The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, or NCED, is an NSF Science and Technology Center- a collaborative
partnership among educational, research, and public/private entities that aims to create new knowledge of significant benefit to society.
Its mission is to understand the dynamics of the coupled processes that shape the Earth’s surface—physical, biological, geochemical, and anthropogenic—and how they will respond to climate, land use, and management change. NCED is headquartered at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

's Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory

Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory

The Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory is a research laboratory situated on Hennepin Island in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Its primary research is in "Engineering, Environmental, Biological, and Geophysical Fluid Mechanics"...

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Research

NCED is building interdisciplinary Earth-surface science by integrating elements of geomorphology,ecology, hydrology, sedimentary geology, engineering, economics, and geochemistry. It is creating a predictive Earth-surface science by integrating the advances and approaches of theory, laboratory experiments, numerical modeling,and fieldwork

NCED research is unified by a focus on channel networks and their surroundings. The center's three research initiatives (“Integrated Programs”) approach channel networks from a source-to-sink perspective, looking at watersheds (Watersheds), individual stream
reaches (Streams), and depositional systems (Deltas).

In the Watersheds Integrated Program, NCED researchers work to develop quantitative expressions for the fundamental geomorphic and biological processes involved in landscape evolution, and combine that knowledge with digital topographic data to predict the locations of landslide hazards, large algal blooms, or other properties of interest. NCED Watersheds research seeks to build watershed-scale numerical models of real landscapes to explore problems of long time-scale controls on landscape evolution and short time-scale responses of aquatic ecosystems to land-use change.

NCED Streams research works to move the practice of stream restoration beyond analogy and experiential anecdote toward multidisciplinary quantitative prediction. The Streams research program involves biologists, civil engineers, ecologists, geochemists, geologists, hydrologists, and economists in a concerted effort to develop practical, predictive models of river systems that can guide stream and watershed restoration practice.

NCED Deltas research seeks to understand the processes of delta dynamics to inform the present-day restoration of the Mississippi River Delta. Research in this program uses the subsurface stratigraphy of modern deltas to infer rates, spatial patterns, and mechanisms of natural (pre-human) delta building processes. Simultaneously, researchers at the center perform experiments and field studies to develop predictive models of the processes by which deltas build land and maintain themselves and their associated ecosystems against subsidence and sea-level rise.

Institutions

Institutions that are home to NCED principal investigators who participate directly with NCED include:

• Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
  Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
  Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is a community college in Cloquet, Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.- External links :**]]...
  
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• The Johns Hopkins University,
• Science Museum of Minnesota
  Science Museum of Minnesota
  The Science Museum of Minnesota is an American museum focused on topics in technology, natural history, physical science and mathematics education. Founded in 1907 and located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the 501 nonprofit institution is staffed by over 500 employees and over 1,600 volunteers...
  
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• Southern Illinois University Carbondale
  Southern Illinois University Carbondale
  Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
  
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• University of California-Berkeley,
• University of Colorado at Boulder
  University of Colorado at Boulder
  The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
  
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• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
  
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• Louisiana State University
  Louisiana State University
  Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
  
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• University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
  
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• St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, and
• University of Minnesota
  University of Minnesota
  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
  
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