Tom is Executive Director of the DHS Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence. He is an engineering graduate of The Citadel, the University of Miami, and the International Institute for Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering in Delft, The Netherlands.

His career has focused on developing, performing, and managing applied research in coastal and hydraulic engineering.  He led applied research teams that: a) developed the CORE-LOC® concrete armor unit for breakwaters and jetties and formed the international consortium that currently markets and manages it, b) developed the Scanning Hydrographic Operational Airborne Lidar Survey (SHOALS) system for coastal mapping and charting and created the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise at Stennis Space Center, MS, and c) developed the Silent Inspector system for automated dredge contract monitoring and established the nationwide center for its deployment and operation in Mobile, AL. He played a key role in developing the concept of Regional Sediment Management and in transitioning it to practice nationwide. He served as the Principal Federal Liaison to National Research Council Committees on assessing the return on investment from applied R&D programs and on systems for making measurements in the coastal zone. He was Federal Co-Chair of the Gulf of Mexico Program’s Coastal and Shoreline Erosion Committee and a Charter Organizer of the National Beach Preservation Technology Conference.  He has been a Director of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association for the past 12 years and a Director of the Coastal Zone Foundation for the past 5 years.

In 2009, Tom retired as Director of the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory of the Engineer Research and Development Center and began work at Jackson State University as Deputy Director of the DHS Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence.