Civil and Environmental Engineering - Master Calendar

Abstract
Many environmental challenges, such as coastal erosion and sediment-associated pollution, involve complex interactions among fluids, sediments, and biota (microbes and vegetation) across multiple scales. For example, sediment transport at the channel scale can vary by several orders of magnitude due to micro-scale processes like aggregation and biofilm formation. Similarly, predicting the fate and transport of sediment-associated pathogens requires understanding sediment-fluid-microbe interactions from micro- to macro-scales. However, experimental studies that bridge these scales remain limited.

In this talk, I will describe how my group integrates microfluidic and flume experiments to investigate biofilm dynamics, sediment transport, and hyporheic exchange. Our work reveals how microbes and vegetation influence sediment stability, geomorphic evolution, and pollutant transport. These findings provide insights relevant to erosion control, water quality, and ecosystem health.

Bio
Judy Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering at the University of Minnesota. She earned her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT in 2018 and was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University from 2018 to 2020. Her research focuses on designing multiscale experiments, including microfluidics and flume experiments, to understand how microbes and vegetation control coastal erosion and water quality. She has received the NSF CAREER Award and the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. She was also recognized as the Best Undergraduate Instructor for 2022-2023 in her department and serves as an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research.