Education
Ph.D. in Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 2000
M.Sc. in Civil Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 1994
B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 1991
Professional Experience
2002 to present Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2000-2002 Senior Geoenvironmental Engineering, Morrow Environmental Consultants
2000-2000 Sessional Lecturer, Department of Civil and Geological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Research Interests
Dr. Donahue specializes in geoenvironmental engineering and has over 13 years of consulting experience. As a consulting engineer Dr. Donahue conducted contaminated site investigations and designed and constructed groundwater and soil remediation systems at petroleum and petrochemical contaminated sites. He has conducted geochemical investigations at uranium mines on active in-pit and above ground tailings facilities.
At the U of A Dr Donahue’s research focuses on the applied environmental geochemistry of intensive livestock waste management, oil sands and metal mine tailings and waste products and the geological sequestration of CO2.
Dr. Donahue manages the Applied Environmental Geochemistry Research Facility (AEGRF) which specializes in the characterization of organic and inorganic chemical contaminants and their interaction with soil, water and sediments.
Research and Consulting Areas
Environmental geochemistry of ammonium in glacial sediments impacted by livestock effluent
Geological storage of salt and sulphur waste from oil sands processing
Geoenvironmental impact of sulphur concrete haul roads
Geochemistry of non-segregating oil sand tailings
Impact of geochemistry on sedimentation and consolidation behavior of copper mine tailings
Environmental impact of geologically sequestered CO2 on shallow potable aquifers
Geochemical reactive transport analysis
3-D contaminant transport analysis of pervious surround in-pit tailings management systems
Publications
Robert Donahue and S. Lee Barbour, 2002. Reactive Transport Analysis of Arsenic from an In-pit Uranium Tailings Management Facility, Saskatchewan Canada. Proceedings 55th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Geotechnical Society. 8 pages.
Robert Donahue, 2002, Geochemical Investigation Methods for Tailings and Mine Waste, Geotechnique in the Mining Industry, 7th Annual Symposium of the Geotechnical Society of Edmonton, March 15 , 2002
Robert Donahue, M. Jim. Hendry and Patrick Landine, 2000. Distribution of Arsenic and Nickel in Uranium Mill Tailings, Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 15 No. 8. Pages 1097-1119.
Robert Donahue, M. Jim. Hendry and Patrick Landine, 1999. Geochemistry of Arsenic in Uranium Mill Tailings, Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Applied Geochemistry, submitted for review September 1999.
Robert Donahue, M. Jim. Hendry and Patrick Landine, 1999. Distribution of Arsenic and Nickel in Uranium Mill Tailings, Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. 52nd Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan. Canadian Geotechnical Society. 8 pages.
Robert Donahue, S. Lee Barbour and John Headley, 1999. Diffusion of Benzene Through Regina Clay. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Volume 36, No.3. Pages 127- 142.
http://www.engineering.ualberta.ca/geotechnical/donahue.cfm