Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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.   

*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