New Army research chief tackles the unsolvable

In March 2025, Dr. Beth Fleming became the fourth director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) — the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ premier research and development arm, headquartered in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In that role, she also serves as Director of R&D and Chief Scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

ERDC’s labs include one of the world’s most powerful centrifuges, a one-of-a-kind cold regions research facility, a high-performance computing center, a military and disaster response operations center, and leading-edge modeling capabilities focused on river and coastal hydraulics, blast effects, resilient frontline energy systems, climate and environmental shifts, and more.  

Drawing on nearly four decades of USACE service, including roles as ERDC Environmental Laboratory director, acting USACE CIO, USACE Mississippi Valley Division Regional Business Director, and ERDC Deputy Director, Fleming brings a wealth of experience to every role, along with a dogged dedication to tackling tough challenges.

Here, Fleming shares a bit about her background, leadership philosophy and goals for ERDC’s research agenda.

Q: As ERDC director, you oversee a $1.6 billion research program that includes seven laboratories in four states and close to 2,500 employees. ERDC’s stated mission goals fall into five key areas: military engineering, installations and operational environments, civil works, geospatial research and engineering, and engineered resilient systems. How would you define your primary focus during your first year as director?

Fleming: My primary focus is always on supporting our people. I think that’s our key to success. We’ve surveyed our staff about what they love most about working at ERDC, and they tell us they love the freedom to explore, investigate and be problem solvers. We are charged with supporting both military and civil works missions. To do that, we’re drawing upon a history of research and discovery that dates back nearly 100 years, when the precursor of ERDC was founded to investigate the aftermath of the 1927 Mississippi River Flood — and to prevent such disasters from happening again.

Can you describe some projects that speak to the breadth of discovery and innovation powered by ERDC researchers?

Over the decades, we’ve conducted a tremendous amount of research to address our nation’s toughest challenges. We validated the tires used on the Lunar Roving Vehicle driven on the Moon in the 1970s. Our pre-9/11 structural retrofitting of the Pentagon — a product of our materials research — helped diminish damage to the building near the plane’s point of impact, saving countless lives.

We helped design the storm damage risk reduction system in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and we conducted ship navigation simulations to restore operations in Baltimore following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in 2024. Those are just a few of many examples. At ERDC, we solve the unsolvable, and we see our role as a no-fail mission.

In what ways does ERDC’s mission to support military operations inform your research priorities?

We are called to support our soldiers and warfighters in the full cycle of their service, from their initial training to protecting them during deployment, and then bringing them back home. A lot of our materials development is focused on the creation of lightweight protective assets that can be easily assembled by small military crews.

ERDC research has also been instrumental in developing improved methods for transporting vehicles and equipment from ship to shore in austere environments and creating enhanced geospatial detection and robotics systems to help inform our soldiers’ movements. We integrate with each of the U.S. Army’s Science and Technology Research Laboratories, so that together we can synchronize our investments in RDT&E (research, development, test and evaluation).

At ERDC, you’re also working closely with civilian and industry partners. How do those partnerships shape the work you’re doing?

The administration places an important emphasis on ensuring we’re closely tied to industry. ERDCWERX, our partnership intermediary, provides a streamlined path to facilitate these partnerships and collaboration. These initiatives help us connect with industry partners to foster innovation in areas that [government agencies alone] can’t always do rapidly. For example, we are currently in discussions with industry partners to develop a modular tunnel design that could help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers build tunnels more rapidly and in a more cost-effective way.

What sectors will be among ERDC’s key areas of research focus in the next five to 10 years?

All of our work is critical, but in terms of cutting-edge innovation, I’d point to areas like data mining and high-performance computing, as well as materials development, geospatial imaging, concealment and AI utilization. I think AI will be critical going forward in use cases where we can integrate AI tools to support and enhance engineering design.

For example, we’ll be able to use AI to cross-reference USACE’s past engineering infrastructure successes — including longstanding locks and dams — against past failures, like what happened post-Katrina, to discover new insights into sound engineering processes. In 10 years, I know ERDC will still be doing what we’re doing today: solving problems. We excel in being agile and pivoting to address whatever the day’s challenges may be.