The Hydrologic Engineering Center—50 Years of Hydrologic Engineering History

Abstract

The Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) was founded in 1964 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE 1989). Digital computers were just becoming widely available and the founders quickly recognized the potential for automating laborious manual calculations and extending applications to problems not here-to-fore practical. Their shared vision of achieving economy and consistency in hydrologic analysis and in exploiting the use of digital computers resulted in the creation of the discipline known today as hydrologic engineering and the Hydrologic Engineering Center as the organizational vehicle for making their vision a reality. HEC was created as a three-pronged organization designed to achieve the goal of improving USACE capability for hydrologic engineering. The three elements of the HEC mission were methods systemization and training, research, and special assistance. The three elements of the mission were integrated to provide feedback from users in Corps field offices to HEC so that the work at HEC remained focused on the needs of engineers engaged in real-world problem solving. The size of HEC has remained remarkably constant over the years—about 35 permanent staff plus a complement of students. In its 50-year history the Hydrologic Engineering Center has been a model for the development of technical expertise and knowledge sharing. Its work has been acclaimed by many and emulated by others in both the public and private sectors, and it stands as a singular example of how the vision of its founders could endure through half a century of technological changes that surpassed even their greatest expectations of what the profession of hydrologic engineering could become.