Devan Fitzpatrick
PE
Project River Engineer
My work is at the intersection of people and the environment.
Hired
- 2020
Location
- Remote
Devan is a project engineer on GeoEngineers’ River Science and Engineering team, based in Alaska. She collaborates with an interdisciplinary group of engineers, biologists and fluvial geomorphologists to solve complex water resources challenges through hydrologic and hydraulic modeling. Devan focuses on fish passage, large wood design and river restoration projects—work that, as she puts it, is “at the intersection of people and the environment.”
Her passion for connecting people with the environment began early. Growing up, she spent summers visiting and volunteering in Glacier National Park, where park naturalists, biologists and rangers inspired her career path. Later, her move to Alaska deepened her commitment to conservation.
“Watching hundreds of thousands of fish swim up the Kenai river to spawn is an eye opening experience and makes you realize the importance of protecting functioning ecosystems and improving those that are impaired,” she says.
Devan began her career at GeoEngineers in 2020 as a Staff Water Resources Engineer, working on fish passage and river restoration projects across the Pacific Northwest. She then joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska as a Fish Passage Engineer, completing design reviews for aquatic organism passage (AOP) projects across the state of Alaska, hydraulic modeling, site assessments, in-house AOP designs and construction oversight.
Now back at GeoEngineers, Devan looks forward to contributing to projects in both the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, while helping to grow the firm’s client base in her home state.
Outside of work, Devan takes full advantage of Alaska’s natural beauty. Summers find her hiking, truck camping, salmon fishing, and gardening, often with her golden retrievers along for the ride. In the winter, she enjoys baking, cross-country skiing, and escaping to warmer destinations abroad.
