About Us

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) helps solve our nation’s most challenging problems in civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, Department of Defense, civilian agencies, and our Nation’s public good. Our vision is to become the world’s premier public engineering and environmental sciences research and development organization.

As one of the most diverse engineering and scientific research organizations in the world, ERDC conducts research and development in support of the Soldier, military installations, and the Corps of Engineers’ civil works mission, as well as for other federal agencies, state and municipal authorities, and with U.S. industries through innovative work agreements. ERDC has a staff of approximately 2,500 federal employees and contractors, and an annual research program exceeding $1.6 billion in FY11.

Business Areas

We conduct research and development in four major areas:

1. Military Engineering
2. Geospatial Research and Engineering
3. Environmental Quality and Installations
4. Civil Works and Water Resources

Laboratories

This work is conducted through the capabilities of our seven laboratories:

1. Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) in Vicksburg, Miss.
2. Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, N.H.
3. Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign, Ill.
4. Environmental Laboratory (EL) in Vicksburg, Miss.
5. Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) in Vicksburg, Miss.
6. Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) in Vicksburg, Miss.
7. Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) in Alexandria, Va.

Field Sites

1. Alaska Research Offices, Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska
2. Columbia River Research Facility, North Bonneville, Wash.
3. Eau Galle Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, Eau Galle, Wis.
4. Field Research Facility, Duck, N.C.
5. Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility, Lewisville, Texas
6. Natural Weathering Exposure Station, Treat Island, Maine
7. Trotter’s Shoals Limnological Research Facility, Richard B. Russell Lake, S.C.

Facilities

ERDC has unique world-class equipment and facilities, ranging from the world’s fastest supercomputers to one-of-a-kind physical models.

ERDC hosts one of six Department of Defense High Performance Computing Centers. The center’s Cray XT3 and XT4 supercomputers are some of the most powerful and fastest in the world, with a capability of 115 trillion calculations per second. Computing capacity will soon reach 287 trillion calculations per second with the planned addition of the SGI supercomputer.

Other unique and world-class facilities include the world’s most powerful centrifuge, blast effects facilities, physical models of river and coastal projects, endangered species laboratories, heavy vehicle simulators, hazardous waste research laboratories, frost and ice engineering facilities, an earthquake simulator, and an 1,800-foot coastal research pier.

Read more about our Facilities.

Expertise

ERDC’s most impressive asset is its people – the expertise and education of its research team allows ERDC to provide solutions to the Nation’s most complex challenges. ERDC staff includes 1,000 engineers and scientists, many with advanced degrees (28 percent hold doctorates and 42 percent hold master’s degrees). ERDC outreach and partnering efforts result in numerous cooperative research and development agreements to engage leading experts from academia, private industry and other agencies.

Useful Links

• ERDC fact sheet
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• U.S. Army Research Laboratory
• U.S. Army Environmental Center