Continental Who's Who

Andrew F.B. Tompson, PhD

Andrew F.B. Tompson, Ph.D., is being recognized by Continental Who’s Who as a Pinnacle Lifetime Achiever in the field of Engineering as a Hydrologist Researcher and Staff Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

For more than sixty years, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been dedicated to making the world a safer place by delivering solutions for the nation’s biosecurity, defense, intelligence, science, counterterrorism, energy and environment, nonproliferation, and weapons difficulties. Dr. Tompson has served at the company since 1986, excelling as a staff scientist with the Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division.

Dr. Tompson has extensive expertise, having a background in the following areas: integrated groundwater supply, groundwater contamination, reservoir engineering problems, pollution of systems affected by nuclear testing, geothermal prospect evaluation, groundwater availability in arid environments, aquifer storage and recovery, and hydrologic impacts from regional climate change. He has worked at many contaminated sites, including when nuclear waste infiltrated the Nevada Desert and local industries caused contamination near the Love Canal.

In addition to local projects, Dr. Tompson has worked on projects internationally, such as in Jordan, Iraq, Israel, and Palestine. He uses science as a way to engage other scientists. He also provides educational tools for non-scientists to understand how ground water works, offering a video online and presenting with other scientists at high schools.

Before deciding to become an engineer, Dr. Tompson first considered architectural studies. He then realized that engineering allowed him to use his architectural skills, while being more marketable. He enrolled at Brown University, receiving an undergraduate degree in civil engineering. He went on to attend Princeton University where he earned a doctorate degree in civil engineering. During a summer internship at Princeton, he began learning about hydraulics. After college, he completed postdoctoral work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for two years. He continues to remain aware of changes in his field through affiliations with the American Geophysical Union.

A pillar in the hydraulics community, Dr. Tompson has published many peer-reviewed articles, fifty technical reports, and eighty invited briefing and presentations. Some of his work includes “Groundwater recharge estimation in arid hard rock-alluvium aquifers using combined water-table fluctuation and groundwater balance approaches, Hydrological Processes” and “Case Study Analyses of Radionuclide Transport in Variably Saturated Media at Rainier Mesa”.

Outside of work, Dr. Tompson enjoys spending time with his family, including his daughter Madeline.

Dr. Tompson dedicates this recognition to his thesis advisor William Gray.