Researchers at SAFL have recently received $400k to help generate clean energy for New York City. SAFL director, Fotis Sotiropoulos, will lead a team of researchers in developing computational models for optimizing underwater turbines for Verdant Power's Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) project.

Jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the University's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE), and in collaboration with Verdant Power, Sandia National Labs, and private industry, Sotiropoulos and his team will use SAFL's powerful computational fluid dynamics tools for analyzing the design and enhancing the environmental compatibility of the turbine rotors, turbine system, and array levels. Turbine wakes will be analyzed in order to determine turbine-turbine and turbine-channel interactions for array optimization and feedback to the turbine design process.
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The high-resolution CFD tools developed for tidal turbines will also be used to resolve wind turbine wakes and optimize wind farms in yet another renewable energy project that recently started at SAFL. A team of SAFL researchers led by project PI Fernando Porté-Agel and co-PI Fotis Sotiropoulos, and in collaboration with Wind Logics and Barr Engineering, is developing the virtual wind simulator, a multi-scale computational tool for siting wind farms. The project is sponsored by XCEL Energy and IREE.  + Read more

+ More Research Spotlights

SAFL researchers remotely track storm water pollutants in real time
Professors Miki Hondzo and Bill Arnold (CE) are leading a project that uses remote sensors to track pollutant loads in storm water runoff that drains into Minnehaha Creek. The data is then sent to SAFL for analysis. + Read more

Former SAFL student wins challenge to bring clean water to slums of India
Brian Bell, former advisee of Omid Mohseni, is part of a team of University students that have won the Acara Challenge, a contest designed to solicit sustainable business solutions for global problems. Participation in the challenge was part of the coursework for "Design for Sustainable Development," a class being co-taught by Prof. John Gulliver. +Read more

2009 Anderson Award Recipients Honored

The winners of the 2009 Anderson Award are Andy Erickson (left), research fellow for Prof. John Gulliver, and Arvind Singh, graduate student advised by Prof. Efi Foufoula-Georgiou. Both award recipients presented their research during the April 22 award ceremony.

SAFL Graduate Wins UCOWR Dissertation Award
Filiz Dadaser-Celik (PhD '08) is the first-place recipient of the Universities Council on Water Resources 2009 PhD Dissertation Award in the field of Water Policy and Socioeconomics. Dadaser-Celik's graduate research analyzed the hydrologic, social, and economic aspects and requirements for the restoration of the Sultan Marshes in Anatolia, Turkey, under the guidance of Professors Heinz Stefan and Patrick Brezonik.

Paola and Former Students Make AAPG Cover
SAFL alums John Martin (PhD '07) and Ben Sheets (PhD '04), and Professor Chris Paola, are among the authors of "Sequence stratigraphy of experimental strata under known conditions of differential subsidence and variable base level," the cover article for April's AAPG Bulletin.

Ganti Wins Silberman Fellowship
Graduate student Vamsi Ganti is the recipient of the 2009 Edward Silberman Fellowship Award. Ganti presented a summary of his research at the February 18 award ceremony. Ganti is pictured here with Ed Silberman (right) and his daughter, Marilyn. + Read more

Sotiropoulos Group on Cover of JEB

The February cover of The Journal of Experimental Biology (vol. 212, iss. 4) features images generated by the work of SAFL postgraduate researcher Iman Borazjani and SAFL director Fotis Sotiropoulos in simulating aquatic swimming. + Read more

Sotiropoulos and Borazjani also recently won an award for a video depicting the same research. The video was selected as a winner of the prestigious Gallery of Fluid Motion competition, presented at the 61st Annual American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in San Antonio, Texas (Nov. 23-25, 2008). Entitled "Why don't mackerels swim like eels? The role of form and kinematics on the hydrodynamics of undulatory swimming," the video presents novel computational results in support of the notion that hydrodynamic considerations have played a role in the evolution of fish. + View video

NCED Dam Model Featured on National Geographic
The NCED/SAFL Marmot Dam model was featured in "Break It Down" on the National Geographic channel Thursday, Feb. 5 at 8pm (additional airings on Feb. 6 and Feb. 12). + View NCED model footage

Jeff Marr, SAFL's associate director of applied research, was a guest on WCCO AM's The Don Shelby Show on July 29. His appearance was part of Shelby's weekly "E-Day" show on energy and the environment.

Stormwater pollutant tracking at SAFL makes the news: Star Tribune and Kare11.

SAFL's latest study on wind turbine arrays makes headlines in the Star Tribune.

SAFL experts were called on to help explain the reasons behind the recent Red River Valley flooding. Professor John Gulliver and associate director of applied research Jeff Marr provided insights to MinnPost, Star Tribune, and others.

Minnesotans know that road salt keeps our roads safe during the winter, but do we know where all that salt goes when the ice melts? Professor Heinz Stefan researches the effects of road salt on local water quality, and has recently published his findings for the Local Road Research Board. To read the full story, click here.
Media coverage: Feb. 10: Eureka Alert; Fox9 News; KARE 11; MSNBC; Star Tribune; UMN News; UMN News video; WCCO Radio; WMNN Radio; Feb. 11: Bloomberg.com-Canada; KAAL-TV; KSTP-TV; MPR; Science Centric-Bulgaria; WCCO TV; Feb. 12: Fort Mill Times; KIMT-TV Iowa; Feb. 13: Christian Science Monitor; Feb. 14: Rochester Post Bulletin; Feb. 15: Duluth News Tribune; Feb. 19: University of Minnesota Moment blog; Feb. 20: Science Daily; March 3: Discovery Channel News

Director Fotis Sotiropoulos was interviewed by PBS Nightly Report about research on the Mississippi River by both the hydropower industry and the U.S. Department of Energy to improve existing traditional hydro turbine design and make it more fish-friendly.

Research and researchers in the Outdoor StreamLab make headlines in the Star Tribune, MarketWatch, Minnesota Daily, Minnesota Public Radio, University News Service, Channel 5 Eyewitness News, and in Civil Engineering Magazine (subscription required).

Click here to watch the UNews Service video of the OSL!

Listen to Director Fotis Sotiropoulos interviewed by local radio station Access Minnesota about the effect of dams on river ecology.

Read all about it! SAFL/NCED stream restoration research featured in The New York Times.

The River Runs Through Us: Located on the continent's most important river, the U of M keeps the Mississippi River central to its academic and cultural life. View the video on SAFL's important contributions to the U of M's river research.