17 Apr 2020

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.

15 Apr 2020

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.

8 Apr 2020

DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Supports the Fight Against COVID-19

From modeling the movement of how droplets travel through an aircraft to conducting virtual screenings of vaccine possibilities, the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program has a powerful weapon in the fight against COVID-19—supercomputers.

8 Apr 2020

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.

27 Mar 2020

CRREL employee tests positive for COVID-19

A U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center employee assigned to the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, based in Hanover, New Hampshire has tested positive for COVID-19. The employee is currently in a quarantine status at home. All personnel who have come into contact with the infected employee have been notified and the laboratory continues to enforce safety measures to protect the workforce. The ERDC is continuing to restrict access to only mission critical personnel and essential services contractors at its facilities in New Hampshire and across the nation. In addition, the organization continues to closely adhere to all official federal and state safety and health directives to protect the workforce and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

25 Mar 2020

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.

13 Mar 2020

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.

10 Mar 2020

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.

2 Mar 2020

Want a glimpse of the future? Look no further than ITL’s new DIVE laboratory.

The newest facility at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) will make you feel like you’ve traveled forward in time. The Dynamic Immersive Virtual Environment (DIVE) laboratory allows researchers to test and develop solutions for the Department of Defense (DoD) using leading augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) gear. The rise of this technology has already changed the way we work and learn, and it will now be used to allow Army engineers, scientists, and stakeholders to immerse themselves in true scale, 3D environments.

28 Feb 2020

Two ERDC researchers earn Black Engineer of the Year awards

At the office, LaKenya Walker spends her time using high-performance computing to help the military better understand its weapon systems. Cameron Thomas works just a few buildings away as an expert in explosive weapons effects. Though their jobs are a bit different, the two U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center employees now have something very special in common—they are both winners of the 2020 Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) for Modern Day Technology Leaders.