Courtesy Photo | Dr. Sally Shoop, a recently retired research geotechnical engineer with the U.S. Army...... read more read more
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Commemorating a Life of Service in Cold Climates
David I. Marquis, ERDC Public Affairs Office
HANOVER, N.H. -- It may be difficult to summarize an entire life in a few short paragraphs, perhaps impossible to showcase everything one has done which has improved their workplace, their organization or even the world. This couldn’t be more accurate for Dr. Sally Shoop, a recently retired research geotechnical engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire, who for more than 35 years committed herself to service to the nation and her area of expertise.
Shoop came to CRREL in 1987 from Conoco Phillips and has spent much of her career researching seasonal impacts of freezing and thawing soils, snow and ice on vehicle mobility. She has had a hand in more than 200 publications, papers and government reports, while also contributing to three books as an editor or an author. Over the course of her career, she has traveled around the world researching the physical processes involved in seasonal impacts on terrain conditions and ground mechanics.
“The flexibility to pursue research opportunities at CRREL have been enormous. I have traveled far and wide and have colleagues and made friendships around the globe,” said Shoop. “I have performed research projects with many other government organizations and with private industry, in addition to military research.”
Shoop received a Bachelor of Science in geotechnical engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1979, a Master of Science in geotechnical engineering from the University of Arizona in 1982 and her doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Michigan in 2001. She has served on seven NATO committees, as well as U.N. and E.U. committees, contributed to numerous standards, requirements and specifications; and participated in many technical and scientific committees and panels within the U.S. and internationally. Shoop says that some of the most important, demanding and rewarding work was also the least well-known since it was responding to critical requests from theater.
“Dr. Sally Shoop has led research teams to solve the toughest cold regions challenges,” said Dr. Jon Zufelt, a senior hydraulic engineer with HDR Alaska, Inc. “Her research has focused on all-season vehicle performance, and more specifically, tire-terrain interaction. Capitalizing on her vehicle terrain interaction expertise, she has performed mobility assessments in many countries to aid both the United States military but also those of allied nations.”
Zufelt says these assessments prepared nations to meet aggressors by identifying mobility and counter-mobility lanes, adding that Shoop recently pioneered a program to test and evaluate snow tire designs for military vehicles. This program led the military to adopt snow tire sets for military vehicles used in cold climates and enhanced the safety of U.S. military forces in cold regions.
“Some of the most important, demanding and rewarding work was also the least well-known since it was responding to critical requests from theater,” said Shoop. “Knowing that your research can make a difference in people’s lives and can change the state-of-the-art is highly rewarding.”
At her retirement ceremony hosted by CRREL, Shoop said it has been her great pleasure and honor to work with everyone at ERDC and her colleagues around the globe.
“I have made very good friends during my career at CRREL and had some amazing opportunities and impactful projects with my fellow ERDC and CRREL colleagues and the extremely competent support and administrative staff who worked tirelessly to keep me out of trouble,” said Shoop. “I would like to thank all of my colleagues, near and far, young and old and wish you all the very best that work and life have to offer.”
Shoop will be receiving the Harold R. Peyton Award for Cold Regions Engineering from the American Society of Civil Engineers. This prestigious award in the engineering community comes as a sort of bow on top of a life-long career devoted to engineering in cold climates.
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.01.2022 13:26 |
| Story ID: | 415211 |
| Location: | HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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