In this 2018 photo taken at an Association of the United States Army event, Dr. Maria Niki Goerger (first in the front row in blue jacket) stands proudly with colleagues from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.

This month, Dr. Goerger was nominated to receive a Women of Color (WOC) Award during the digital twin experience (DTX) of WOC STEM scheduled for October 7-9.

Since 1995, the WOC Conference has been the forum of choice for recognizing the significant contributions of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

Dr. Goerger is a research engineer. She began her federal career 29 years ago at the Geotechnical Laboratory of Waterways Experiment Station, which is now known as the Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).

She was the first person to serve as the director for business development at the ERDC and stood up the Strategic Integration Office.

Currently, she is a special assistant for artificial intelligence (AI), modeling & simulation, and analysis in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at ERDC. There, she provides leadership to ITL and the center on matters related to disruptive technology, program development, and customer engagement.

She also serves on ITL’s senior leadership team and its board of directors. Her work to advance technology and enable innovation has helped the U.S. move forward in several critical areas related to national defense.

Dr. Goerger has served in numerous ERDC liaison positions, including at the Pentagon. Her work has been recognized through several awards, including two ERDC Program Development awards, and the Herbert D. Vogel Outstanding Engineer Award.

In 2013, Dr. Goerger received the Army’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award for her service with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology). The Meritorious Civilian Service Award is the second-highest award granted by the Secretary of the Army or a major Army command to civilian personnel. Persons receiving this award are cited for exemplary performance of their duties, demonstrating unusual initiative and skill, achieving outstanding results.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering at Mississippi State University, she went on to earn a master’s degree in agricultural engineering with a minor in statistics.

Goerger attained her doctorate in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University in 1993, where she was selected as a Westinghouse Manufacturing Fellow in Engineering for 1990.

She is now a Fellow of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS), where she was elected to two terms on the executive council, serving as secretary from 2006 to 2007 and as vice president for Professional Affairs from 2007 to 2008.

The MORS is dedicated to advancing the operations research profession and supporting the National Security Analyst through a full range of programs for students and seasoned professionals. In 2004, she was elected to the MORS Board of Directors, where she served a four-year term.

She is also a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences and has been inducted as a member of the Order of the Engineer, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Phi honor societies.

Register here for WOC DTX 2021.