What We Do
To meet the Army’s environmental challenges MME carries out a wide variety of diverse research efforts. These science and technology efforts generally fall into one of four broad solution-focused areas.
Advanced
Advanced
Life Cycle
AdvancedAdvanced Sensing
MME’S advanced sensing research supports Soldiers both on home installations and while deployed abroad. Department of Defense training and testing installations in the United States use over two million high explosives (HE) per year. One of the first issues for range managers is locating resultant UXO so removal and remediation are possible. In providing this information, sensing technologies allow these important facilities to continue operations. During military deployments, Soldiers are placed in a wide range of settings, often with little information regarding risks due to environmental hazards. MME’s advanced sensor efforts aim to provide environmental data in the field, allowing commanders to rapidly account for risks and avoid exposing troops to potential threats.
×Advanced Remediation
The presence of contaminants on military installations leads to the concern of migration into the environment via erosion by wind and surface water. Once contaminants reach the groundwater, the local ecosystem and human communities may be affected. ERDC has developed and continues to develop technologies to minimize contaminant migration through migration prevention and source remediation. These technologies alleviate the need for clean up, allowing military installations to remain open. Through these efforts, the Army can continue to serve our soldiers while protecting the environment and general population.
×Life Cycle Analysis
The Army is constantly fielding new technologies to the Soldier; however, the environmental liabilities of new materials often remain undefined until post-deployment. MME’s LCA research efforts seek to address this by predicting all environmental risks and costs associated with a technology from development to disposal. This Army-centric LCA is based on environmental fate attributes of new materials, investigated in an anticipatory manner, assuming future environmental release scenarios.
×Advanced Materials
MMEs advanced materials research efforts enable the Army to respond rapidly to technological evolution and promote environmentally sustainable technology design. A leader in nanomaterial evaluation over the entire technology life cycle, the program offers cutting-edge capabilities in material characterization, computational modeling, fate and transport assessment, toxicity analysis, and risk management. These efforts expand well beyond nanomaterials to address any emerging contaminants.
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