St. Anthony Falls Laboratory - SAFL

Join us in person or online for Dr. Haruko Wainwright‘s (assistant professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) talk on Machine Learning for Watershed Science.

3pm @ the SAFL Auditorium or on Zoom https://umn.zoom.us/j/93714091314

〽️ .student.events

Our main channel is open for experiments after some major renovations !

An early morning visitor to the Outdoor StreamLab!

Where do you stand on this important questions?

We at SAFL have been debating this age old question in our lunch room this week. Too close to call at this point.

What do you think?

Kelin Whipple, a Professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, will deliver a seminar on March 17th, which will delve into the landscape evolution of the Hawaiian Islands, emphasizing the pivotal role of thresholds in the controlled erosion process driven by climate. The islands’ distinct characteristics make them an ideal natural laboratory for studying this intriguing phenomenon.

Join us in person at the SAFL Auditorium (2 Third Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414) or online at https://umn.zoom.us/j/93714091314

Photo by Kelin Whipple

“We started putting salt on roads to melt snow and ice in Minnesota in the 1950s, and the concentration of salt in our lakes and groundwater has steadily increased ever since.”

Researchers Andy Erickson (Ph.D., P.E.) and Sara Heger (Ph.D.), have been studying the impact of increased salt use in our environment through water softeners and salting our roads and sidewalks during the wintertime. Results showed that salt from both de-icing and water softeners have affected plant and wildlife in aquatic ecosystems, raised the cost of water utilities, and elevated sodium chloride levels in surface waters.

“These areas are often drastically over-salted to prevent slips and falls, and research shows that too much salt can be just as dangerous for slips and falls as the ice it’s trying to melt.”

More about this research, including ways communities can reduce salt in our ecosystems, can be found at Duluth News Tribune or UMN news and events (link in Bio)

At SAFL, PhD candidate Michael Chiappone runs flooding experiments that mimic nature to study how animal bones catch, get buried and (sometimes) become fossils. His work contributes to a more legible fossil record. Check out the fantastic video that Michael created about his research, or read more in the link in bio.
ScienceInAction

Stormwater ponds = more than infrastructure !

At SAFL, researcher Prof. Jacques Finlay studies urban stormwater infastracture living ecosystems that pollution, support wildlife, and inpact water quality downstream.

Read more about Dr. Finlay’s research at the link in our bio!

interdisciplinaryscience

Today is SAFL’s 87th Birthday!

On November 17th, 1938 SAFL had its opening ceremony after construction finished in the spring of the same year.

Here’s to many more years of research and experiments at SAFL! 🎉

Congrats to grad student Michael Chiappone, winner of the Nels Nelson Memorial Fellowship! While at first glance paleontologist Michael might seem an atypical SAFL student, he’s really, as Michele Guala put it during the award ceremony, quintessentially SAFL: a very curious, very creative, and very interdisciplinary scientist!

https://www.startribune.com/u-of-m-researchers-launch-smoke-sensing-drones-that-one-day-could-fight-wildfires/601475987

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Edward Silberman, Roger E. Arndt, and Alvin G. Anderson awards! We have high standards at SAFL, but once again our students meet them with aplomb. It was a great event showcasing student research, and we were honored to have members of the Arndt and Anderson families in the audience. Here are some photos of the day,and below, more about the awards. 

The Edward Silberman fellowship is a reward made for students performing research at SAFL that honors Dr. Silberman’s contributions to our lab’s environment. Our winners for 2025 are Jingxuan Deng and William Wei!

Roger E. Arndt’s fellowship awards students with exceptional fluid mechanics research and honor’s Roger E.A Arndt’s legacy and contributions to SAFL. Our 2025 winner is Yuan Li!

The Alvin G. Anderson Award highlights UMN grad students working in water resources, with a special interest in students studying sediment transportation (Dr. Anderson’s field). The 2025 winner is Ehsan Zadehali!

We are very proud of our SAFL students!