science, engineering, and technical challenges of the USACE Regulatory Program by developing products and tools to accelerate, revolutionize, and enhance Regulatory decision-making. WRAP provides technical and technological support in seven focus areas, including: Wetland Delineation Science, Stream Sciences, Mitigation Science, Assessment Methodologies, the National Wetland Plant List, Technology Transfer, and Training. Through the development of innovative tools, technologies, and methodologies, WRAP accelerates permitting timelines and programmatic efficiencies with these rapid, user-friendly decision-making tools, and transfers those technologies to USACE Regulators, Federal and State partners, and the public through tech transfer opportunities, public outreach, and training. WRAP also reduces decision risk and promotes transparent, consistent, predictable, repeatable, and reliable decisions by injecting science into the decision-making process and providing ongoing, rapid-response technical support in all components and stages of the permitting process.

During bouts of severe weather, including tropical storms and hurricanes, coastal dune systems provide crucial protection for coastal communities, but these dunes can be torn apart by high winds and strong surf. The very surf that at times causes damage is also delivering natural materials that may prove to be the key to a more resilient dune system. Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, along with partners at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District and The University of Southern Mississippi, are developing methods to use this natural material – known as wrack – to build coastal dunes crucial to protecting the coastline during hazardous weather events like hurricanes. As part of the USACE Regional Sediment Management Program, researchers are conducting a field study in which wrack that washes up on the beach is collected and placed on existing dunes to incrementally increase dune stability. Harness the Power of ERDC at ERDCInfo@usace.army.mil

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering With Nature® (EWN) initiative is celebrating 10 years of enabling more sustainable delivery of economic, social and environmental benefits through infrastructure. The overarching vision for the initiative is to foster an approach where nature and human engineering are partners in infrastructure development. The strong relationships and collaborations built with partners around the world have fueled EWN’s progress over the past decade. Some of EWN’s partners share their greetings and congratulations on the 10th anniversary of EWN. For more information, go to engineeringwithnature.org.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering With Nature® (EWN) initiative is celebrating 10 years of enabling more sustainable delivery of economic, social and environmental benefits through infrastructure. The overarching vision for the initiative is to foster an approach where nature and human engineering are partners in infrastructure development. The strong relationships and collaborations built with partners around the world have fueled EWN’s progress over the past decade. Some of EWN’s partners share their greetings and congratulations on the 10th anniversary of EWN. For more information, go to engineeringwithnature.org.

Since its creation following the Great Flood of 1927, the Engineer Research and Development Center and its forerunner have constructed thousands of physical models to support projects across our nation in streams, rivers, inlets, estuaries and coasts. ERDC has the deep expertise and unique facilities to do robust physical modeling of coastal and hydraulic structures, including two three-dimensional wave generators and three two-dimensional wave flumes. It also combines its vast physical modeling capabilities with high-tech numerical modeling to improve navigation, optimize the design of structures, understand the response and resiliency of natural features, and solve some of the toughest civil works and military operational challenges facing our nation today. ERDC’s models are value-added, saving projects millions of dollars by improving designs and saving them from failure.

Researchers at ERDC’s Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, have kept watch on the coast for more than 40 years, creating a vibrant research hub that remains at the forefront of coastal science and engineering today. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, the internationally renowned coastal observatory serves as a natural lab and test bed for field instrumentation and numerical models. Its ever-expanding and evolving array of sensors continuously measures waves, currents and morphology, providing foundational datasets that have been used in more than 1,000 scientific publications to date. The FRF supports ERDC’s civil and military missions by advancing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ knowledge of the coastal environment through field observation, data analysis, numerical exploration, and technology development. If it is coastal research, the FRF is one of the first places people are going for the data, tools and expertise needed to solve their complex challenges.

The Coastal Engineering Research Board has set the standards for the coastal engineering community throughout the past century. With its membership including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders and prominent civilians internationally recognized in the coastal engineering field, the seven-member board advises the Corps’ commander on coastal engineering and science. Throughout its history, CERB has been instrumental in shaping new innovations and approaches, including the establishment of a Field Research Facility along the North Carolina coast, development of airborne LIDAR bathymetry, and the promotion of a new approach to manage systems through risk reduction. Today, CERB continues to be an internationally renowned voice whose recommendations will leave resounding impacts for generations to come.

Icing threatens the safety and success of military and civilian operations around the globe, as the rapid accumulation of ice can hinder mobility, damage infrastructure and impede communications. Existing treatments are either both costly and labor intensive or limited in their scope because little is known about the underlying scientific principles that make passive coatings effective. That’s why a team of ERDC researchers is conducting innovative basic research to unravel the physical processes that govern ice adhesion. Their research will create a fundamental understanding of the microscale mechanisms that control how ice attaches to various surfaces, paving the way for future development of new protective and advanced materials and the expansion of existing treatments to broader applications and other fields. This project is another example of how ERDC’s basic research is solving the impossible problems of our future battlespace.

Dr. David Pittman, Director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), spent a few minutes with Robert Jones, a soil microbiologist at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, NH, to learn more about what’s being discovered from soil, and its potential impact on military missions. Harness the Power of ERDC at ERDCINFO@USACE.ARMY.MIL

Dr. David Pittman, Director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, caught up with Dr. Emily Asenath-Smith, a research materials engineer from the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, NH. Dr. Asenath-Smith shared more about the important research she’s doing on ice and its impact on civilian infrastructure and military operations. Harness the Power of ERDC at ERDCINFO@USACE.ARMY.MIL

Researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) are developing a way to optimize energy efficiency at McMurdo Station, Antarctica through an innovative application of existing technology. Harness the Power of ERDC at ERDCINFO@USACE.ARMY.MIL.