Kerryanne Donohue-Couch

Visiting Instructor, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Kerryanne Donohue began teaching at Manhattan College in 2010 in the field of water resources.  Currently her research involves projects that study and implement treatments to clean stormwater, improve habitat and stabilize shorelines. Prior to joining the faculty at Manhattan College, she worked as a hydraulic engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers – New York District from 1998-2009, as a hydraulic engineer, lead engineer and team leader in the Engineering Division. She received her Professional Engineering Registration from NY in 2000. Ms. Donohue was a pioneer in the field of ecosystem restoration while at the district and organized two national conferences related to ecosystem restoration. She worked on both fluvial and tidal storm damage reduction projects, with extensive experience in Jamaica Bay, NY and Hackensack Meadowlands, NJ. She used steady and unsteady HECRAS to evaluate flooding and wetland restoration projects, in addition to SWMM, GIS, AutoCAD, MATLAB and FORTRAN. She initiated the tide gage field installation program in NY/NJ for USACE-NY projects.

Ms. Donohue graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College. She worked as a structural engineer for 2 years before joining the US Peace Corps in the Republic of Seychelles, (Africa), where she worked in the field of environmental education and awareness for 2 years. The massive erosion problems of the country prompted her to pursue a post bachelor’s degree in Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering from the University of Florida in Gainesville, NY.  Her graduate research focused on the effect of sand sizes and placement geometry on beach fill projects, when she was the survey crew leader for projects covering over 100 miles of coastline in the state of Florida. Ms. Donohue holds a certification in Secondary Education (Math and Physics) from Pace University, Pleasantville, NY. At Manhattan College she has taught Hydraulic Design, Fluid Mechanics Lab, Soil Mechanics Lab, Special Topics for Environmental Engineers, Introduction to Civil Engineering and Introduction to Engineering Computation.

Education

  • MS, University of Florida
  • BS, Manhattan College

Courses Taught

ENVG 731     Special Topics

CEEN 304      Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
CEEN 307      Hydraulic Design
CIVL 311        Soil Mechanics Laboratory

CIVL 201        Introduction to Civil Engineering
ENGS 115      Introduction to Engineering
ENGS 116      Introduction to Engineering Computation

 

  • Research

    Lead/Co-Principal Investigator for the following projects: 

    "Living Shorelines, Living Classrooms, Living Communities: Using Technology to Enhance Environmental Education for Storm Water Treatment in Environmental Justice Areas," Sponsored by US Environmental Protection Agency, The primary goal of this project is to increase elementary and middle school students’ ecological literacy of urban water quality issues through experiential experiences and combining living shorelines (an engineered, nature-based method of protecting shorelines from erosion and filtering stormwater contaminants) with technology. August 2022- August 2024.

    "Living Shorelines, Living Classrooms, Living Communities", funded by National Fish and Wildlife Federation. Living shorelines (an engineered, nature-based method of protecting shorelines from erosion and filtering stormwater contaminants) will be used to improve water quality for a 14 acre lake in the Bronx, which is an impoundment on a Harlem River tributary. Project will engage 2 local non-profits, 100 community volunteers, and provide environmental education programs for 120 K-12 aged students where they will work to reduce pollutants in the lake and become stewards of their watershed. November 2022 - November 2024.

    "Stream Barrier and Estuary Education Outreach" (On-Going). (February 1, 2020 - June 30, 2022).  “Eliminating the “barrier” to estuary education: Connecting students to their estuary by studying the effect of stream barriers and water quality on American Eel populations”. 

  • Publications and Scholarly Activities

    Wilson, J. M. (presentor, principle investigator), Donohue-Couch, K. (principle investigator), Brown, J. (researcher), World Environmental Water Resource Institute (EWRI) Congress, "Optimization of denitrifying woodchip bioreactors for urban storm water treatment," American Society of Civil Engineers, Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa and Casino, Henderson, United States. (May, 2023).

     

    Donohue-Couch, K. (presentor, principle investigator), Wilson, J. M. (principle investigator), Brown, J. (researcher), World Environmental Water Resource Institute (EWRI) Congress, "“Getting your hands dirty”: A hands on approach to engaging community members in green infrastructure solutions for urban storm water management," American Society of Civil Engineers, Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa and Casino, Henderson, United States. (May, 2023).

     

    Galvin, K. (presentor), Angel, D. (presentor), Donohue-Couch, K. (advisor), Wilson, J. (advisor), Manhattan College Jasper Scholars Research Symposium Fall 2022, "Living Shorelines: Preliminary Processes to Shoreline Design       in Van Cortlandt Park," Manhattan College, Kelly Commons - poster sessions and presentations, Riverdale, United States. (October, 2022).

     

    Wilson, J., Donohue-Couch, K., Misiakiewicz, S., World EWRI Congress, "Impact of stream barriers on nutrients and chlorophyll-a dynamics in a Hudson River Estuary tributary," ASCE, Atlanta, GA. (June 2022).

    “Evaluating Water Quality Data and Juvenile American Eel Populations in a Brackish Tidal Wetland on the Hudson River, NY”, by Ng, M,  Donohue, K., Wilson, J., Mount, S. Proceedings of: Environmental Water Resource Institute Conference, May, 2019.

     

    “Integrating Technology and Environmental Engineering Education”, by K. Donohue, J. Wilson and T. Conway. Proceedings of: Environmental Water Resource Institute Conference, June 2018. 

     

    “Superstorm Sandy Storm Surge and Residential Damage Correlation – A case study of Long Beach, NY, by N.L. Braxtan, Ph.D., K. Donohue-Couch. M.S., P.E., and K. Westphal. Proceedings of: 2nd Residential Building Design & Construction Conference. February 2014.

     

    “Elders East (Jamaica Bay, NY) Ecosystem Restoration Project: Lessons Learned”, by K. Donohue.  Estuary Design and Research Needs Technology Transfer Workshop. January 2008.

     

    “Salt Marsh Creation and Estuary Improvements using Dredged Material from NY/NJ Harbor Deepening Project” K. Donohue, et al. Proceedings of: National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration, 2007.