Ice fishing for yellow perch at Lake Habeeb, Rocky Gap State Park, Alleghany County, Maryland
Thomas J O'Connell
Tom has extensive leadership, managerial, supervisory, administrative and technical experience in natural resource ecosystem science and management at the state, interstate, federal and national levels. Demonstrated ability to develop highly effective teams and partnerships, problem solve complex natural resource management challenges, and lead interdisciplinary science programs.
Tom is Director of the US Geological Survey’s Eastern Ecological Science Center (formerly Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and Leetown Science Center) where he leads a team of interdisciplinary scientists to conduct regional, national and international fish, wildlife and ecological science to support priority conservation and management needs of the Department of Interior and other Federal, state and non-governmental organizations. Among EESC’s science programs include the North American Bird Banding Laboratory and Breeding Bird Survey as well as sea duck colony research program. While Tom came to USGS in 2016 to serve as Center Director of the Leetown Science Center, he recently (2020) expanded his Director responsibilities to include the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Prior to coming to USGS in 2016, Tom worked 23 years for the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) Fisheries Service where he began as a fisheries biologist and served 7 years as the State’s Fisheries Director. Tom has also several years of professional experience as a wildlife biologist focusing on game and non-game avian species monitoring and management.
Science and Products
Blue Catfish | Invasive Species We Study
Blue Catfish ( Ictalurus furcatus) is native to the lower and middle Mississippi River and its tributaries and to the Rio Grande River. Many states outside of the native range stocked Blue Catfish to provide angling opportunities and to meet other fishery management objectives as early as the early 1900s. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed and in some eastern seaboard states, Blue Catfish is an...
Eastern Ecological Science Center partnership with Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Collaboration between the world-class expertise of USGS scientists, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Science Program, and state and federal fishery agencies demonstrates the power of partnerships to solve seemingly-insurmountable problems in sustainable and cooperative management of Atlantic coastal fisheries.
Ice Fishing in Alleghany County Maryland
Ice fishing for yellow perch at Lake Habeeb, Rocky Gap State Park, Alleghany County, Maryland
USGS EESC water intake at Conte Research Laboratory
Canal drawdown and cleaning of water intake at USGS EESC Conte Research Laboratory
Canal drawdown and cleaning of water intake at USGS EESC Conte Research Laboratory
USGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training
linkUSGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training in 2017 at the Leetown Science Center in West Virginia
USGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training
linkUSGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training in 2017 at the Leetown Science Center in West Virginia
USGS Leetown Science Center Administration Building
Morning snowfall at the Leetown Science Center's Administration building.
Morning snowfall at the Leetown Science Center's Administration building.
Science and Products
Blue Catfish | Invasive Species We Study
Blue Catfish ( Ictalurus furcatus) is native to the lower and middle Mississippi River and its tributaries and to the Rio Grande River. Many states outside of the native range stocked Blue Catfish to provide angling opportunities and to meet other fishery management objectives as early as the early 1900s. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed and in some eastern seaboard states, Blue Catfish is an...
Eastern Ecological Science Center partnership with Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Collaboration between the world-class expertise of USGS scientists, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Science Program, and state and federal fishery agencies demonstrates the power of partnerships to solve seemingly-insurmountable problems in sustainable and cooperative management of Atlantic coastal fisheries.
Ice Fishing in Alleghany County Maryland
Ice fishing for yellow perch at Lake Habeeb, Rocky Gap State Park, Alleghany County, Maryland
Ice fishing for yellow perch at Lake Habeeb, Rocky Gap State Park, Alleghany County, Maryland
USGS EESC water intake at Conte Research Laboratory
Canal drawdown and cleaning of water intake at USGS EESC Conte Research Laboratory
Canal drawdown and cleaning of water intake at USGS EESC Conte Research Laboratory
USGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training
linkUSGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training in 2017 at the Leetown Science Center in West Virginia
USGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training
linkUSGS scientist, Barb Lubinski, practicing arm bandage wrap on another scientist, Kelly Maloney, as part of first aid training in 2017 at the Leetown Science Center in West Virginia
USGS Leetown Science Center Administration Building
Morning snowfall at the Leetown Science Center's Administration building.
Morning snowfall at the Leetown Science Center's Administration building.
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government