SAFL researchers take an interdisciplinary approach to environmental problems, focusing on how the fluid and sediment dynamics of surface processes interact with biological and chemical processes.  We conduct laboratory- and field-scale studies of these processes in order to develop quantitative, predictive computational models that support sustainable landscape management. By employing statistical modeling methodologies, we can integrate nonlinear and non-equilibrium functional dependencies of controlling physical, biological, and chemical processes across the range of scales. This enables a mechanistic foundation for formulating process-based prediction models.

• Watersheds – Modeling the ecosystem, landscape, and land-use dynamics at the watershed scale
• Lakes, Rivers, Streams – Studying interactions between physical, biological, and chemical  processes within fluvial systems
• Urban Environments – Understanding change in land use; runoff generation; and transport of  particles, contaminants and microbiota in sewers, subsurface, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and rivers
• Deltas – Developing predictive understandings of how deltas grow and respond to stress from various changes