A Vicksburg native is the new deputy commander at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.
Henry “Hank” McDevitt was promoted to the post after having filled it for the past year, according to a news release from ERDC this week. Previously, he had headed up research teams at the facility’s geotechnical and structures laboratory.
“McDevitt has filled this position for the past year with distinction,” ERDC commander Col. Jeffery Eckstein said. “Our command staff division and its branches will benefit from his extensive experience in our geotechnical and structures laboratory, where he served as an outstanding supervisor overseeing research and experiments.”

McDevitt started at ERDC as a research structural engineer in the structural mechanics division in the old structures laboratory in 1983, when the facility was known as Waterways Experiment Station. From 1985-88, he was lead project engineer on work to test the hardness of missile silos, work sponsored by the former Defense Nuclear Agency.
Later work included various types of technological advances, some of which are still in use in the field. That includes standoff demolition technology called the Explosively Formed Penetrator. ERDC credited McDevitt with advancing the technology to the point where a single device could be used to destroy reinforced concrete bridge piers as much as six feet thick as far away as 100 yards. A demolition kit he helped develop in the 1990s is still used by the Army and his research has netted two patents.
In Nov. 2000, McDevitt was named branch chief of the impact and explosion effects branch in the newly formed GSL, overseeing a 60-member team that conducts research in penetration mechanics, material property characterization, high-performance computing and conventional explosive/blast effects.
He served a three-month assignment in 2012 as acting deputy director of the GSL, overseeing facilities, people, programs, organizational changes and communication strategies.
The ERDC is the premier research and development facility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with more than 2,500 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities consisting of seven laboratories in four states and an annual research program exceeding $1.1 billion. It conducts research in both military and civil works mission areas in support to the USACE, the Department of Defense and the nation.