engineering technology. It is designed to determine how well projects are 

 accomplishing their purposes and resisting the attacks of the physical envi- 

 ronment. These determinations, combined with concepts and understanding 

 already available, will lead to upgrading the credibility of predictions of 

 cost effectiveness of engineering solutions to coastal problems; to strength- 

 ening and improving design criteria and methodology; to improving construction 

 practices; and to improving operation and maintenance techniques. Addition- 

 ally, the monitoring program will identify concerns that laboratories should 

 address more intently. Stated in another way, the objective is the advance- 

 ment of the engineering science derived from insights into the physics that 

 laboratory studies have developed. 



16. To develop the direction for the MCCP Program, the Corps estab- 

 lished an ad hoc committee of coastal engineers and scientists. The committee 

 formulated the program's objectives, developed its operational philosophy, 

 recommended funding levels, and established criteria and procedures for proj- 

 ect selection. A significant result of their efforts was a prioritized list- 

 ing of problem areas to be addressed, essentially a listing of the program's 

 areas of interest (Table 1). The initial list complied had only 20 items. As 

 the program has grown, so has the list; the final three items were recently 

 added . 



17. The selection process envisioned by the committee members has 

 worked well since the first projects were nominated in 1 98 1 . Periodically, 

 the Corps' coastal offices are invited to nominate projects for monitoring 

 under the program. Nominations are reviewed and prioritized by a selection 

 committee comprised of representatives from the Headquarters, US Army Corps of 

 Engineers (HQUSACE), US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Coastal 

 Engineering Research Center (CERC), and several coastal division offices. 

 Final selection is based on the prioritized list of projects and available 

 funding. 



18. While guidance is provided by HQUSACE, management of the program 

 rests with CERC. Operation of the program, though, is a cooperative effort 

 between CERC and the individual Corps District offices. The development of 

 monitoring plans and conduct of collecting data depend on the combined 

 resources of CERC and the Districts. 



