ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. Lieutenant General Thomas P. Bostick, Commanding General (CG) for USACE and the 53rd Chief of Engineers, visited the Institute for Water Resources (IWR) on 21 January 2015. During the first part of his visit he met with senior IWR staff. IWR Director Robert Pietrowsky welcomed LTG Bostick, and the Chief graciously acknowledged each staff member during the introductions. The CG opened the session by laying out a vision of federal agencies working together on multi-agency projects, and using a common evaluation system to prioritize projects. He cited the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Folsom Dam rehabilitation, and the Los Angeles River restoration as efforts which benefit from such multi-agency cooperation and collaboration. The Urban Waters Federal Partnership was also mentioned as an initiative which strives to advance this vision.
One focus of the CG’s visit was modeling since LTG Bostick had expressed a desire to better understand how the various models used by USACE relate to each other. Chris Dunn, Director of the Hydrologic Engineering Center, which is a part of IWR, delivered a presentation on the Corps Water Management System (CWMS), a suite of software which allows real-time management of reservoir systems and utilizes a watershed approach.
Dr. Will Logan briefly described recent IWR International work carried out by the International Center for Integrated Water Resource Management (ICIWaRM), which piqued LTG Bostick’s interest. He encouraged staff to align international activities with Combatant Command priorities whenever possible, and to communicate the international work more broadly. He specifically mentioned coordination with AfriCom.
LTG Bostick was also keenly interested in Dr. Michael Deegan’s presentation on “Watershed Informed Budgeting.” Dr. Deegan gave an update on the progress and potential future scenarios of a systems-based approach to budget development.
The final presentation, made by David Lichy and Kerry Redican, focused on the Institute’s enterprise project management tools and systems used to manage its program. Specifically, the newly developed Program “Dashboard,” which draws data from the Corps of Engineers Financial Management System (CEFMS) and USACE’s Project Management System (P2), provides IWR senior managers with indicators of organizational performance. Travel and overhead components are complete and several others are under development. LTG Bostick commented on the value of being able to ‘track’ USACE’s progress and performance, similar to how we now can track movement of packages.
As well, indicative of LTG Bostick’s leadership style and character, he had specifically requested to meet with and get to know some of the newer employees at IWR. Thus, the morning session with senior managers was followed by an informal luncheon during which the Chief interacted with about twenty-five of the newest professional hires from IWR and the Army Geospatial Center (located nearby on the Humphreys Engineering Support Center complex). The Chief made quite an impression at this luncheon. His insightful questions, frank comments, and practical advice were very well received by the group.
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Lieutenant General Thomas P. Bostick Biography
For more information, visit www.iwr.usace.army.mil