Seminars

seminar room safl

Every other week during the academic year, SAFL hosts prominent figures in environmental science and fluid mechanics. They come from all over the US and the world to share their insight and inspire us to tackle important questions in the field. These seminars are free and open to the public. Join us to learn about the latest research advancements and network with contacts in the field.


SAFL seminars are held on Tuesdays from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Join us in the SAFL Auditorium or via Zoom.

 
Fall 2024 Seminar Series

Oct 8th, 2024:  Dr. Katerina Georgiou
Oct 22, 2024: Dr. Aditi Bhaskar
Nov 5th, 2024: Dr. Amir Pahlavan 
Nov 19th, 2024: Dr. Viviana Maggioni 
Dec 3, 2024: SAFL Student Awards Ceremony

Recordings
We will record seminars and post them here when given permission by the speaker. To see if a recording is available, scroll down this page to "Past Seminars."

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Upcoming Seminars

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Past Seminars

SAFL Fall Student Award Ceremony

Join us!

Join us in celebrating our Fall 2024 Student Award Winners! Our Dec. 3rd ceremony will honor the winners of the Roger E.A. Arndt Fellowship, the Edward Silberman Fellowship, and the Alvin G. Anderson Award. The program will include short presentations by student winners, remarks from their faculty advisors, and a delicious reception. 

About the awards:

Roger E.A. Arndt Fellowship: 

This fellowship rewards academically outstanding SAFL students studying fluid mechanics while honoring the contributions and legacy of Professor Roger E.A. Arndt. The Arndt Fellowship provides a monetary award to support the graduate student. Read more about this award here

Photo of Roger E.A. Arndt

Roger E.A. Arndt

Edward Silberman Fellowship: 

This fellowship rewards academically outstanding students who perform their research at SAFL and honors the contribution Professor Edward Silberman has made to the Laboratory's academic environment. The Silberman Fellowship provides a monetary award to support the graduate student. Read more about this award here.

Photo of Edward Silberman

Edward Silberman

Alvin G. Anderson Award:  

This award is given to a University of Minnesota student pursuing graduate studies in water resources. Special consideration is given to students involved in the sediment transportation field, which was Dr. Anderson's specialty. The Anderson Award is presented in the form of books relating to the recipient's study interests.  Read more about this award here.

Photo of Alvin G. Anderson

Alvin G. Anderson Award
 

Challenges and Opportunities of Satellite Observations for Studying Hydrologic Process and Their Variability

Viviana Maggioni is  an Associate Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and the Director of Undergraduate Affairs in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason University.

AbstractInvestigating how hydrologic variables change in space and time is crucial for sustainable water resources management, for characterizing extremes and their socioeconomic impacts, and for policymaking. This seminar presents the challenges and opportunities of satellite-based observations for studying hydrologic patterns and trends. Satellites offer a unique perspective to look at water quantity and distribution globally everywhere anytime. Nevertheless, in order to efficiently use satellite-based observations, we need to improve the inherent coarse resolution of satellite-based observations down to finer scales and their accuracy. To address the first limitation, the seminar will present novel approaches to downscale atmospheric and hydrological variables. The gain of this shift is both practical and conceptual: not only the wealth of information generated at the finer scale vastly benefits decision-making processes, but it also allows for the study of physical processes that remain invisible at coarser scales. Estimating hydrologic variables such as precipitation can be complicated by several factors, including complex orography and lack of ground references, among others. Therefore, evaluating the quality and reliability of hydrologic data, before analyzing their trends and patterns, is fundamental. As an example, the seminar will present a comprehensive assessment of high- resolution satellite-based and model reanalysis precipitation estimates conducted in some of the most complex regions in the world such as High Mountain Asia and West Africa.

Photo of Viviana Maggioni

AboutViviana Maggioni, PhD. is Associate Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering the Director of Undergraduate Affairs in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Dr. Maggioni received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Environmental Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy, in 2003 and 2006 respectively, and her Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, in 2012. Her research interests lie at the intersection of hydrology and remote sensing. In particular, she is interested in the application of satellite remote sensing techniques to estimate and monitor hydrological variables at the local to global scale. Her work has direct applications in water resources management, weather and climate prediction, as well as agriculture and irrigation practices. Since 2010, she has published more than 70 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 5 book chapters, 3 scientific reports, and co-edited a book on Extreme Hydroclimatic Events and Multivariate Hazards in a Changing Climate (Elsevier, 2019). She currently serves as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Hydrometeorology (American Meteorological Society Publications) and as Associate Editor of Frontier in Climate – Climate Services. She has served as one of the two co-chairs of the International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG) and the Chair of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Technical Committee on Precipitation.


 

Chemical cues shape the transport of colloids and bacteria across complex terrains

Amir Pahlavan is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at Yale University.

AbstractTo navigate their environment, bacteria follow chemical cues in search of nutrients or new territories. Similarly, colloids migrate in response to chemical gradients. Our understanding of chemotactic/phoretic migration of bacteria and colloids in idealized environments, and in the absence of flows has significantly improved over the last decade. However, there is a need to understand how colloids and bacteria disperse in complex and dynamic environments representative of biological tissues and subsurface flows, where the role of chemotaxis/phoresis remains unclear. In this talk, we will explore how chemical gradients shape the transport of colloids and bacteria across porous environments.

Photo of Amir Pahlavan

AboutAmir joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale as an Assistant Professor in July 2021. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and then moved to Princeton University as a postdoc, working in the areas of interfacial flows, transport phenomena and microscale hydrodynamics. Inspired by geophysical and biological flows, his lab explores a range of problems on active and passive transport phenomena in complex environments.
 


 

Streamflow change with urban development

Aditi Bhaskar is an Associate Professor of Hydrology, Water Resources & Environmental Fluid Mechanics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

AbstractThis research presents an analysis of the changes to streamflow with urban development using trends in flow duration curves of 53 watersheds across the U.S. Then we focus on the Denver, Colorado region where we examine (1) contributors to stream baseflow, and in particular water supply pipe leakage and lawn irrigation return flow and (2) an analysis of changes in streamflow response to rainfall events with urbanization. To estimate contributions to stream baseflow, we used water-stable isotope analysis of surface water, tap water, and precipitation. Thirteen urban streams and two grassland streams were selected for sampling. An isotope mixing analysis using tap and precipitation end-members estimated that tap water contributed a mean of 80% of urban baseflow on specific days in late summer. For changes to streamflow response to rainfall events, we used eight years of instantaneous streamflow data in 21 watersheds ranging in size from 1 to 90 km2 with impervious areas ranging from 1% to 47%. Using a semi-automated method we identified 2,877 streamflow events. We found that more impervious watersheds had perennial or nearly perennial flow, unlike the least impervious watersheds which usually were dry. Streamflow events were shorter in duration and had higher peak flow in watersheds with more impervious surface cover. Together, these changes point to the importance of water infrastructure systems in modifying streamflow in urban settings and the need for locally adapted management to mitigate the effects of streamflow changes with urbanization.  

Photo of Aditi Bhaskar

AboutAditi Bhaskar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.  Dr. Bhaskar specializes in changes to water resources that accompany urban development with a focus on interactions between streams, groundwater, stormwater, and urban irrigation. Dr. Bhaskar received a Sc.B. in Geology-Physics/Math from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Then, Dr. Bhaskar was an National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, which took her to the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia.  Dr. Bhaskar was a faculty member at Colorado State University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for 6 years before joining CU Boulder in 2023.
 


 

How much carbon can soils hold? A global-scale assessment of the geochemical controls driving soil organic carbon storage and vulnerability

Katerina Georgiou is a Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory(LLNL).

AbstractChemical and physical associations of organic carbon with clay minerals play a critical role in carbon storage and persistence in soils and sediments. At the global-scale, mineral-associated carbon constitutes the largest component of soil organic carbon in non-permafrost mineral soils. However, the capacity and vulnerability of mineral-associated carbon remains uncertain. Furthermore, data limitations have hindered global-scale analyses of mineral-associated carbon and its benchmarking in Earth System Models used to estimate carbon cycle-climate feedbacks. This talk will consist of two parts: (i) a discussion and quantification of the mineralogical capacity of soils to store carbon using a synthesis of > 1,100 globally-distributed soil profiles, and (ii) an assessment of the climatological temperature sensitivity of mineral-associated carbon in data and models globally. Quantifying the inherent capacity of soils to accumulate carbon, especially in more persistent mineral-associated forms, is critical for informing carbon sequestration initiatives and improving projections of carbon cycle-climate feedbacks.

Picture of Katerina Georgiou

AboutKaterina Georgiou is a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Her research focuses on understanding and modeling how soil carbon cycling will respond to changes in climate and management, with particular interest in how pore-scale processes modulate emergent ecosystem-scale behavior. Prior to joining LLNL, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Earth System Science at Stanford University. Katerina received a Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from UC Berkeley, working jointly with the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
 


 

The Alvin Anderson Award Ceremony & Distinguished Lecture by Walt Musial

Read About the Alvin Anderson Award 

Distinguished Lecture: 

Technical Challenges of Deploying Offshore Wind in U.S. Regions

Abstract: A massive transition is underway to convert the global energy supplies to net zero carbon emitting sources. Offshore wind is one of the most significant renewable energy sources available to the United States contributing to this transition. Nascent offshore wind systems are being deployed in Europe and in the Atlantic Ocean along the U.S. eastern seaboard but siting offshore wind energy projects in other regions will be necessary to meet our decarbonization goals. The south Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and the Pacific Ocean each present new engineering challenges.  To attain the necessary scale of deployment, new technology is needed to overcome design and deployment issues introduced by extreme hurricanes, surface ice floes, and deep water. The seminar will describe these issues and cover the state of the current research that is underway to overcome these challenges.

Dr. Walt Musial

About the Distinguished SpeakerWalt Musial is the Chief Engineer for Offshore Wind at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he has worked for 35 years. In 2003 he initiated the offshore wind energy research program at NREL which focuses on a wide range of industry needs and critical technology challenges. He founded and chairs the ACP Offshore Wind Standards Subcommittee and served for six years as the Senior Technical Advisor to the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium. Through NREL’s strategic partnerships, Walt is leading multiple research activities to build the knowledge base for U.S. offshore wind regional frontiers, which include the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Maine, and the Pacific Ocean. Previously, Walt developed and ran NREL’s full scale blade and drivetrain testing facilities for 15 years. Earlier, Walt worked five years as a field test engineer in the commercial wind energy industry in California.  He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, specializing in energy conversion with a focus on wind energy engineering. He has over 120 publications and three patents.

Anderson Award Recipient:  Mariel Jones, PhD candidate in the Water Resources Science (CFANS) program.

Mirial jones

Abstract: Peatlands are an essential part of the global carbon cycle, storing 30% of the world’s total soil carbon while covering only 3% of the earth’s surface. Furthermore, peatland extent overlaps significantly with the area of receding permafrost—meaning more peatlands, and their carbon stores, will experience the effects of changing soil frost dynamics under current climate projections. While it is well known that soil frost can influence surface and subsurface flows, infiltration, and evapotranspiration, the when, where, and why these influences occur are still largely misunderstood, especially in watersheds with complex storage dynamics like peatlands. In this presentation, we provide a broad overview of three projects aimed at tackling this question of how, and under what conditions, frost affects the hydrological connectivity within peatland systems.  First, using long term climatological data we show that soil frost influences the magnitude of annual streamflow rates and the timing of spring recharge during the winter season by controlling the cascade of water flow from the snowpack to the stream. In the second project, we invoke high spatial resolution field measurements to trace the influence of watershed architecture on snow accumulation and water storage within the watershed. Finally, we implement cutting edge hillslope-modelling techniques and field data assimilation to provide better predictions of water flow dynamics within the highly heterogeneous peatland-dominated watersheds and, by proxy, more accurate carbon dynamics in these global-scale models. Overall, this research aims to understand more about frost processes in peatland systems and understand the effects that continued increases in temperature and decreased water availability may have on peatland carbon dynamics.

About Marial Jones: Mariel Jones is a PhD candidate in the Water Resources Science (CFANS) program. Their work focuses on the nexus of climate, water, and landscape in peatland dominated watersheds. Currently, they are looking at the effects of climate change on snow regimes and increases in winter temperatures on soil frost and spring hydrological flows in Minnesota through both field and modelling lenses. Outside of research, Mariel is passionate about science communication and writes and illustrates environmental science comics. Before joining the Feng lab at the University of Minnesota and becoming immersed in ecohydrology, Mariel acquired a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mathematics & Statistics from Smith College in Massachusetts.

The Lorenz G. Straub Award and InterPore’s Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lecture

Read About the Lorenz G. Straub Award 

The InterPore’s Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lecture : 

Fluids, Fingers, Fractures and Fractals: Patterns in Porous Media

AbstractThe displacement of one fluid by another in a porous medium gives rise to a rich variety of hydrodynamic instabilities. Beyond their scientific value as fascinating models of pattern formation, unstable porous-media flows are essential to understanding many natural and man-made processes, including water infiltration in the vadose zone, carbon dioxide injection and storage in deep saline aquifers, methane venting from organic-rich sediments, and fracturing from fluid injection. Here, we review a handful of these hydromechanical instabilities, elucidate the key physics at play, and point to modeling frameworks that permit quantitative assessments of their impact at the geologic scale.

photo of ruben jaunes

About the speakerRuben Juanes is professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT, where he has been since 2006. He is an expert in fluid flow through porous media and in geomechanics, and has applied his research to the fields of energy resources, carbon capture and storage, gas hydrates, water infiltration and soil irrigation, and induced seismicity. He holds an undergraduate degree from University of A Coruña (Spain) and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley, all in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and is the 2024 InterPore Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lecturer.

Straub Award Recipient:  Dr. Rui Shi, University of Queensland, Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Civil Engineering

Ray Shi

Abstract: Breaking bores, characterized with large-scale coherent structures, air entrainment and energetic free-surface motion, are commonly observed in nature,  such as tidal rise in estuaries, dam-break type flows and coastal waves approaching inshore. The present study presents a novel experimental way to quantify the turbulent flow properties, particularly in aerated regions of the breaking bores. Numerically, the bores were simulated using a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) approach, solving both air and water phases for impossible Naiver-Stokes equations. The results of breaking bores were compared against other quasi-steady air-water flows, such as hydraulic jumps, spilling breakers and swash zone flows, suggesting a similar bubble-turbulence interaction process among these large-scale surface water breakers.

Turbulent waves

About Rui (Ray) Shi: Ray grew up in north-east China before moving to Australia for his bachelor's degree in civil engineering at the University of Queensland (UQ). During his bachelor studies, Ray developed a strong interest into fluid mechanics, leading to the completion of his PhD in coastal and hydraulic engineering under the supervision of Prof. Hubert Chanson. His PhD thesis was focused on experimental and numerical investigations on free-surface air-water flows (breaking bores, hydraulic jumps, self-aerated spillway flow, etc). At the late stage of the PhD program, Ray worked as a consulting water resource engineer with WSP Brisbane office, specializing in numerical flood modelling for infrastructure and mining projects. In 2022, Ray was employed as a hydrologist with Rio Tinto Iron Ore, responsible for technical supports regarding surface water challenges for open-cut mining operations. 

Outside of work, Ray continues his research as an adjunct research fellow at the University of Queensland. He is interested in large eddy simulation on turbulent breaking waves, and machine learning on data-driven turbulence. Ray is also a keen free-diver, and is engaged weekly exploring the underwater wonders around Australian coast. 
 

The Heinz G. Stefan Fellowship & Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Sergio Fagherazzi

Presentation of the Heinz G. Stefan Fellowship

Distinguished Speaker: Sergio Fagherazzi, Professor of geomorphology, hydrology, and coastal and marine geology in the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University

Title of Lecture: Monitoring Coastal Wetlands Using Remote Sensing Data: the NASA Delta-X project

AbstractThe propagation of tides and riverine floodwater in coastal wetlands is controlled by subtle topographic differences and a thick vegetation canopy. High-resolution numerical models have been used in recent years to simulate fluxes across wetlands. However, these models are based on sparse field data that can lead to unreliable results. Here, we utilize high spatial-resolution, rapid repeat interferometric data from the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) to provide a synoptic measurement of sub-canopy water-level change resulting from tide propagation into wetlands. These data are used to constrain crucial model parameters and improve the performance and realism of simulations of the Wax Lake wetlands in coastal Louisiana (USA). A sensitivity analysis shows that the boundary condition of river discharge should be calibrated first, followed by iterative correction of terrain elevation specified originally by a Digital Terrain Model derived from LiDAR measurements. The calibration of bed friction becomes important only with the boundary and topography calibrated. With the model parameters calibrated, the overall Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency for water-level change increases from 0.15 to 0.53 with the RMSE reduced by 26%. In areas with dense wetland grasses, the LiDAR signal is unable to reach the soil surface, but the L-band UAVSAR instrument detects changes in water levels that can be used to infer the true ground elevation. The high spatial resolution and repeat-acquisition frequency (minutes to hours) observations provided by UAVSAR represent a groundbreaking opportunity for a deeper understanding of the complex hydrodynamics of coastal wetlands.

photo of sergio fagherazzi

About the speakerSergio Fagherazzi studies geomorphology, hydrology, and coastal and marine geology. His research is oriented in three main directions: the morphological modeling of the continental shelf—formation and evolution of riverine networks during sea-level lowstands and subsequent channel filling during high-stands; the study of the hydrodynamics and morphology of salt marshes—observation, understanding, and modeling of creeks and channels developing on a salt marsh surface; and the numerical study of equations characteristic of coastal processes and hydrology—a dynamic model linking phenomena occurring at different spatial scales
 

Award Recipient:  Guanju (William) Wei, Ph.D. student in Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering

photo of william guanju wei

Talk Title: Microfluidic Investigation of the Biofilm Growth under Dynamic Fluid Environments

AbstractBiofilms are consortiums of bacterial cells stick together by extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs). Biofilms can increase pathogenic contamination of drinking water, cause biofilm-related diseases, and alter the rate of sediment erosion in rivers and coasts. Meanwhile, some biofilms have been used for degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), enhancing oil recovery efficiency, and removing excess nutrients and contaminants from wastewater. Fundamental understandings of physical factors that control biofilm formation are needed yet currently lacking. Our goal is to systematically study the interactions between biofilm, flow, and particle transport, focusing on the effects of flow shear stress, different flow patterns, and surface properties on the biofilm formation process. We use microfluidic experiments, confocal imaging, numerical simulations, and mathematical modeling to study the interactions between biofilm, flow, and sediment transport. We developed imaging analysis methods using Image-J and Matlab to calculate the biofilm thickness, biofilm shape, and biofilm structure in an effort to demonstrate the effects of flows on biofilm growth. We are also interested in the biofilm's ability to bind sediment and micro-plastic particles and its effects on particle transport. We will create equations to predict the formation of biofilms under varying flow conditions. The results can be used in industrial, medical, and scientific fields to control biofilm growth.

About the recipient: I am currently a Ph.D. student in Dr. Judy Yang’s research laboratory. My academic journey began in China, where I earned both my bachelor's and master's degrees. My passion for science was ignited during my undergraduate years and has since been fueled by a deep curiosity to understand the nature of the world. In my present research, I combine microfluidic experiments and numerical simulations to study the interplay between fluid dynamics and bacterial behavior, as well as particle transport.  I am especially interested in how different shear stress affects biofilm growth and, conversely, how biofilm growth impacts particle transport. Beyond the lab, I love watching sports like basketball, football, hokey, soccer, and more. In addition to sports, I enjoy playing video games, watching movies, cultivating plants, and caring for fish and turtles. What I appreciate most about our lab is the strong support and the valuable learning opportunities. I learn different skills from each lab member. Furthermore, being part of the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) is an exciting experience. SAFL's multidisciplinary environment allows me to conduct a wide range of fascinating experiments.
 

The Charles C.S. Song Fellowship Award Ceremony & Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Michael Shelley

Presentation of the Charles C.S. Song Fellowship Award

Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Michael Shelley, co-founder and co-director of the Courant Institute's Applied Mathematics Lab at New York University, and is also the Director of the Center for Computational Biology at the Flatiron Institute

Title of Lecture: Modeling self-organization in active fluids and materials.

AbstractBiologically active materials -- like suspensions of swimming bacteria or other assemblies built of biological components -- can show strange, activity driven instabilities, organized states, and complex dynamics of a sort not found in more standard "nonliving" systems. We'll explore some of these phenomena through the lens of building, analyzing, and simulating models of prototype examples. These models can take the form of continuum models for the dynamics of suspensions of active particles (like bacteria), which can be analyzed for their dynamical bifurcation and nonlinear dynamics, or specialized software built to simulate very large systems of interacting active particles, and used to study swimming suspensions, growth and pattern formation in bacterial colonies, and cytoskeletal assemblies driven by molecular motors.

dr. michael shelley

AboutDr. Michael J. Shelley is an applied mathematician who works on the modeling and simulation of complex systems arising in physics and biology. This has included free-boundary problems in fluids and materials science, singularity formation in partial differential equations, modeling visual perception in the primary visual cortex, dynamics of complex and active fluids, cellular biophysics, and fluid-structure interaction problems such as the flapping of flags, stream-lining in nature, and flapping flight. He is  the co-founder and co-director of the Courant Institute's Applied Mathematics Lab  at New York University, and is also the Director of the Center for Computational Biology at the Flatiron Institute.  He holds a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Arizona. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University and a member of the mathematics faculty at the University of Chicago before joining NYU. Shelley has received the François Frenkiel Award from the American Physical Society and the Julian Cole Lectureship from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and he is a Fellow of both societies. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
 

Award Recipient:  Zih-Yin Chen is a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at University of Minnesota

zih yin chen

Talk Title: Thin film flow with an undulating surface

AbstractApple snails (Pomacea canaliculata) collect food particles on the free surface by deforming their feet and generating periodic undulations underneath the air-water interface. Inspired by this peculiar feeding behavior, we develop a 2D thin-film mathematical model to explore the physical mechanism of free surface flows driven by periodic undulations. We find the surface undulations cause normal stresses that deform the air-fluid interface and drive a net flow, which is directly controlled by the fluid properties and the undulation wave speed. Our model also demonstrates the effects of inertia that can significantly alter thin-film flows, in good agreement with the experimental observations. In this talk, we will discuss some preliminary model results along with the experimental findings and offer plausible physical mechanisms driving the flow system.

About the recipient: I am a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering and my advisor is Professor Sungyon Lee.  My Ph.D. research aims to bring fundamental understanding of fluid dynamics processes at the fluid-fluid interface that are inspired by liquid coating applications, especially on the topics related to droplets and thin film dynamics. I use the theoretical modeling and the resultant simulations to rationalize the experimental findings and uncover the underlying physics. I received my BS and MS degree from National Taiwan University.
 

Nels Nelson Award Ceremony & Distinguished Lecture by Jennifer Stucker

Presentation of the Nels Nelson Memorial Fellowship Award

Speaker: Jennifer Stucker, Senior Biologist, Offshore Wind Lead at Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc.

Title: A Multi-sensor Approach For Measuring Bird And Bat Collisions With Offshore Wind Turbines, and Other Insights from Collaborations with Engineers

photo of jennifer stucker and a wind turbine

AbstractOffshore wind energy development is poised for rapid growth and expansion worldwide to meet green-energy targets. Understanding the potential magnitude of bird and bat collisions at offshore wind facilities is important, because standardized carcass searches are impossible, and model-based estimates unvalidated. Collision monitoring systems can provide specific details about collisions, which are necessary to advance minimization strategies to reduce wind farm fatalities. Automated collision monitoring technologies can help inform and focus mitigation where needed. WEST leads a collaboration with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to advance the validation of the WT-Bird® system for detecting and quantifying bird and bat collisions at offshore wind turbines. The effort is funded primarily by the US DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office. The objective is to advance the WT-Bird® system to detect large, medium, and small bird and bat collisions during day and nighttime hours. Three major technological advancements from the project are to: 1) improve the sensors to detect collisions of small birds and bats, 2) integrate machine learning algorithms to process imagery data collected by the cameras, and 3) create a launching system to realistically simulate collisions. The updated system is designed to detect collisions including objects as small as 8 grams using acceleration sensors installed inside of the turbine blades. Independently operating cameras installed at the base of the turbine document bird and bat presence near the camera, and document collision events. The system was tested at a single turbine at NREL’s campus using the projectile launching system, where the detection rate exceeded 70% across all size classes. Subsequently, the system was installed on the University of Minnesota turbine for trials with a WEST edge-AI system processing camera imagery to identify birds and bats within the camera view, and validated with independent ground-based fatality searches. The estimate from the WTBird® detections (18.46 fatalities) was within the 90% confidence interval of the ground-based estimate (16.88) with a difference in the point estimates of only 1.58 fatalities.

Jennifer will talk about how biologists and engineers can and should work together to tackle wildlife and energy challenges to support the blue and green economies. She will provide key insights on talking a common language.

AboutJennifer Stucker, PhD is a Senior Biologist and Offshore Wind Lead with Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc, an environmental and statistical consulting firm. She has served as the project manager and biologist for this US Department of Energy funded project, A Multi-sensor Approach for Measuring Bird and Bat Collisions with Offshore Wind Turbines. Dr. Stucker received her BA from Wittenberg University in Ohio, before completing two degrees at the University of Minnesota, a MS in Wildlife Conservation, and a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology.  Prior to working with WEST, she worked for USGS as a Research Wildlife Biologist for 10 years.  Over the last 18 years, Jennifer has had experience designing effectiveness and monitoring studies for wildlife interactions with hydropower, wind, and solar facilities during planning and operations.  When not working, you will find her with her family, and training dogs.

Award Recipient: Xiating Chen, PhD Candidate in Water Resources Engineering at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory

Xiating Chen, photo

Abstract: TBD

About the recipientXiating Chen is a PhD candidate in water resources engineering at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory studying under Professor Xue Feng. Her research is focused on eco-hydrological functions of urban trees and other green infrastructure at both local and watershed-scale, through combined field observations and modeling approaches. Xiating received her Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from Duke University.