• STEM Hero Awards •

Omar Esquilin-Mangual has been a Research Civil Engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for almost eight years. In this short time, his efforts have resulted in improved deployable force protection for U.S. forces throughout the world.

As the ERDC principal investigator on Force Protection in the Urban Environment Military Engineering Program, as well as the work unit manager for the Blast Reduction from Urban Material Failure research effort, Mr. Esquilin-Mangual has concentrated his research on the development of lightweight modular protective structure solutions and analytical assessment capabilities.  These efforts aid in safeguarding the lives of military and civilian personnel as well as in protecting valuable assets from the threat of damage from small arms munitions, projectiles and other explosive devices.

 Mr. Esquilin-Mangual is a subject matter expert in the areas of force protection, protective structures design, weapons’ effects on structures, numerical evaluation of dynamic events, blast and ballistic threat mitigation, advanced material applications in protective construction, and reach-back for support to forward deployed forces.  He holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez and he’s currently pursuing a Ph.D. in structural engineering from Mississippi State University. Prior to joining USACE, Mr. Esquilín-Mangual worked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at Structural Steel Works Inc. as quality control and manufacturing supervisory engineer for steel building construction.

Mr. Esquilín-Mangual is a registered professional engineer in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and a member of American Society of Civil Engineers, Society of American Military Engineers, and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers in Mississippi.  He was one of the founders of the first professional chapter of SHPE-MS and has served on the board of directors since its establishment in 2012 as publicity chair, treasurer, vice president, and president.

Mr. Esquilín-Mangual lends his time to help the Vicksburg Siege Robotics Team 456 develop a full 3D CAD of the 2014 robot and fabricate their robot’s components with a 3D printer. In his free time, he enjoys pursuing outdoor activities with his family.