David W. Pittman who has served in various positions with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, most recently as Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory director, has been named ERDC’s deputy director.
In that position, he will assist in managing ERDC’s military and civil works research program areas of Military Engineering, Geospatial Research and Engineering, Water Resources/Civil Works, Environmental Quality/Installations and Information Technology.
“It is my great honor and privilege to be selected as the deputy director for ERDC, the world’s premier public engineering and environmental sciences research and development organization,” Pittman said.
“I want to thank Dr. John Cullinane, the previous deputy director, for his outstanding contributions to ERDC and for helping me in the transition. I also want to thank Dr. Jeff Holland, ERDC director, and Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, chief of engineers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for their confidence in me and for recommending me for this position.”
“Dr. Pittman is an enthusiastic advocate for the Army, USACE and ERDC,” Holland said. “I have no doubt he will bring his enthusiasm and ‘can do’ attitude to the position of ERDC deputy director and continue to lead the organization forward as we seek innovative solutions for a safer, better world.”
Pittman joined ERDC in 1983 as a research civil engineer in the Pavements Systems Division of the former Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
He moved to Alabama in 1994 to become an assistant professor in Auburn University’s Civil Engineering Department in Auburn, Ala., and returned to WES three years later to become the chief of the Airfields and Pavements Division.
He was the first deputy director of the newly created Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) in 2000, was later named acting director of GSL and became director in 2004.
As GSL director, he oversaw a team of more than 450 researchers and a $350 million annual program that conducts research in airfields and pavements, mobility, impact and explosion effects, concrete and materials, structural engineering and mechanics, geotechnical engineering and geosciences, survivability engineering and sensor research.
He also led ERDC’s award-winning Military Engineering business area.
He believes his experience as a researcher, professor at Auburn, division chief and deputy director in a laboratory, serving with U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, and his time as director of the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory “all have taught me of the importance and value of people in an organization.
“When people are well-trained and well-led, know how to work together well as a team, and serve a purpose greater than themselves, they can achieve truly remarkable things,” he said. “I’ve been tremendously blessed to be surrounded by such people my entire career, and I have witnessed their accomplishment of many great things.”
He said serving with the GSL team was “one of the most rewarding experiences in my entire professional life.”
He said his main focus as deputy director will be to help the staff of ERDC reach major accomplishments by looking for ways to be more efficient and effective in “not only what we do, but how we do it,” which is the intent of ERDC’s BESST initiative, which is a strategic framework designed to guide the organization into the year 2020.
Pittman has bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He has a master’s in civil engineering from MSU and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
He is a previous recipient of the Presidential Rank Award (Meritorious), the Federal Laboratory Consortium Lab Director of the Year Award and the Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
He also a member of several professional engineering societies, and serves on several technical committees and has published numerous technical reports and papers. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Mississippi.