Rate My Professor Wes Lauer

Dr. Lauer specializes as a geomorphologist and engineer with extensive experience in water resources engineering, geomorphology, sediment transport, numerical modeling, and geographic information systems. His research focuses on the hydraulic, geomorphic, and sediment transport implications of long-term environmental changes in river systems, including decadal-scale measurements of channel width changes in the Minnesota River basin and development of the Morphodynamics and Sediment Tracers in 1-Dimension (MAST-1D) model, which simulates size-specific sediment transport and exchange with floodplain deposits. He authored and updates the River Planform Statistics Toolbox, an ArcGIS add-in for stream restoration. Key publications include 'A new framework for modeling the migration of meandering rivers' (2011, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms), 'Large shift in source of fine sediment in the Upper Mississippi River' (2011, Environmental Science & Technology), 'Twentieth century agricultural drainage creates more erosive rivers' (2014, Hydrological Processes), 'Net local removal of floodplain sediment by river meander migration' (2008, Geomorphology), and 'Modeling framework for sediment deposition, storage, and evacuation in the floodplain of a meandering river' (2008, Water Resources Research). Honors include the Seattle University Bannan Chair of Engineering (2015-2017), Global Engagement Grants (2016, 2018), Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability Faculty Fellowship (2014-2015), and the Anderson Award from the University of Minnesota (2005).