In today’s age of being able to perform and/or access any activity electronically from anywhere, cybersecurity has become a critical part of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) research and development. As DoD facilities incorporate more networked systems as part of a transition to smart buildings, threat and vulnerability to cyber-attacks has increased. In order to protect and defend the DoD’s information and information technology, the DoD has established a cybersecurity program.

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The Strategic Environmental Research & Development Program (SERDP) and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) hosted a workshop from August 9-10, 2016 in Seattle, WA. The workshop focused on determining research and demonstration needs for the long-term management of contaminated sediments.

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Bats appear in a lot of the décor this time of year and as many are carving pumpkins with this animal in mind, they may be surprised to learn that a deadly disease is threatening the species. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease of hibernating bats that is rapidly decimating bat populations across the United States. Bats are essential to a healthy environment, providing agriculture pest control and pollination.

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As many of you know, we have been a little short-staffed the last six or seven months. Anne Andrews has left us and John Hall has moved to be Program Director of the Joint Fire Science Program in Boise, ID. This has left us all scrambling and has led to some things that are important to you falling through the cracks. We’re about to get most of our staffing issues resolved so I thought I would take this opportunity to provide an update to our PIs, friends, and customers.

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Three presentations at last month’s IEEE/ Marine Technology Society OCEANS'16 Conference in Monterey, CA presented research on underwater munitions response technologies sponsored by SERDP.

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Protecting military assets from the negative effects of corrosion is a significant effort for DoD.  The extreme environments in which these assets are required to perform makes this effort especially challenging.  Unfortunately, surface coatings containing hexavalent chromium (Cr⁶⁺) and cadmium (Cd) provide the best corrosion inhibiting properties but also have significant environmental and human health concerns.  The SERDP and ESTCP Weapons Systems and Platforms (WP) Program Area recently developed and published the Advanced Coating 5-Year Strategy and Roadmap to eliminate >90% of the Cr⁶⁺ and Cd in use at DoD maintenance depots over the next 5 years.

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On August 22, 2016, reporter Jay Price of NPR’s WUNC published a piece entitled “Pentagon Conservation Efforts Protect Rare Species — And Troops' Training Grounds”. In this two-part series, the correspondent interviewed Dr. Nick Haddad, an investigator on a SERDP project developing and testing protocol and framework for determining which species are likely to become conservation reliant in the face of a changing climate ( RC-2512). Last week’s director’s blog featured the above story.

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ESTCP is pleased to announce the release of two new documents that provide guidance on the application of passive sampling to manage contaminated sediment sites!

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The ESTCP Office is excited to announce that one of our projects under the Energy and Water Program Area won the 2016 Department of Energy’s (DOE) JUMP (Join in the discussion, Unveil innovation, Motivate transformation, and Promote technology to market) competition!  This ESTCP project led by Mr. Dahtzen Chu of ERDC-CERL and Scott Duncan of Retrofit Originality Inc. on a high efficiency dehumidification system (HEDS), beat out two other finalists by popular vote. 

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Last month the Department of Defense (DoD) received high praise and tremendous visibility from National Public Radio (NPR) because of our efforts to protect natural resources. The NPR Morning Edition Feature, reported by Jay Price, showcased the DoD as “an unlikely guardian of endangered plants and animals” and described the Nation’s military installations as “the heart of an extensive conservation network.”

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