SAFL Featured Stories
New study emphasizes the significant role wetlands play in removing nitrate pollution
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A newly-published Nature Geosciences article examines the role wetland networks or 'complexes' play in reducing riverine nitrate pollution at the watershed scale. The study includes the work of SAFL research associate Amy Hansen, SAFL faculty and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior professor Jacques Finlay, and and SAFL faculty and Professor Emeritus Efi Foufoula-Georgiou. Read more.
Mapping river evolution in SAFL’s Main Channel
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A recent experiment in our largest flume, known as the Main Channel, is documenting how rivers shift across the landscape. SAFL postdoctoral researcher Ajay Limaye, working with the Paola research group, is taking advantage of the 2.7-m width of the Main Channel for the experiment.
Experiments on Fish-Friendly Culvert Design
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Culverts can be partial or total barriers to fish movement. The passibility of any particular culvert depends on the culvert design, the stream hydrology and flow regime, and the target fish species and life stages needing to pass through the culvert.
Experimental Earth Scape Basin: Steering of rivers by uplift and lateral sedimentation
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The "eXperimental Earth Scape" facility (XES), invented by recently retired Jim Mullin and commonly known as the Jurassic Tank, is one of the largest and most unique experimental basins at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL). Many experimental delta facilities exist around the world, some of which have been constructed by the SAFL staff, but the Jurassic Tank is one of a kind.
Coletti receives NSF CAREER award to study airflow in lungs
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Filippo Coletti, Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, was awarded a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to study the fluid mechanics in the airways of both healthy people and those suffering from respiratory illness.
Charting new territory in personalized medicine
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For many children and adults born with malformed ribs and sternum, vigorous activities such as running and biking are challenging or impossible due to impaired cardiac or respiratory function. These and other chest wall and spinal deformities are surprisingly common.
Researchers develop advanced wind turbine control algorithm
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The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) is currently investigating technologies for improving wind turbine/wind farm efficiency that can help reduce the cost of wind energy. Funded by Xcel Energy and led by UMN Adjunct Professor and former SAFL director Fotis Sotiropoulos, the academic and industrial team for this project consists of University of Minnesota researchers, Mikhail Energy Consulting, and Barr Engineering.
SAFL Welcomes New Faculty Ardeshir Ebtehaj
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The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) is excited to introduce our most recent affiliated SAFL faculty, Dr. Ardeshir Ebtehaj, Assistant Professor of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering.
Lian Shen selected as director of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory
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Professor Lian Shen has been selected as the new director of the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL). The five-year appointment by University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering Dean Samuel Mukasa is effective Sept. 1, 2017.
A Legacy of SAFL Leadership
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SAFL has a unique and distinguished historic legacy, largely defined by the vision of its top leadership. Dr. Lorenz G. Straub, Professor of Civil Engineering, is considered the mastermind for making the idea of a hydraulic laboratory at the University of Minnesota and the St. Anthony Falls into a reality. Serving as the primary architect, Straub oversaw the construction of the laboratory using Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding from 1936 -1938.