Eng edge july aug 2016

THE ENGINEERING EDGE EDGEWOOD CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL CENTER Volume 8, Issue 4 July/August 2016

Engineering Edge Readership Survey Results PAGE 4 How often do you read The Edge?

Which format works best for you?

Employee Spotlight: Jerry Hawks PAGE 8

What types of communication material would be most useful to you in telling the Engineering story to your customers and stakeholders?

What kind of content do you want to see more of in 2016?

Team CBRNE Rides Away with Trophy for Bike to Work Day PAGE 3

Read about the ECBC Engineering Directorate online at http://www.ecbc.army.mil/news/ENG APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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THE ENGINEERING EDGE |July/August 2016| 3

INSIDE THIS MONTH’S ISSUE: pg.3|WORKFORCE: Team CBRNE Rides Away with Trophy for Bike to Work Day 3 pg.3|ECBC IN THE NEWS: ‘Skin in the Game’ with the Individual Protection System Performance Model pg.4|STRATEGY: Engineering Edge Readership Survey Results: Thanks for Your Feedback pg.6|STRATEGY: Engineering Front Office Stands Up New Strategic Engagement Initiative pg.6|Article Written by Engineering Employee Leads Summer Issue of Army Chemical Review pg.7|AWARDS: Non-Traditional Agent Defense Test System Safety Team Recognized at 2016 ECBC Excellence in Safety Awards pg.8|EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Jerry Hawks The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) Engineering Edge is an authorized publication for members of the DoD. Contents of the Engineering Edge are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government or the Department of Army. Editorial content of this publication is the responsibility of the ECBC Engineering Directorate. References to commercial products or entities in this publication, including inserts and hyperlinks, does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Army of the products or services offered.

This newsletter was published through the Balanced Scorecard. Hard copies are located in the Engineering Front Office, E3330, E3331, E3510, E3516, E3549 lobby A and C, E4301, E5102, E5165, and in Rock Island near the Deputy’s office.

For article suggestions, questions or comments, contact Ed Bowen at edward.c.bowen8.civ@mail.mil.

To access the electronic version, visit: http://www.ecbc.army.mil/news/ENG/

TODAY’S ARMY

WORKFORCE

2016 Army Posture Statement Emphasizes Army Readiness

Team CBRNE Rides Away with Trophy for Bike to Work Day

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eadiness is a top priority of the U.S. Army. There are hurdles to ensuring the force is prepared to meet the varied and growing threats faced worldwide. Competing requirements in a tight funding environment forces Army leadership to prioritize and ensure force readiness by allocating limited resources efficiently to four components―manning, training, equipping and modernization.

Finding the proper mix of support for these components can be difficult.

Decreased funding over the past three years has heightened the need for Army leadership to focus resources smartly and effectively. In response, the 2016 Army Posture Statement, the annual account of the state of the Army presented to Congress, details the Army’s vision for ensuring that resources are deployed effectively to balance the requirements of readiness, end strength and people for both today and tomorrow’s defensive needs. It highlights the accomplishments, initiatives and priorities that Congress should evaluate in conjunction with the President’s budget for the next fiscal year.

The 2016 statement also identifies five key modernization capability areas: • Aviation

• Combat Vehicles

• The Network

• Emerging Threats

• Integrated Air Missile Defense

O

nce again, Team CBRNE rode away with a trophy from Bike Maryland for having the most cyclists participate in this year’s Bike to Work Day, held on May 24. There were 45 cyclists representing several Commands from the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG-EA), with the largest delegation coming from the ECBC workforce.

APG-EA, and ECBC in particular, has a strong cycling base. A group of riders meets year-round, every work day at lunch time. The team even has a logo and jerseys, which were supported by Freedom Federal Credit Union on post.

All are invited to join ECBC’s cycling club, including beginners! Joining the group will not only benefit your health, it is also a great way to know ECBC colleagues who share an interest and enthusiasm for cycling.

Custom Cycling Jerseys www.83sportswear.com

Team CBRNE cyclists receive a team trophy from Bike Maryland for having the most participants in this year’s Bike to Work Day.

For more information, contact Mike Kauzlarich in the Pyrotechnics and Explosives Branch.

Team CBRNE jerseys can be ordered by contacting Joe Novad, Technical Director Date Sample Ar t Work Name 5 Number 5 forDay PEO Assembled Chemical Joe Navod Weapons Month 11 Year 2015 Ar tist: Alternatives.

Difficult choices will need to be made as funding is unavailable to modernize all aspects of the Army, forcing prioritized investment in resources that will provide the highest return on that investment in terms of readiness. The American people entrust Congress, with Army leadership guidance and recommendations, to wisely allocate and deploy resources effectively in defense of this country.

More Info 2016 Army Posture Statement, Office of the Director of Army Staff, http://www.army.mil/standto/archive_2016-04-27/?s_cid=standto

Ask a Tech Tip: Poison Ivy—Ugh! Mike Kauzlarich, of the Pyrotechnics and Explosives Branch, reveals how the techniques and lessons learned in labs can help solve your household problems. Submit a question to him at usarmy.APG.ecbc.mbx.engineering-directorate@mail.mil.

Besides the deer flies, ticks and mosquitos, another scourge of summer is poison ivy! Let’s use science to dispel some of the rumors around this itch-inducing plant.

The oil of the poison ivy plant, called urushiol, is pretty potent stuff. It’s bad enough to get on your skin, but can last up to a year on clothing and equipment. The oil from the rash is not contagious, and rubbing up against someone with the rash will not give you the rash―unless that person has not washed off the urushiol oil.

So what can you do to fight this scourge?? The old standard treatments still apply and are effective. First wash your skin with something like Dawn or Fels-Naptha soap. Use cold water so as not to open your pores to the oil. Wash your clothes, twice. Clean any equipment that may have come into contact with the plant as well. Use the standard treatments to keep the rash dry. And if the rash gets bad―contact your doctor.

ECBC IN THE NEWS

‘Skin in the Game’ with the Individual Protection System Performance Model Defense Video Imagery Distribution System

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uch like the skin is the body’s first line of protection, a Warfighter’s uniform acts in a similar way against chemical and biological threats. However, the research, development and production of uniforms to equip more than two million troops does not come at a small cost.

To address this issue, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO), in collaboration with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), is seeking a new technology to assess individual protection ensembles to improve Warfighter safety more cost effectively, a tenet of DoD’s Better Buying Power 3.0 (BBP 3.0) initiative.

JSTO efforts will enhance the Individual Protection System Performance Model (IP

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For more information call us at (

SPM) software, reducing development costs of uniforms that protect the Warfighter from chemical and biological threats. The new IP SPM V2.0 software allows researchers to model the garment’s performance including the toxicology risk and the thermal burden to a Warfighter under a variety of operational conditions prior to fabrication.

Other benefits of the IP SPM V2.0 include extending the toxicological analysis for additional chemical and biological threats and non-traditional agents. The enhanced system also validates models by comparing them to enhanced test and evaluation data.

The IP SPM V2.0 software further supports BBP 3.0 by controlling lifecycle costs by reducing the need for impractical live agent testing against all prototypes.

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The IP SPM V2.0 project will continue to add new requirements to meet the new Uniform Integrated Protective Ensemble initial capabilities document. The collaborative JSTO/ECBC effort will continue to be instrumental in developing innovative personnel protective equipment for the Warfighter to protect against chemical and biological threats for years to come.

More Info “’Skin in the Game’ with the Individual Protection System Performance Model,” May 24, 2016, https://www.dvidshub.net/ news/198888/skin-game-with-individualprotection-system-performance-model#.

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THE ENGINEERING EDGE |July/August 2016| 5

4 | EDGEWOOD CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL CENTER

STRATEGY

Engineering Edge Readership Survey Results: Thanks for Your Feedback!

Employee Spotlights and articles about the workforce

Someone forwards it to me via email

Hard copy

2015 What is your preferred 2015 way to read The Engineering Edge?

PDF copy sent by the Engineering Directorate every month

C

via I don't email read it

ommunicating to the workforce is a priority for Engineering Directorate leadership as it is committed to ensuring everyone is kept informed of core capabilities, customer projects, workforce highlights, current events and strategic initiatives in support of Engineering’s mission.

u Issu

site

On the ECBC website

Hard copy

2016 What is your preferred 2016 way to read The Engineering Edge?

PDF copy sent by the Engineering Directorate every month

The Engineering Edge newsletter has become a primary vehicle for disseminating this information to the workforce and customers. “The Edge highlights current information from a broad range of interesting topics that are of importance to our workforce and our partners,” said Jim Duhala, Chief of the Strategic Planning and Business Management Division. “It is currently viewed as one of the best ways available to keep our workforce up to date on Directorate news.”

The Engineering Edge has been a key communications vehicle for many years, and it has evolved. “The newsletter has

Others

On the Issuu site via website

Directorate's leaders’ goals and priorities

2015 I like to read The Engineering Edge

Engineering strategy and initiatives

evolved from being strictly an internal Engineering communication vehicle to being broader in content and audience, Duhala said. “Through trial and error and from workforce feedback, the Edge has come to support many of the information needs of the Directorate.”

To continue to provide the most meaningful content, a survey was conducted in April 2016 to gauge readership and collect ideas and suggestions for future issues. The survey was also conducted in 2015. This year’s survey featured seven questions.

Seventy-eight responses were collected; a 37% increase from 57 responses in 2015.

Directorate's latest capabilities & technologies

The latest capabilities and technologies to share with client

Employee Spotlights and articles about the workforce

Targeted emails

Directorate's latest capabilities and technologies for my own use

2016

2016 I like to read The Engineering Edge

Technical/ capability articles

The latest capabilities & technologies to share with client

What type of communication/ marketing materials would be most useful to you in communicating with your customers?

Slick sheets/fact sheets

Engineering strategy and initiatives

Here are the 2016 survey questions and their top responses:

Q5: Do you send the Engineering Edge to your customers or use it to help with business development?

Q1: How often do you read the Engineering Edge?

TOP RESPONSE: No, and I do not plan to (65.3%)

Q2: What is your preferred way to read the Engineering Edge?

TOP RESPONSE: PDF copy sent by the Engineering Directorate every month (67.5%) Q3: I like to read the Engineering Edge: TOP RESPONSES: For the Employee Spotlights and articles about the workforce (71.2%); to learn more about the Directorate’s latest capabilities and technologies for my personal/professional use (63.0%) Q4: What kind of content do you want to read more of in the 2016 issues?

TOP RESPONSES: Technology/capabilityrelated articles (59.7%); employee spotlights/human interest stories (56.9%)

Q6: What type of communication/ marketing materials would be most useful to you in communicating with your customers?

TOP RESPONSES: Slick sheets/fact sheets (57.6%); technical/capability articles (52.5%) Q7: Do you have any other suggestions for the Engineering Edge?

SAMPLE RESPONSES: • “Please eliminate the hard copy version.”

• “Maybe spotlight a piece of CBRN equipment each issue – these are the masks we work on, these are the radiacs we use, this is the decon, etc. (a commodities section).”

• “Spotlight customers…Why are they our customer?”

• “Format seems outdated, not very interactive. Could more readily used for customers if it was not just a file. For instance, online/blog-type content with live links.”

• “Consolidate into center-wide publication.

Directorate-specific newsletters lead to confusion and uneven external communications.”

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ECBC website

Brochures

Directorate leaders' goals and priorities

TOP RESPONSE: Every month (44.9%)

The Engineering Edge newsletter

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In general, survey responses noted a keen interest in learning more about the Directorate’s latest capabilities and technologies, as well as employee spotlights, messages from leadership, and workforce tips and useful information.

Readership feedback is heavily weighted towards an internal Directorate focus, and the Engineering Edge’s content is being reevaluated to address this feedback.

The results strongly noted that readers do not use the Engineering Edge for business development or communication with customers. However, readers are interested in promoting Engineering’s capabilities to their customers using slick/fact sheets, technical capability articles, and the ECBC website. The Engineering External Communication Initiative team is currently pursuing efforts to update communication outreach vehicles, such as brochures and slick sheets, to support customer interactions.

What kind of content do you want to see more of in 2016? Send your feedback and story ideas anytime to Ed Bowen at edward.c.bowen8.civ@mail.mil.

THE ENGINEERING EDGE |July/August 2016| 7

6 | EDGEWOOD CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL CENTER

STRATEGY

AWARDS

Engineering Front Office Stands Up New Strategic Engagement Initiative

T

he ECBC Engineering Strategic Engagement Initiative is one of the latest efforts to emerge in support of the Engineering Directorate’s strategic plan.

This initiative focuses on senior-level engagement with Engineering’s customers, specifically the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) and the Joint Project Managers (JPMs). The main goals of this effort are to maintain open communication with customers, to make sure customers are aware of Engineering’s full range of capabilities, and to continue to make all Directorate employees aware of current projects and future plans. Ultimately, these engagements provide an opportunity for Engineering to learn about its customers’ long-range plans, so that the Directorate’s strategy can align appropriately.

The initiative is being led by Lowry Brooks, Associate Director and JPEO Client Manager, and Genna Rowe, Business Operations Coordinator for the Strategic Planning and Business Operations Branch.

“The Front Office is excited to stand up this initiative that focuses on fostering closer relationships with our key customers. We need to continue letting them know that we share in their mission and are here to assist them in getting the job done.”

- Michael Abaie, Director, Engineering

The initiative leaders have developed a plan to visit each customer, starting with the JPMs. By gathering information from the Divisions regarding current work, partnerships and known gaps that exist, the meetings become a venue where Engineering’s capabilities can be explored and recommended to fit JPM needs.

“The JPMs appreciate learning how much Engineering supports and sustains their efforts, so they don’t have to. We do a lot

of the heavy lifting supporting Warfighter readiness, so the JPMs can focus on future developments,” said Brooks.

The meetings and conversations are structured using the “placemat” concept.

The placemat is an 11”x17” document that graphically captures ideas, gaps and strategies that can be used to guide the meeting. It was developed as a way to deliver high-level information in a conversational, interactive forum to discover what partnership opportunities exist.

There is enough room on the placemat to take notes or illustrate topics during the meeting. Emphasis is placed on gaps and what investments are needed to bridge those gaps, critical capabilities Engineering offers, and how Engineering can be an agile partner. Meetings include the JPM, Deputy JPM and members of the Engineering Front Office, including Director Michael Abaie, Deputy Director Bill Klein and Brooks.

Following the meetings, the initiative team meets to debrief and identify action items based on the specific needs identified by the JPMs. “Positive outcomes are already beginning to prevail,” said Brooks. “The Engineering leadership is out engaging customers and allowing them to drive the conversation about their current and future plans and needs. We are not just setting up these meetings and debriefing the JPMs―these are reciprocal dialogs about how we can partner in our joint mission to prepare and protect the Warfighter. The information that is being gained from these meetings is invaluable, and we are able to convey and reinforce Engineering’s value proposition to our key customers.”

Several accomplishments can already be contributed to the launch of the Strategic Engagement Initiative. Numerous tours of Engineering laboratories have been conducted and scheduled, allowing the opportunity to show the inner workings of the Directorate in real time. The tours help further the JPMs’ knowledge of Engineering’s capabilities, resulting in additional partnerships.

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Article Written

by Engineering Employee Leads Summer Issue of Army Chemical Review

Non-Traditional Agent Defense Test System Safety Team Recognized at 2016 ECBC Excellence in Safety Awards management systems verifications; surety/ waste storage permitting; glovebox and fume hood certifications; and emergency response procedures.

Tom Hughes (third from right) explains the Test Chamber Module, which features two large glove boxes.

Photo credit: JPEO-CBD Public Affairs

S “It Happened One Night: A Toxic Industrial Chemical Escape,” written by Dr. John R. Kennedy of the ECBC Engineering Directorate, is featured as the lead article in the summer 2016 edition of Army Chemical Review.

The article details the immediate aftermath and longterm consequences of “the world’s deadliest industrial disaster,” a toxic industrial chemical spill at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, in December 1984.

Read the full article at http:// chemical.epubxp.com/t/15891army-chemicalreview

afety is paramount to ECBC’s daily operations, as well as its ability to meet its mission and the expectations of the Army and other customers and stakeholders.

test capability in 2015, an accomplishment attributed to the Center’s world-class expertise and innovation in assuring worker safety in the execution of the chemical and biological defense mission.

Every year, the Center recognizes the workforce’s commitment to safety with the annual ECBC Excellence in Safety Award. The award honors an individual, team or office that has made a significant contribution to safety at ECBC. The award is given annually, but candidates may be nominated for actions that occurred over the previous two-year time period. The Executive Safety Committee presents the award in June to celebrate National Safety Month.

The $40 million NTADTS is comprised of complex networks of test fixtures, engineering controls, HVAC systems, toxic exhaust and CBR filtration systems, test fixtures and building management systems.

The 2016 ECBC Excellence in Safety Award winner was the Chemical Biological Applications and Risk Reduction team that worked on the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant Explosive Destruction System.

The Non-Traditional Agent Defense Test System (NTADTS) Safety Team came in second place, missing first by an extremely close margin. The team was nominated for the award by Ron Pojunas, Associate Director of Engineering. The NTADTS Safety Team was comprised of operators and subject matter experts (SMEs) from all three ECBC Directorates. Each team member played a vital role in the preparations for the safe stand-up of the state-of-the-art Chemical and Biological Defense Program

A decade of ECBC leadership in the development of novel worker safety standards and test methods led to the systems and procedural prove-out and approval for the performance of NTADTS operations. Significant advances were made in establishing health-based limits, personnel protection, personnel monitoring, materials compatibility and operational dissemination, decontamination, referee and waste practices and protocols.

Personnel from across the Center jointly accepted and resolved significant challenges associated with this novel capability. Actions executed by the NTADTS safety team consisted of: Department of Defense Explosive Safety Board approval; standard operating procedures development and approvals; safety committee reviews; subject-matter expert procedural reviews; pre-operational walk-throughs; engineering controls, chemical biological radiological filtration systems, emergency generator, uninterruptable power supply, intrusion detection system and building APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

The team cleared the way for the performance of testing involving dozens of compounds in all physical states. Among the facility’s first customers is the Next Generation Chemical Detector, a Program of Record sponsored by the Joint Project Manager for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Contamination Avoidance. The program will field four new chemical detection capabilities to Warfighters across the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and is the firstever system designed to detect all phases of matter: solid, liquid, vapor and aerosol.

The NGCD is now in the brassboard testing phase, with contractors bringing mature prototypes to the lab to be tested against a variety of chemicals and conditions. Testing will continue throughout 2016.

This extensive Center-wide effort encompassing some 20,000 work hours resulted in the delivery of a national defense test capability actively engaged in support of the Warfighter. The professionalism and dedication displayed by this team resulted in the mitigation of risks substantially improving the operational safety posture and readiness of the NTADTS capability.

Engineering Directorate NTADTS Safety Team Members • Mark Blackiston

• Jacob Lacey

• Douglas Celmer

• Maegan Lay

• Frank J DiPietro, Jr.

• Kevin Morrissey

• Sally Edler

• Troy Neville

• Kenneth Eng

• Do Nguyen

• Merlin Erickson

• Alex Pappas

• Roderick Fry

• Evelyn Remines

• Thomas Hughes

• Martin Thompson

• Jennifer Iskra

• Eugene Vickers

• Sheri Jeric

• Gregory Walton

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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

Engineering Matrixed Chemical Engineer Jerry Hawks Receives Baltimore Federal Executive Board Excellence in Federal Careers Bronze Award

I

t was 1981 when Jerry Hawks started his career out of college at ECBC within the Munitions Directorate Producibility Branch, the primary mission of which was to establish the production capabilities necessary to produce binary chemical weapons.

Initially, Hawks was involved with projects that led to the design, construction and start-up of three chemical production facilities and four weapon fill/close lines. “You have to support the Warfighter,” said Hawks. “It’s not all shields, you need spears.”

But by 1992, the world climate had shifted, and there was a big push for each nation to dispose of its chemical weapon stockpiles; and Hawks supported the U.S. chemical treaty verification program. As this effort evolved, it was a year later in April 1993 that the Munitions Directorate, Detection Directorate and Physical Protection Directorate merged into the Engineering Directorate we know today.

In 1994, Hawks was matrixed to the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization, now known as the Chemical Materials Activity (CMA), and has remained a matrixed employee ever since, noting that he is the last matrixed employee to CMA from the Engineering Directorate as fellow matrixed colleagues have either retired, returned to ECBC, or were promoted and became CMA employees.

Over the years, his role within CMA has changed, and he joined CMA’s Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate as a subject matter expert Chemical engineer Jerry Hawks received the Baltimore Federal for various facility and Executive Board Excellence in Federal Career Bronze Award on May 6, 2016. equipment projects Michael Abaie, ECBC Director of supporting chemical Engineering, and Michelle Goddard, weapons demilitarization, where he ECBC Associate Director. continues to work today.

In recognition of his long-time service as a federal government employee, Hawks received the bronze award for outstanding nonsupervisory employee engaged in technical, scientific and program support at the Baltimore Federal Executive Board Excellence in Federal Career ceremony on May 6, 2016. This award recognizes the “best of the best” within federal service among the 130 federal agencies and installations located in Maryland, and is intended to foster cooperation between Baltimore-area federal agencies in the areas of emergency preparedness, security and employee safety.

Receiving the award gave Hawks the opportunity to network with

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When asked about the changes he has witnessed within ECBC over his long tenure and his hopes for the Center’s future, Hawks noted that he has been extremely impressed by the Chemical Biological Application and Risk Reduction (CBARR) business unit contribution to the success of CMA’s Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate by operating the Explosive Destructive System equipment, and thinks of CBARR as a national asset.

As for the Center’s future, Hawks hopes to see young talent come to ECBC and learn from those here for the long-term. He feels that he has worked so well with his current co-workers because they have been supporting each other for years.