Waterways Experiment Station, Mississippi

The Army Corps Of Engineers operates a large R&D center at Vicksburg, near the Mississippi River, known as the Waterways Experiment Station (WES), established originally as a base for the research and engineering of the Mississippi River as a navigable waterway, the largest single project of the Corps. It became the primary research facility for the Army Corps, and contains research facilities for many of the Corps’ major projects, from New York Harbor to the Los Angeles River (and had scaled physical models of these sites, as well as many others). Much more goes on there than waterway experimentation though. The 700-acre reservation employs over 1,500 civilians, of which over 450 hold advanced degrees in science and engineering fields. More than half of WES's annual work program is for Department of Defense programs, while the remaining civil programs are sponsored by federal and state agencies such as the EPA, Department of Transportation, and Department of Energy.