Roger E.A. Arndt Fellowship

Roger Arndt was born and raised in New York City. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and received his undergraduate degree at City College in New York City. Roger worked for several years before obtaining both his MS and PhD at MIT. 

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) and the Department of Aerospace Engineering (now the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics). 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 4^th 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 50^th 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's specialty area of fluid mechanics and cavitation allowed extensive travel throughout the world. The collaboration with colleagues in other countries brought about several sabbaticals, lifelong friends, incredible travel opportunities and the chance meeting of his wife, Jane. Both Roger and Jane are supportive of furthering educational and research opportunities for students. 

The Fellowship is to assist and encourage students in the field of fluid dynamics and to allow further research in this area at SAFL. 

This award is given to a University of Minnesota graduate student conducting research at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory with a focus on fluid dynamics. The Arndt Fellowship provides a monetary award to the graduate student.

Applicants are expected to have:

• Made satisfactory progress toward completion of the requirements of their degree.
• Maintained high academic standards, with exceptional potential in their field.

This award may be renewable to the recipient, provided the recipient demonstrates satisfactory progress toward a degree and continues to meet the criteria of the award.

SAFL faculty may submit letters of nomination to SAFaward@umn.edu.