Cadets Visit Engineer Research & Development Center

Four cadets on the Bridge Protection Device multi-disciplinary capstone project visited the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS. They met with Larry Winkleman from PM Bridging at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and with ERDC scientists to discuss projects in support of the Army's Improved Ribbon Bridge (IRB). The cadets presented their work to date on the bridge protection device, a cable and boom system that will be installed upstream of the bridge to protect the IRB from natural and man-made floating debris. The ERDC scientists briefed their progress on related progress and gave the cadets a tour of the physical testing of the IRB components currently underway. The meeting generated discussions of how to continue to leverage ongoing research at ERDC and identified collaboration areas for this project and beyond. After the meetings at ERDC, the team visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) headquarters for the Mississippi Valley Division (MVD) and Mississippi River Commission (MRC).