Thomas P. O’Connor, P.E., F.ASCE, an environmental engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development (ORD), has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
O’Connor has over 22 years with EPA. He currently works for the National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Water Systems Division, Water Resources Recovery Branch at the Edison Environmental Center (EEC) in Edison, New Jersey. His career at EPA has focused on conducting research for stormwater and combined sewer overflow management and control, including the use of low-impact development and green infrastructure techniques. For the past decade he has been part of a team conducting research at the EEC permeable pavement and rain garden research and demonstration site, functioning as project officer, work assignment manager and task order monitor of data collection efforts.
From 2003 through 2017, Thomas partnered with three separate EPA Regions to work on green roof projects through the agency’s Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE). He collected data from 2005 to 2007 from New York City’s Staten Island Bluebelt system, partnering with the NYC Department of Environment Protection and College of Staten Island to monitor before and after effects of maintenance on stormwater retention ponds.
Thomas, prior to joining EPA, was a postgraduate researcher with Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education, in Edison. He has written numerous journal articles, including 11 for ASCE journals. He has also written and edited reports and is co-author of three book chapters. He is a member of several other professional organizations, among them the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, for which he attained the status of Board Certified Environmental Engineer. During his EPA career, Thomas has received three Bronze Stars in addition to other EPA awards and accolades.
Thomas joined ASCE as an associate member in 1999 and attained full membership in 2005. He has been a member of EWRI’s Urban Water Resources Council since 1998. In 2014, he co-authored the inaugural article for ASCE’s Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment. He was named an Outstanding Peer Reviewer for ASCE journals for years 2014, 2015 and 2016. He was also corresponding editor for recent ASCE Standard ANSI/ASCE/EWRI 66-17, “Management Practices for the Control of Erosion and Sediment from Construction Activities.”
He graduated with a B.S. in physics (1986) and an M.S. in environmental engineering (1993) from Manhattan College. He is a licensed professional engineer with New York and New Jersey.
