The Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center has a new director.

Dr. William Martin has been promoted from deputy director to the lab’s top post.

A Memphis native, Martin began his ERDC career in 1985 as a research hydraulic engineer in what was formerly known as the Hydraulics Laboratory.

Since, he’s been chief of the Estuarine Engineering Branch in HL, acting chief of the Hydro-science Division and leader of the Watershed Systems Group.

As its new director, Martin wants to bring modernization to the CHL.

“My goals are to reduce the footprint of the building, modernize it and make it multipurpose,” said Martin.

“I would like to keep the beat going. The lab has been here for 80 years, and I want to keep it going.”

As CHL director, Martin will lead theoretical and applied research, development, investigations and analyses in coastal and hydraulic engineering in both military and civil works. He will also supervise a work force of 230.

“We want to recruit world-class oceanographic researchers and maintain a bench of technical experience headquartered here,” Martin said, adding that ERDC aims to sign on 100 new employees in the next five years.

Before his time at ERDC, Martin served as a platoon leader for the U.S. Army and a staff engineer for the Directorate of Research and Development at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in Washington, D.C. He has written about water resources in more than 40 technical reports, articles and papers, and has been credited with pioneering the development and use of multidimensional computer codes and systems to address estuarine and watershed issues.

Martin has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee; a master’s in civil engineering and a master’s in finance from Memphis State University; and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Memphis, where he returned as a visiting professor.

When he’s not in the lab, he enjoys clay shooting and participated in last weekend’s Guns of Vicksburg to benefit the Old Court House Museum.

ERDC in Vicksburg, formerly called Waterways Experiment Station, is located on a sprawling campus off Halls Ferry Road and is comprised of four labs — Coastal and Hydraulics, Geotechnical and Structures, Environmental and Information Technology Laboratories. Other labs in other locations include the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Ill.; Cold Regions Research Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H.; and the Topographic Engineering Center in Alexandria, Va.

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com