College of Arts and Sciences

The Applied Fluids Lab at Appalachian State (AppAFL) investigates a broad range of topics related to the fluid mechanics of boundary layers and the coupling between fluids and terrestrial surfaces, as well as the development and application of instrumentation and analytical/numerical tools and methodologies.

Contact:

• Dr. Chris Thaxton, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy  

Dr. Maggie Sugg earned a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and will receive an expected $413,763 over five years (May 2021–April 2026) in federal grant funding to support research, as well as teaching, student mentorship and outreach for her CAREER project.

AppAqua takes a multidisciplinary approach to better understand the complex human-environmental interactions affecting water resources in the Southern Appalachian headwaters. The cluster developed a high-resolution geospatial database for the Upper South Fork of the New River (USFNR) watershed as part of a long-term water quality monitoring program.  AppAqua studies the long-term spatial relationships between land cover change and water quality in the USFNR watershed that integrates methods and data from physical (hydro-geomorphic), biologic, and social sciences.

The Appalachian Atmospheric Interdisciplinary Research Program (AppalAIR) was initiated to better understand changing regional meteorology, air quality and their impacts on climate change and ecosystem health.