St. Cloud State University’s professor Katherine Pound received the Hellervik Prize Faculty Research Award.

This $10,000 award is dedicated to research on movement and erosion of boulders in stream beds. A professor of atmospheric and hydrologic sciences, Pound, says the award allows her to run the long-term geological research by students. She adds the project of Stream Transport of Cobbles and Boulder-How Fast and Far? concentrates on how fast boulders decrease in size. The project also helps them recognize the behavior and transportation pattern of sediments in a laboratory experiment.

Pound says the data gained from the project assists other professional fields that involve stream restoration, environmental and civil engineering construction near streams, studies of erosion, floodplain management and meteorological connections between snow pack thickness and spring floods.

She says the award covers field work costs like transportation, camping, presentation of students’ research in local and regional conferences and materials needed to design the boulder tracking system.