Katie Callahan

Extension Associate
Extension Administration office

Office:
Phone: 864-651-0404

Email: katieca@clemson.edu

Educational Background

M.S. Environmental Science - Pollutant Fate and Transport
Rutgers University 2006

B.S. Marine Science - Chemical and Physical Oceanography
Stockton University 1999

Profile

Katie Callahan seeks to build collaborations and generate extramural funding opportunities for the Clemson Extension Service, broadening the impacts achievable by our land grant university. In this role, she assists with grantwriting, building grant teams, improving Extension's grantsmanship, and building collaborative opportunities on and off campus.

Katie's career has primarily been in watershed management. Katie served as the Director of the Clemson University Center for Watershed Excellence, designated a Center of Excellence by the US EPA Region 4 and the SC Department of Health and Environmental Services (SC DES) for more than ten years. The Center’s core responsibility was to develop science-based outreach tools that engage stakeholders in greater and improved watershed management in SC. In this role, Katie hosted numerous Clemson University internships, providing students with unique opportunities to engage communities and classrooms in watershed science. Katie has authored and co-authored numerous watershed management plans and, with SC DES collaboration, established the state's first citizen science water quality and ecosystem monitoring program, SC Adopt-a-Stream. Prior to this directorship, Katie led the establishment of the Clemson Extension Carolina Clear program, working with more than 50 cities and counties in educating and engaging residents in stormwater education, as defined by NPDES permitting requirements.

Katie has served on numerous boards, including Friends of the Reedy River (2017-2023); Palmetto Pride (2022-Present), and the Lake Hartwell Partners for Clean Water (2023-Present).

Katie became a Certified Facilitator with Leadership Strategies in 2022, acknowledging the need to have more constructive conversations about the future of our waterways and how each individual has a unique connection and perspective about water. Katie also graduated Leadership Greenville in 2021, where her project team built the first-ever home for women and their children experiencing homelessness in the upstate of South Carolina.

Research Interests

Conservation science and conservation motivations; environmental attitudes, awareness, and knowledge; impacts of citizen science programming; structure of organizations and citizen science programming and the relationship with program resiliency; equity in outdoor recreation

Extension and Outreach

Caflisch, M. and K. Giacalone. 2015. Bioswales: A Guide for Your Residents. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at https://hgic.clemson.edu/.

Orscheln, N. and K. Giacalone. 2013. Addressing Canada Geese Along the Waterfront. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at https://hgic.clemson.edu/.

Orscheln, N. and K. Giacalone. 2013. Resident Canada Geese: Management Options. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at https://hgic.clemson.edu/.

Served as Chief Editor for the former H2O Waterways Clemson University fact sheet series available at https://hgic.clemson.edu/.
• Davis, R. 2017. Soil Buiding for Watershed Health.
• Liebermann, B. 2016. Stabilized Construction Site Entrances.
• Wallover, G. 2015. Cyanobacteria: Understanding Blue Green Algae’s Impact on our Shared Waterways.
• Morganello, K. and C. Foster. 2015. Native Plants for SC Landscapes.
• Wallover, G. 2015. Bioretention Cells
• Young, T. 2013. An Introduction to Porous Pavement.
• Morganello, K. and L. Rose. 2013. Life Alogn the Salt Marsh: Protecting Tidal Creeks with Vegetated Buffers.
• Powell, B. 2012. Foating Wetlands: Container Gardens for Your Pond.
• Caflisch, M. 2012. Illicit Discharges and Water Pollution.
• Powell, B. 2012. Shorescaping Freshwater Shorelines.
• A series on SC Native Plants SC authored by Dr. Sarah White.

Publications

Callahan, K., Anderson, E., Hylton, S., Skipper, K., and Rice, W. 2023. South Carolina Adopt-a-Stream Freshwater Volunteer Monitoring Handbook Version 3. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at www.scadoptastream.org.

Callahan, K. Skipper, K., Nixon, E., and W. Rice 2020. South Carolina Adopt-a-Stream Freshwater Volunteer Monitoring Handbook Version Two. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at www.scadoptastream.org.

Callahan, K. Skipper, K., and D. Chestnut. 2019. South Carolina Adopt-a-Stream Tidal Saltwater Volunteer Monitoring Handbook. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at www.scadoptastream.org.

Callahan, K. and Sampson, C. 2019. SC Adopt-a-Stream Freshwater Curriculum for High School-Aged Students. Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Available at www.scadoptastream.org.

Callahan, K. and H. Zurqani. 2018. Cane Creek and Little Cane Creek Watershed Management Plan to Address E. Coli Impairment, Oconee County, SC. Clemson, SC.

Obropta, C., Yergeau, S., and K. Giacalone. 2011. Training Organizations in Use of a Modified Stream Visual Assessment Protocol. Journal of Extension, Volume 49, Number 5.

Giacalone, K., C. Mobley, C. Sawyer, J. Witte and G. Eidson, 2010. Survey Says: Implications of a Public Perception Survey on Stormwater Education Programming. J. of Contemporary Water Research and Education Issue 146: 92-102.

Links