October 2011

GSL: Spanning the Globe

In this Issue

I. Director’s Desk II. People A. Awards B. Degrees C. Patents D. Assignments/Details E. Retirements F. Journal Articles G. Condolences H. New Faces I. Family Pictures J. Other News III. Programs A. Flood B. New Railroad Project IV. Change V. Facilities VI. Communications A. “Get Smart” Tips B. Helpful Links C. Save the Date VII. What Do You Think

Director’s Desk

Click to play

Awards Dr. David Pittman won the “Federal Laboratory Director of the Year” from the Federal Laboratory Consortium. Prior to Dr. Pittman becoming Director, GSL had won a single FLC Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer since the award was initiated in 1984; since 2002, the laboratory has won four.

“Federal Laboratory Director of the Year”

People

The joint ERDC-CERL-GSL team of Rich Lampo, Jim Wilcoski, Vince Hock and Henry Diaz-Alvarez, along with partners at Rutgers University, Axion International, and McLaren Engineering, were selected to receive a 2011 R&D 100 Award from “R7D Magazine” for the “All Thermoplastic Composite, I-Beam Design, High-Capacity Bridge System.”

ERDC Team Wins R&D 100 Award

Dr. Pittman receives 2010 Presidential Rank Award

Dr. David Pittman, has been selected to receive the 2010 Presidential (Meritorious) Rank Award, the highest award for career Senior Executive Service (SES) members. Each year, the President recognizes and celebrates a small group of career senior executive and senior career employees with the Presidential Rank Award. Recipients of this prestigious award are strong leaders, professionals, and scientists who achieve results and consistently demon-strate strength, integrity, and a relentless commitment to excellence in public service.

Jay Ehrgott was selected to participate in the NAE 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium at Google in September

Teams Win Army R&D Achievement Awards

Technical Excellence– Tunnel Detection– Jason McKenna, Steve Sloan, Sarah McComas, Kevin Parkman, and Seth Broadfoot Technical Excellence-Corrosion-Resistant Porcelain Enamel for Bonding Concrete to Steel-Sean Morefield, Vince Hock, CERL and Phil Malone and Chuck Weiss, GSL.

Dr. Kent Newman Wins 2011 USACE Sustainability Award

The award was presented for “Biopolymer Alternatives to Petroleum-based Polymers for Soil Modification,” a culmination of cross-laboratory cooperative research starting with basic re-search (6.1) funding in GSL that transitioned to a demonstration project funded by the Envi-ronmental Technologies Security Certification Program.

From left: W. Andy Martin, Dr. J. Kent Newman, and Dr. Steven Larson

Not pictured: Dr. Victor Medina

Wapawi Vanadit-Ellis, GEGB, and co-authors, James Gran and David Vaughan, have been awarded the 2011 SAVIAC Henry Pusey Award for their paper “Progressive Collapse Testing of a 4-Story Reinforced Concrete Structure at 1/18 Scale”. They will be presented the award at the 82nd Shock and Vibration Symposium in Baltimore on November 1, 2011.

2011 SAVIAC Henry Pusey Award

Degrees Airfields and Pavements Employee Successfully Defends Master’s Thesis: Mariely Mejias-Santiago, research civil engineer in the GSL APB Branch, successfully de-fended her master’s thesis at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) 9 February 2011. The title of her thesis was “Triggering Mechanisms of a Rainfall-Induced Residual Soil Slope Failure.” This successful defense will allow Ms. Mejias to graduate from UPRM at the end of the current semester with a Master’s of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

Structural Engineering Employee Successfully Defends Master’s Thesis: Henry Diaz-Alvarez, research civil engineer in the GSL StEB Branch, successfully defended his master’s thesis at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM). The title of his thesis was “Bending and Shear Load Rating of an Arch Ring Bridge.” This successful defense will allow Mr. Alvarez to graduate from UPRM with a Master’s of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering.

Researcher Successfully Defends Master's Thesis: Tim Rushing, ERDC-GSL, successfully defended his master's thesis, "Full-Scale Evaluation of Matting Systems for Temporary Roads," 2 November 2010 at Mississippi State University.

Research Civil Engineer, Defends Thesis: Will Carruth, ERDC GSL, Airfields and Pavements Branch, defended his master's thesis “Laboratory Evaluation of Specialty Portland Cements and Polymer Fi-bers in Stabilization of Fine-Grained Soils” at Mississippi State University 23 February 2011

Joe Dunbar defended his dissertation in December 2010, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in May 2011.

Jerry Ballard received his Ph.D. from Mississippi State in May 2011

Distance Learning Program Jose Rullan-Rodriquez and Omar Flores were accepted to the distance learning Ph.D. program in Civil Engineering at Mississippi State University. Ruth Hidalgo-Hernandez was accepted to the program for Mechanical Engineering at Mississippi State University

Jose Rullan-Rodriguez Omar Flores

Long–Term Training

Ruth Hidalgo-Hernandez

Jody Priddy will attend the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to pursue a doctorate in Civil Engineering. His studies will focus on the mechanics of vehicle-terrain interaction.

Lucy Priddy will attend the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to pursue a doctorate in Civil Engineering. Her studies will focus on developing an understanding of sus-tainable infrastructure and infrastructure systems through courses in systems engineering, risk assessment, decision-making and uncertainty, and statistics.

Jody Priddy Lucy Priddy

Patents ● Kent Newman, GSL, and others were awarded Patent No. 7,824,569, “Soluble Salt Pro-duced from a Biopolymer and a Process for Producing the Salt” November 2, 2010. ● Dr. Jay Ehrgott and Denis Rickman, ERDC-GSL Impact and Explosion Effects Branch, received US Patent No. 7,926,423 for a “Tandem Wall Breacher Device.” April 19, 2011. ● Bartley Durst, Toney Cummins, ERDC-GSL, and Billy Neely and Dr. Ed O’Neil ERDC- GSL, retired, were issued patent number 8,016,938 B2 for the invention “Structures and Components Comprising Blast-Resistant Concrete Also Suitable for Limited Penetration of Ballistic Fragments.”

Assignments and Details • Toney Cummins joined Research Group • Chris Moore will be the Acting Branch Chief for the Concrete and Materials Branch for a 120-day appointment. • USACE HQ Developmental Assignment: Edgardo Ruiz, research civil engineer in ERDC-GSL’s Structural Engineering Branch, has been selected for a one-year developmental assignment at USACE HQ. He will serve as the ERDC liaison to the Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience (CIPR) Program for research and development efforts. Addition-ally, he will also assist in different stages of the development and application of the objectives of USACE Campaign Goal 3b: Improve Resilience and Life-cycle Investment in Critical In-frastructure. • Transportation Research Board (TRB) Technical Committee Invitation: John Rushing has been invited to serve a three-year term on the TRB Committee on Flexible Pavement Construction and Rehabilitation, AFH 60. • The ERDC Tunnel Detection Team Receives Letter of Appreciation: Several ERDC-GSL team members received a letter of recognition 29 April 2011 from Bernd McCon-nell, SES Director, Interagency Coordination Directorate, Peterson AFB, CO, North Ameri-can Aerospace Defense Command (NAADC) and United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM). This included the following team members: Sarah McComas, Seth Broad-foot, Dr. Steve Sloan, Kevin Parkman, Jen Picucci and Dr. Jason McKenna, Technical Man-ager of the Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD). • GSA Mentor: Dr. Lillian Wakeley was selected by the Geological Society of America (GSA) as a Shlemon Mentor in Applied Geology for a second year. She served as a mentor at the GSA conference in Logan, UT, 18 through 21 May 2011.

Retirements ● Jose L. Llopis, Research geophysicist in the Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences Branch, retired 31 Dec 2010, with 31 years of service. ● Richard W. Peterson, Research civil engineer in the Concrete and Materials Branch, re-tired 31 Dec 2010, with 42 years of service. ● Coy D. Flanagan, Jr., Engineering technician in the Structural Engineering Branch, retired 1 Jan 2011, with 37 years of service. ● Roosevelt Felix, Jr., Engineering technician (Materials) in the Concrete and Materials Branch, retired 1 Jan 2011, with 31 years of service. ● Richard N. Tennant, Engineering technician (Civil) in the Mobility Systems Branch, re-tired 1 Jan 2011, with 33 years of service. ● Elton Ray Brown, Research civil engineer in the Engineering Systems and Materials Divi-sion, Research Group, retired 31 Jan 2011, with 25 years of service. ● Dennis D. Moore, Research civil engineer in the Impact and Explosion Effects Branch, re-tired 3 June 2011, with 30 years of service. 

Journal Articles “Hydrodynamic Forces on Spillway Torque-Tube Gates,” written by Louis de Bejar, ERDC-GSL, and Richard Stockstill, ERDC-CHL, was published in the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering – ASCE, volume 136 number 10, Oct 2010.

“Virtual Penetration Laboratory: New Developments” Journal Article and Book Chapter: Drs. Mark Adley, Andreas Frank, Kent Danielson, Stephen Akers, and James O’Daniel and Bruce Patterson authored the refereed journal article “The Virtual Penetration Laboratory: New Developments.” The article was published as Chapter 12 in the book Material under Extreme Loadings: Application to Penetration and Impact.

Researchers publish in International Journal of Pavement Engineering: Haley Bell and Drs. Ray Brown and Reed Freeman, ERDC-GSL Airfields and Pavements Branch, recently published the article "Hot Mix Asphalt Fatigue Criteria Comparisons: Evaluation versus Design" in the International Journal of Pavement Engineering.

Researcher publishes in Journal of Transportation Engineering: Dr. Alessandra Bianchini, ERDC-GSL, Airfields and Pavements Branch, recently published the article “Evaluation of Temperature Influence on Friction Measurements,” in the Journal of Transpor-tation Engineering.

Condolences Mike George, SvEB, and Taylor George, MSB, on the passing of Mike’s mother-in-law and Taylor’s grandmother, Johnnie Vee Broome Dr. Randy Jones, MSB, on the passing of his mother, Mrs. Ann Jones Al Crawley, CMB, on the passing of his father, Mr. Tiger Crawley Gwen Foster, EXO, on the passing of her father, Mr. James “Babe” Rorex, Jr. Ryan North, GEGB, on the passing of his grandmother, Betty York. Missy Lynn, MIO, on the passing of her nephew, Christopher Michael Lynn, Jr. Web Mason, and Quint Mason, APB, on the passing of Web’s mother and Quint’s grand-mother, Mary E. Worley Dr. Lillian Wakeley, ESMD, on the passing of her mother-in-law, Mrs. Elaine Wakeley Justin Roberts, SvEB, on the passing of his father, Mr. Jimmy Roberts Andrew Harrison, APB, on the passing of his father-in-law, Kenneth Frey Chevoone Allen, UROC, on the passing of her brother, Thomas “TP” Jackson Linda Ragan, CMB, on the passing of her mother, Millie Jones Jose Albarran, StEB, on the passing of his father Tracey Waddell, IEEB, on the passing of her father-in-law

New Faces of GSL

GSL-EL Block Party

Ensley Reid Broadfoot, daughter of Seth and Hallie Broadfoot, was born February 11, 2011

Ava Catherine Henry, daughter of Justin and Bonnie Henry,

was born April 1, 2011

Ellie Nicole Robbins, daughter of Bryant and Angela Robbins, was

born April 11, 2011

Grace Sophia Edwards, daughter of Lulu Edwards, was born

May 24, 2011

Gage Timothy Verzwyvelt, son of Alisha and Nick Verzwyvelt, was

born June 29, 2011

Edison Mac Guilbert, Grandson of John Peters, was born

August 31, 2011

Courtney and Drew Warnock were married February 5, 2011.

Congratulations!

Paul and Katherine Allison were married May 7, 2011.

Congratulations!

Jonathon and Ginny Griffin were married August 6, 2011.

Congratulations!

Eric and Sonya Morgan were married May 21, 2011.

Congratulations!

Ghosts and Goblins and Snowmen and Reindeer… the Holidays are near, send us pictures of your little ones in their holiday gear.

Please send pictures to Courtney.W.Warnock@usace.army.mil Pictures will be in the next GSLingo

Jared and Maury Minor were married September 2, 2011

Congratulations!

UPRM Students Arrive

The 2011 UPRM Summer Students at ERDC Night at the Mississippi Braves Game

Other News

Mike Doyle was selected 2011 Parent of the Year for Sherman Avenue Elementary, he also was selected District Parent of the Year

LDP Class of 2012

Front Row LR: Jason Morson, Mariely Majias-Santiago, and Ashley Manning

Back Row LR: Devin Sham, Gregory Norwood, and Jose Rullan-Rodriguez

SURPRISE!!!!!

Dr. Pittman’s Surprise 50th Birthday Party August 30, 2011

OH NO Dr. Pittman turns the BIG 50!!

Programs GSL Responds to the Flood

New Railroad R&D Project Launched

The USACE Reachback Operations Center (UROC) conducted aerial assessments from 30 April to 6 May 2011 in support of Operation Watershed at the Birds Point New Madrid Floodway. The Automated Route Reconnaissance Kit (ARRK) was used in its airborne con-figuration to provide rapid geo-referenced data sets to document flooding and implementation of the three crevasses used to reduce pressure and lower the flood stage on primary levees. The data sets, which were available for viewing upon flight completion, were posted to the UROC’s Reachback Engineer Data Integration (REDi) Web site for dissemination to Corps of Engineers leadership, emergency management personnel and on-site ERDC team mem-bers.

ERDC-GSL researchers recently initiated a fast-track program to develop an electronic rail-road inspection database system (ERIDS) at the request of the Army Installation Manage-ment Command (IMCOM). To insure maximum benefit to installations, GSL and ERDC-CERL researchers met 5-7 April to coordinate many aspects of this new program. The GSL-CERL team is building on existing inspection software developed by CERL integrating a global-positioning system, automated report generation, and other best-available software and hardware. The GSL Railroad Inspection Team is responsible for inspecting and estimating repair costs of thousands of miles of military, short-line, and industrial track on most Army installations. ERIDS will feature real-time comparisons of current and previous inspection data, GIS-based condition records, and will decrease the time and manpower required for each railroad condition assessment. The work supports Corps missions in sustainment engi-neering and installation O&M.

Change

• Project Management Workshop: The purpose of this workshop is to provide guid-ance and generate consistency across GSL on project management practices. The next work-shop will be held October 18-20, 2011.

• USACE R&D Conference Scheduled for 8-10 November 2011 in New Orleans has been cancelled: Due to the current economic situation in our nation and budget constraint within the Department of Defense.

• Director’s Visits: Dr. Pittman went around to each Branch and Division for an informal meeting of the employees and learn more about what each Branch and Division has to bring to the Laboratory. This was a way to increase communication throughout the Laboratory.

GSL– Major Goals and Actions Business Trends and Changes • New Programmatic Areas - Multi –scale modeling, high performance materials development - Growing: Force Protection - Nascent: Remote assessment of infrastructure, geothermal energy sources • Areas of declining income and/or lab interests - Infrastructure protection, traditional geotechnical/structures support (maintain core capability New Business Development Goals and Strategies • What you are going to get - Program: Maintain FY11 budget levels - People: Maintain FY11 staffing levels, 25%+ staff turnover ((losses + gains)/existing strength) • When & how are you going to get it - Deliberate planning with professional help - Continual focus on bottom line: take care of people, emphasis on excellence, focus on core competency, cultivate critical relationships.

Facilities

Reroofing of Bldg 5014

Repaving of parking lot NE Casagrande Bldg.

Construction on old CERC Building in preparation for

IEEB, ESMD, and MSB move

Changes to Hangar 2

Employees hard at work in their new offices

Communication

“Get Smart” is a unique contribution: it affords an understanding of e-mail not simply as another form of technology-enabled communication, but linked intimately to leadership effectiveness.

The Get Smart! Guidelines: Ask yourself these questions before sending an e-mail: 1. Would You Want It to Appear in? 2. Would You Say It Face to Face? 3. Is It Necessary? Or, About that Root Canal… 4. Does It Pass the Morale Test? Or, Who You Callin’ Jelly Belly? 5. What’s So Funny? 6. Is it Culturally Savvy? Or, Are You the Only One in a Tiger Suit? 7 What Would Your Lawyer Say?

If you bear in mind a few principles, you can make a positive, powerful impression in your electronic communications. • Just remember every time someone reads your e-mail, they form an impression of you, so make a conscious choice about the kind of image you convey.

Ref: Get Smart! How e-mail can make or break your career And Your Organization Mary Lynn Pulley and Jane Hilberry

Save the Date ● Corps Day (October 6, 2011) ● HENAAC Conference Orlando, FL (October 6-9, 2011) http://www.greatmindsinstem.org/henaac/conference/docs/HENAAC2011.pdf ● GSL Town Hall and Picnic October 13, 2011 ● ACI 2011 Fall Convention Cincinnati, OH (October 16-20, 2011) http://www.concrete.org/EVENTS/EV_CONVENTIONS.HTM ● Project Management Workshop Bldg 3396, Main Conference Room (October 18-20, 2011) ● ASCE 141st Annual Civil Engineering Conference Memphis, TN (October 20-22, 2011) http://content.asce.org/conferences/annual2011/index.html ● Project Management Workshop October 18-20, 2011 ● Briefing Techniques Class November 1-3, 2011

Don’t forget to put the dates on your calendar!!

Helpful Links

Military OneSource Online Library Resources & Safari

Military OneSource provides library resources available at no charge to service members and their families. A particularly helpful benefit for Guard and Reserve members and their families who may not have access to installation libraries. On-line Library Resources Links to electronic databases, e-books, and audio books ● Elecontronics books (Safari, NetLibrary, My iLirary ● TumbleReadables on-line books for kids K-12 ● Prep for standardized tests (SAT, ACT, GRE, and CLEP) ● Customized college and distance-learning searches ● Home Improvement Center ● Auto Repair Reference Center  

Safari Books On-line Is an on-demand digital library that provides searchable, on-line access to the full content of thousands of books, prepublication manuscripts, short documents, articles, and training vid-eos from the world’s leading authors and publishers. ● Provides anytime ● Anywhere access to most current and authoritative technology ●  Design and business information from leading publishers

Military OneSource is available 24/7. You name it. They can help 1-800-342-9647 Overseas: xx-800-3429-6477

Find access codes on-line: www.MilitaryOneSource.com

What Do You

Think

Other great captions that were submitted: “Sharon I guess you missed the memo on everyone wearing these cool blue Corps of Engineer shirts.” Chuck Weiss Dr. Pittman says: “ Sharon! Quick, call security! Bill’s not wearing his CAC Card!!!” Robert Browning “ Sharon, you’re out of uniform. That means we’ve got to put your name in the UN-OFFICIAL block on the bulletin board!!” Gary Anderton

Winning caption by Speler Montgomery Dr. Pittman: “ Hey Bill, whatcha wearing tomorrow? Let’s wear red Corps shirts, blue jeans, and brown braided belts. Oh, and don’t forget to wear your sneakers– its casual Friday.” Speler Montgomery

What Do You

Think You provide the caption and see if your caption is selected as our favorite. The winning caption will appear in the next edition of the GSLingo, and the winner also receives an iTunes gift card!!

Pictured left to right: Clay Hooker and Mike King

Send your submissions to Shelley Tingle at Shelley.L.Tingle@usace.army.mil

What is your idea

for a caption