Substructure Appoints Senior Marine Scientist
Substructure Appoints Senior Marine Scientist Tom Waddington as Chief Hydrographer - Waddington to Lead Substructure’s Hydrographic Survey Operations
PORTSMOUTH, NH (April 29, 2009) – Substructure, Inc., is pleased to announce that geophysical survey expert Tom Waddington has joined the Company as senior marine scientist and chief hydrographer. Waddington – who brings nearly 25 years of experience in the marine survey field to Substructure’s global marine services – will oversee Substructure’s hydrographic operations, including use of the state-of-the art hydrographic survey vessel, Orion.
Formerly a senior marine scientist with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Waddington also has served as chief of the Survey Section for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Baltimore District and as a commissioned officer in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Corps. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research and a master’s degree in engineering administration, both from Virginia Tech.
“Tom Waddington brings high-level technical skills in multi-disciplinary marine monitoring and hydrographic surveying, and he has broad experience across a wide spectrum of applications,” noted Tom Reis, Substructure president. “Tom strengthens our team considerably and will be an invaluable asset as Substructure brings our new survey vessel into service.”
Extending Seafloor Characterization Services with Orion
Waddington will utilize his extensive experience in marine assessment and seafloor characterization to expand Substructure’s client services with Orion, a sophisticated and versatile hydrographic survey vessel designed for high-resolution nearshore and coastal multibeam surveying. He will team with Substructure’s experienced engineers, scientists, divers, and data specialists on a broad range of hydrographic operations on the custom-built, 31-foot boat, including pre- and post-dredging surveys, engineering structural assessments, engineering and environmental site characterizations, marine habitat evaluations, navigation project condition surveys, water-column measurement programs, and search and recovery operations.
“I have closely followed Substructure’s development of Orion, and the thought and attention to detail that went into its design and execution were extraordinary,” Waddington commented. “It is a unique platform ideally suited to a variety of nearshore survey applications, from focused, high-resolution surveys for structural assessment to broader-scale site characterization and marine habitat mapping applications.”
Noteworthy Professional Credentials
As a senior marine scientist/engineer and program manager at SAIC, Waddington led varied marine environmental monitoring, oceanographic, and geophysical operations. His assignments included serving as a lead hydrographer on large survey and mapping projects in direct support of NOAA’s nautical charting program. He also served as program manager for a wide range of multi-disciplinary environmental monitoring studies for site characterization, habitat evaluation, and to help assess the short- and long-term impacts of various dredging, disposal, and other marine construction activities. Waddington was responsible for analyzing and interpreting complex geophysical and oceanographic datasets, and he was lead author on numerous scientific and technical reports.
During six years as chief of the Survey Section for the USACE Baltimore District and eight years as a NOAA Corps Officer, Waddington conducted a wide range of marine-related survey and monitoring operations throughout the U.S. coastal and inland waters and worked with a variety of processing, CADD, and GIS tools to effectively present and manage this marine-related survey data.
An American Congress of Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) Certified Inshore Hydrographer since 1994, Waddington also holds a U.S. Coast Guard 200-ton Near Coastal Master’s License.