ERDC Director Receives Silver de Fleury Medal

27 Oct 04--Vicksburg, MS--Dr. James R. Houston, director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Miss., was recently awarded the Silver Order of de Fleury Medal from the U.S. Army Engineer Regiment.

The de Fleury medal was first struck by the Continental Congress to honor Francois de Fleury, a French soldier who fought with Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Today, the medal honors individuals who have provided significant contributions to Army engineering. 

Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, presented the medal to Houston on Oct. 18, citing his superior leadership and business acumen as the first director of the ERDC. 

"Jim is a true asset to the Corps of Engineers laboratory community and to the U.S. Army," Strock said. "His contributions in guiding the ERDC and supporting its customers and the warfighter are exceptional." 

Under Houston's leadership, the ERDC has reduced support costs through a virtual management system in which consolidated administrative offices provide support to the organization's seven laboratories. He also realigned the laboratories to a standard organizational element with only two levels of supervision under each laboratory director. This allowed second-line supervisors to be reinvested into program manager positions to better serve the ERDC's major customers. Since reorganizing, the ERDC has surpassed Department of Defense goals to reduce overhead costs by 25 percent. 

Under Houston's leadership, the ERDC has supported U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Korea, Iraq, and other locations overseas. The ERDC TeleEngineering Operations Center allows U.S. forces to obtain engineering expertise from any location worldwide. The center has received wide recognition for successfully providing soldiers with "reach back" engineering capabilities for planning and executing deliberate and contingency missions. 

The ERDC is one of the most diverse research organizations in the world, with seven laboratories at four geographical sites, more than 2,000 federal employees, several hundred contractors, $1.2 billion in facilities, and an annual program exceeding $700 million. ERDC research and development supports the Department of Defense and other agencies in the principal research mission areas of warfighter support, water resources, environmental quality, installations, and information technology. 

Prior to becoming director of the ERDC, Houston served as director of the ERDC Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. He received a bachelor's degree in physics in 1969 from the University of California (Berkeley), a master's in physics in 1970 from the University of Chicago, a master's in coastal and oceanographic engineering in 1974 from the University of Florida, and a doctorate in engineering sciences in 1978 from the University of Florida.