Frank and Julie Tsai Travel Award

Learn more about the Frank and Julie Tsai Travel Award

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History of the Award

Frank and Julie Tsai are both graduates of the University of Minnesota. Dr. Tsai earned an M.S. in 1960 and a Ph.D. in civil engineering in 1968. Julie Tsai received her Master's degree in library science from the University of Minnesota in 1964.

After years of supporting St. Anthony Falls Laboratory through annual gifts, the Tsais decided in 2000 to leave a lasting legacy to express their appreciation for their University experience. They chose to do this through a testamentary bequest and a pledge of an outright gift to establish the endowed fund that supports the Tsai Travel Award.

Nomination Guidelines and Rules

Full-time graduate students whose research is performed at SAFL are invited to submit a proposal for funding to travel to a professional conference. Preference is given to students who will be presenting their research results at the conference and who have had a manuscript on their research accepted for publication in a referred journal in the previous 12 months. 

The maximum amount of the award is $500. Students may receive a maximum of two travel awards, one in the Master's program, and one in the Ph.D. program (if applicable) during their studies.

Interested students should submit:

  • A letter proposal, endorsed by the advisor, which explains why the travel award is needed. 
  • An itemized estimate of travel expenses and funding sources.
  • A resume that includes a list of publications.
  • If relevant, the abstract of the paper to be presented at the conference and proof of acceptance. If the paper is submitted but not yet accepted, the student is encouraged to submit the application without the acceptance letter.
  • If relevant, a copy of a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal in the previous 12 months, or a letter from a journal indicating acceptance of a paper for publication.

Send applications to [email protected].

Past Recipients

YearRecipientTraveled toConferenceTo present research on
Spring 2024Xiating ChenPortland, MEWaterSciCon/Gordon Research SeminarPhysical Health of trees and water use strategies
Fall 2023Shih-Hsun HuangSan Francisco, CAAmerian Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingHyporheic flow induced by a channel-spanning porous log jam
Fall 2023Mariel JonesSan Francisco, CA American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingRepresenting Peatland Heterogeneity in CLM5.0 Using Subgrid Hillslope Methods
Fall 2023Hyoungseok KangSan Francisco, CAAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meetingon Deep Learning of Convective Precipitation Processes
Fall 2023Yuan LiSan Francisco, CAAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingEffects of a Smectite Clay on the Removal of Microcystis Aeruginosa Cells
Fall 2023William Wei San Francisco, CAAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingMicrofluidic Experiments Demonstrate the Effects of Flow Fluctuations on Biofilm Growth
Spring 2023Divya KumawatProvidence, RIAbSciCon 2024Global Estimates of L-Band Vegetation Optical Depth, Soil Permittivity, and Freeze-Thaw State over Snow-covered Boreal Forests and Permafrost using SMAP Satellite Data
Spring 2023Kassie ReynoldsQuebec City, CanadaInternational Symposium on Ecohydraulics and Fish PassageInvasive Sea Lamprey
Fall 2022Jingxuan DengSan Francisco, CAAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingAnomalous Transport through Dissolving Fracture Networks
Fall 2022Roozbeh EhsaniWashington, DCAmerican Physical Society Division Meeting Stochastic generation and organization of uniform momentum zones in rough wall turbulence
Fall 2022Amy TinklenbergWashington, DCAmerican Physical Society Division Meeting Experimental Study of Preforated Disks Falling in Turbulent Air
Fall 2021Reyhaneh RahimiNew Orleans, LAAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting Vulnerability of Passive Microwave Snowfall Retrievals to Physical Properties of Snowpack: A Lesson from Radiative Transfer Modeling
Fall 2019Tianyi LiSeattle, WA72nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid DynamicsDetermining surface divergence in free-surface flows: convergence and solution of a nonlinear Volterra-type integral equation
Fall 2019Lun GaoSan Francisco, CAAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetingPhysically Constrained Inversion of Radiative Transfer Models in L-band for High-resolution Retrievals of Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth from Space
Fall 2019Vinicius TaguchiBurlington, VTNorth American Lake Management Society (NALMS) 39th International SymposiumLow Dissolved Oxygen in Stratified Stormwater Ponds and Implications for Internal Loading
Fall 2018Douglas CarterAtlanta, GA

71st Annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (APSDFD)

 

The effect of background air turbulence on liquid spray
Fall 2018Vinicius TaguchiCincinnati, OHNorth American Lake Management Society (NALMS) 38th International SymposiumSome Stormwater Ponds Release Phosphorus
Fall 2018Nicholas RodgersWashington, D.C.American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetingComplex retreat behavior in experimental barrier island response to base level rise
Fall 2018Lun GaoWashington, D.C.American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting

 

A combined dynamically constrained inversion for super-resolved L-band soil moisture retrievals

Fall 2018Rachel LoncharWashington, D.C.American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetingPeatland methane emissions driven by interaction of soil temperature and water table
Fall 2018Sagar TamangWashington, D.C.American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetingContrasting changes in Snowfall Dominant Regimes at Hemispherical Scale
Fall 2018Mirko MusaWashington, D.C.American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetingExperimental evidence of river morphodinamic instabilities forced by finite asymmetric flow perturbations
Fall 2018Jiaqi YouWashington, D.C.American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetingMicro-algal Swimming Velocities Signal Growth Phase and Lipid Accumulation
Spring 2017Douglas CarterChicago, ILTenth International Symposium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena (TSFP10)Generating and controlling homogenous turbulence using randown jet arrays
Fall 2017Michael HeiselDenver, CO70th Annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (APSDFD)Characterization of turbulent flow structures in the atmospheric boundary layer through super-large-scale particle image velocimetry
Fall 2017Lucia BakerDenver, CO70th Annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (APSDFD)Experimental study of dense suspension of large particles in a turbulent boundary layer
Fall 2017Brandon SloanNew Orleans, LA2017 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingParametrizing evaporative resistance for heterogeneous sparse canopies through novel wind tunnel experimentation
Fall 2017Gerard SalterNew Orleans, LA2017 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingDeterministic chaos in a model of a simple delta network
Fall 2017Olivia BeaulieuNew Orleans, LA2017 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall MeetingRiver terrace formation and destruction demonstrated by base-level fall experiments
Fall 2017Sida HeDenver, CO70th Annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (APSDFD)Numerical study of interactions among air, water, and rigid/flexible solid bodies
Spring 2017Abigail TomasekRaleigh, NCSociety of Freshwater Science Annual MeetingHow does inundation affect denitrification in agricultural landscapes?”
Spring 2017Alec PetersenChicago, ILTenth International Symposium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena“Experimental study of particle-turbulence interaction in homogeneous turbulence.”
Fall 2016Saurabh ChawdryPortland, Oregon69th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics"Field scale simulation of axial hydrokinetic turbines in a natural marine environment"
Fall 2016Mirko MusaPortland, Oregon69th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics"Advancing marine hydrokinetic turbine arrays towards large-scale deployments in sandy rivers: a laboratory study"
Fall 2016Anne WilkinsonPortland, Oregon69th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics"Understanding Abiotic Triggers for Cyanobacteria Blooms in Lakes Using a Long Term In-situ Monitoring Research Station"
Fall 2015Maria Garcia-SerranaSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union"Evaluation of an Infiltration Model with Microchannels"
Fall 2015Zeinab TakbiriSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union"Microwave Signatures of Inundation Area.”
Spring 2015Mohammad HajitRegina, SaskatchewanCSCE“A computational model for large eddy simulation of dilute bubbly turbulent flows.”
Spring 2015Craig HillThe Hague, NetherlandsInternaional Association for Hydro-Environmental Engineering Research“Hydrokinetic turbine models in complex channel topography: local scour, sediment transport and device performance.”
Spring 2015Jon SchwenkIquitos, Peru River, Coastal, and Estuarine Morphodynamics"Process and form: bend-scale morphodynamics along the Ucayali River from satellite imagery."
Spring 2015Abigail TomasekMilwaukee, WisconsinSociety of Freshwater Science“Quantifying the effects of environmental variables on the composition and activity of denitrifying microbial communities.”
Fall 2014Mohammad Danesh-YazdiSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union“Self-dissimilar Landscapes: Probing into Causes and Consequences via Multi-scale Analysis and Synthesis.”
Fall 2014Ali EbrahimianHouston, TexasInternational Low Impact Development “Determining Effective Impervious Area as a Measure of Actual Connectedness in Urban Watersheds.”
Fall 2014Maria Garcia-SerranaHouston, TexasInternational Low Impact Development “Infiltration Performance of Dry Swales.”
Fall 2014Ashish KarnSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Physical Society “An Integrative Image Measurement Technique for Dense Bubbly Flows with a Wide Size Distribution.”
Fall 2014Zeinab TakbiriSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union“Quantifying Frequency-Magnitude Shifts in Rainfall-Runoff Relationships in Human Dominated Landscapes: The case of Midwestern U.S.”
2013Jon CzubaSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union“Vulnerability assessment to flux amplification in river basins: A dynamic network approach and impact decomposition.”
2013Mohammad HajitPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaAmerican Physical Society“A computational model for large eddy simulation of dilute bubbly turbulent flows.”
2013Adam WittPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaAmerican Physical Society“Void fraction and bubble size in a simulated hydraulic jump.”
2012Antoni CaldererSan Diego, CaliforniaAmerican Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics“Coupled level-set CURVIB method for fluid-structure interaction simulations of arbitrarily complex floating rigid bodies.”
2012David Escobar SanabriaSan Diego, CaliforniaAmerican Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics “Modeling of Longitudinal Motion of a High Speed Supercavitating Vehicle.”
Fall 2011Shahram MissaghiPerth, Western AustraliaInternational Congress on Modeling and Simulation“3D water quality modeling of a morphologically complex lake, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, and examples of model applications”
Fall 2011Bereket YohannesSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union"Boundary Stresses due to Impacts from Dry Granular Flows"
Spring 2011Corey MarkfortVienna, AustriaEuropean Geosciences Union “Effect of porosity on ABL evolution over a canopy patch in a stable atmosphere: a wind tunnel study"
2010Arvind SinghVienna, AustriaEuropean Geosciences Union "Complexity and Multi-scale Dynamics of Migrating Dunes under Varying Flow Conditions" 
2010Anwar ChengalaLas Vegas, NevadaWest Coast Chapter of the National Algae Association  
2009*No award given*   
2008 Omar Abdul AzizHonolulu, HawaiiAmerican Society of Civil Engineers 
2008Chandana GangodagemageFort Lauderdale, FloridaAmerican Geophysical Union"New Scaling Considerations in River Basins: combining drainage path geometry and link lengths"
2007Feng WanVienna, AustriaEuropean General Science Union "Evaluation of Dynamic Subgrid-scale Models in Large-eddy simulations of Neutral Turbulent Flow over a Two-dimensional Sinusoidal Hill"
2006James Robert StollVienna, AustriaEuropean General Science Union “Surface Heterogeneity Effects on Regional Scale Fluxes in stable Boundary Layers: An LES Study"
2005Ben O'ConnorSalt Lake City, UtahAmerican Society of Limnology and Oceanography "Quantity-activity of Dentifying Bacteria and Nitrate Variability in Streams" 
2004Damian KawakamiSeattle, WashingtonAmerican Physical Society "Periodicity of Sheet Cloud Cavitation" 
2004Wonsuck KimSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union"Autogenic Shoreline Responses to Fluvial Change"
2004Ben SheetsCoimbra PortugalInternational Association of Sedimentologists "Multi-storey Architechture and Sedimentation in an Experimental Alluvial System"
2004Lisa TilmanSan Francisco, CaliforniaAmerican Geophysical Union"Scaling of Hydrologic Parameters of Braided Rivers"