Announcing the Roger E.A. Arndt Fellowship
The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) is very excited to announce the creation of a new graduate student fellowship – the Roger E.A. Arndt Fellowship. The fellowship is designed to award outstanding students who perform fluid mechanics research at SAFL while honoring the many contributions that Professor Roger E.A. Arndt has made to the laboratory and the field of fluid mechanics.
After completing his PhD in Civil Engineering at MIT in 1967 and working as faculty at Penn State University for several years thereafter, Professor Arndt first came to the University of Minnesota in 1977 as a professor in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering (now the Department of Civil, Environment, and Geo- Engineering). He also took over as SAFL's director that same year. Yet, Dr. Arndt was not unknown at SAFL prior to his new appointment – in 1968 he actually was the third recipient of the Lorenz G. Straub award, SAFL’s international annual award honoring its founder and first director, Dr. Lorenz Straub.
In the over 40 years that Professor Arndt has served the University of Minnesota, he has established himself as a giant in the field of fluid mechanics and applied research. His research interests include cavitation, turbomachinery, hydroacoustics, hydropower, and in recent years, wind turbine aerodynamics and supercavitation. He has authored over 200 publications and advised an impressive assembly of graduate students. He has an extensive list of collaborators and partners across public and private sectors and worked as the program manager of the Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics Program at the National Science Foundation for three years.
Professor Arndt also continued building SAFL’s legacy of excellence in basic and applied research in the 16 years that he served as SAFL’s director. He oversaw a great many changes to the laboratory that helped SAFL evolve and adapt to the changing needs and concerns of society. He oversaw the 4th floor addition of SAFL’s atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel, representing a major broadening of the laboratory’s focus from hydraulics to more general fluid mechanics research and applications. He diversified the faculty who came to work at SAFL from various departments on campus and helped the lab celebrate its 50th anniversary. He developed a strong expertise in the design of research facilities for cavitation and hydroacoustics, leading to playing central design roles for three major hydroacoustic research facilities in the US, Germany, and Korea.
Professor Arndt currently serves as Emeritus Professor in the Department of Civil, Enviornmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE) and when not in a pandemic, he still frequents visiting the laboratory and meeting with students and colleagues in his office.
“We are beyond grateful and humbled to have Professor Arndt as an invaluable part of the SAFL community, and we are excited that with the establishment of this fellowship we can see his legacy continue to encourage and inspire the next generations of students,” says Lian Shen, current SAFL director.
We welcome contributions to the Roger E.A. Arndt Fellowship Fund