From the Director: It is with great pride and pleasure that SERDP and ESTCP announce the 2014 Projects of the Year. This year’s awards recognize scientific advances and technological solutions to some of DoD’s most significant environmental challenges—

• assessing the potential impacts of rising sea levels on built and natural infrastructure at coastal military installations
• performing building energy audits that will inform cost saving efficiency projects
• using decision support tools and guidance to implement advanced sensors and classification techniques for improved and more cost-effective munitions response
• distinguishing indoor sources of VOCs from vapor intrusion resulting from contaminated groundwater
• understanding how contaminants stored in low permeability zones affect source zones and plumes associated with releases of chlorinated solvents
• overcoming barriers to implementation of alternatives to toxic chrome and cadmium in weapons systems and platforms manufacturing and maintenance.

The findings, approaches, tools, and guidance developed by these projects will help DoD enhance its mission capabilities, improve its environmental and energy performance, and reduce costs.

These projects will be featured in the slideshow on the home page of the SERDP and ESTCP website through the middle of February. Please visit the SERDP and ESTCP blog to read more about each of these award-winning projects!

Environmental Restoration

Basic Research Addressing Contaminants in Low Permeability Zones
Dr. Tom Sale, Colorado State University | Project Highlights

Munitions Response

Decision Support Tools for Munitions Response Performance Prediction and Risk Assessment
Dr. Laurens Beran, Black Tusk Geophysics | Project Highlights

Resource Conservation and Climate Change

Shoreline Evolution and Coastal Resiliency at Two Military Installations: Investigating the Potential for and Impacts of Loss of Protecting Barriers
Dr. Rob L. Evans, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution | Project Highlights

Weapons Systems and Platforms

Design-of-Experiment Approach to Hydrogen Re-Embrittlement Evaluation
Mr. Scott M. Grendahl, U.S. Army Research Laboratory | Project Highlights
 

Energy and Water

Rapid Building Assessment
Mr. Swapnil Shah, FirstFuel Software | Project Highlights

Environmental Restoration

Use of On-Site Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer and Compound-Specific Stable Isotope Analysis to Distinguish Between Vapor Intrusion and Indoor Sources of VOCs
Dr. Thomas McHugh, GSI Environmental Inc. | Project Highlights

Munitions Response

Hand-Held Electromagnetic Induction Sensor for Cued UXO DiscriminationandMan-Portable Electromagnetic Induction Array for UXO Detection and Discrimination
Dr. Dan Steinhurst, Nova Research, Inc., Dr. Tom Bell, Leidos, Mr. Glenn Harbaugh, Nova Research, Inc. | Project Highlights

Weapons Systems and Platforms

Electrodeposition of Nanocrystalline Cobalt-Phosphorus (nCo-P) Coatings as a Hard Chrome Alternative
Mr. Ruben A. Prado and Mr. Jack Benfer, Naval Air Systems Command Jacksonville | Project Highlights