Spillway Erodibility Investigation & Analysis: Instructors

Chris Stoner, PE
Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Engineer VII

Chris Stoner is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and Oklahoma with over 38 years of experience analyzing erosion and evaluating dams and spillways. Chris formerly served as the state conservation engineer for Oklahoma for nearly 16 years and has held various roles with the NRCS. Chris has supported or reviewed unlined spillway erosion analyses for dams across the United States. Chris has inspected countless numbers of unlined spillways following major storm events or as part of normal operation and maintenance activities. Chris built strong relationships with the Agricultural Research Service Agroclimate and Hydraulic Engineering Research Unit in Stillwater, Oklahoma where much of the research on soil erodibility analysis and standard design procedures were developed. These include Agricultural Handbook 667 – Design of Grass Lined Channels, the SITES and WinDam software programs, and guidelines for overtopping roller compacted concrete stepped spillway armoring.

James McNash, PE
Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Engineer V

James McNash is a licensed professional engineer in 10 states with 14 years of experience. James specializes in geotechnical analysis and inspection of dams and has a deep understanding of the soil properties associated with erodibility analysis. He has experience performing analyses in both SITES and WinDAM C for NRCS dams across the southeastern United States.

Kyle Jacobs, PE
Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Engineer IV

Kyle Jacobs is a licensed professional engineer in North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia with 7 years of experience. Kyle focuses on H&H analyses for dam evaluations and rehabilitation design, PMF analyses, and breach analyses. Kyle's modeling experience includes HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, SITES, and WinDAM C. Kyle has developed spillway erodibility and H&H models for dams across the southeastern United States.