For the second year in a row, one of Vicksburg’s top organizations is also one of the country’s.

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, with facilities on Halls Ferry Road, has again been named the Army’s top laboratory, receiving the Large Research Laboratory of the Year award.

With a diverse research mission that benefits military, environment, Homeland Security and civil engineering, ERDC’s record of achievement in the last two decades has been notable. “In the seven years since 9/11, we’ve won this award four times,” said the center’s director, Dr. James Houston.

‘You can have the right facilities and the right equipment, but without the right people you might as well close your doors and go home. It’s their knowledge and expertise that solve the challenges that we’re faced with today. This award belongs to them.’

Dr. James Houston

ERDC director

In the last 19 years, it has won the award 10 times.

“Our people are the strength of this organization,” he said. “You can have the right facilities and the right equipment, but without the right people you might as well close your doors and go home. It’s their knowledge and expertise that solve the challenges that we’re faced with today. This award belongs to them.”

The names of specific research projects and products developed by ERDC scientists may not mean a lot to the average American — carbon nanotube technology, modular protective system, elastomeric sheets — but their applications are easily appreciated.

“A lot of our work is done to protect our troops in the field,” Houston said. “Part of this year’s award was for new technologies we developed to protect troop areas as a result of ‘the surge,’ which brought them into urban areas in Iraq.”

Wayne Stroupe, chief spokesman for ERDC, said simply, “Our research saves lives. And we solve practical problems.”

One such problem, as Houston noted, is protecting troops deployed in urban areas in Iraq. ERDC engineers developed a lightweight, mobile, easily-assembled system of protective barriers that can be set up quickly to surround an installation and protect an encampment. The system is more efficient and easier to use than the dirt-and-rock-filled barricades that have been used in the field. And it doesn’t have to be left behind when troops pack up and move, but rather can be disassembled and taken with them, Stroupe said.

ERDC researchers were also recognized for furthering carbon nanotube technology, the development of a super-strong building and protective material that is expected to revolutionize military as well as civilian building projects.

“We’re developing materials that have the strength of about 75 times that of high-strength steel,” said Dr. Charles R. “Bob” Welch, ERDC’s program manager for this research. Welch has co-authored a cover story on the emerging technology for the November issue of Civil Engineering magazine, the national publication of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

“The effects of this research will show up in one to two decades,” Welch said, “and will make civil engineering quite different in the future. We do think it will make a difference in civilian areas, though its first applications will be for military purposes.”

Headquartered in Vicksburg, ERDC, an arm of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, maintains seven research facilities in four locations — Vicksburg; Hanover, N.H.; Champaign, Ill.; and Alexandria, Va.

“The scope of our work here includes both national and international areas,” Stroupe said. “We work not only for the Corps of Engineers, but we do reimbursable work for other outside sponsors. A lot of the technology we develop for the military has spin-offs elsewhere. We will license it, patent it and get it out there to the private sector where it can be used.”

The award was announced last month by Dr. Thomas Killion, assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.

“We are proud of the research we conduct and we think we do a great job,” said Houston, “This award is proof that others feel the same way.”

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com.