Tompkins was cited, “For substantial contributions to the advancement of engineering and environmental planning aspects of river and floodplain management.”

As a senior ecosystem planning and restoration technologist, Tompkins works to develop solutions to the complex problems faced in analyzing, managing, and restoring aquatic ecosystems.  He consults on river management projects, including river restoration, riverfront revitalization, flood management, and hydroelectric projects.  He has taught graduate-level and professional courses in river restoration.  His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and books and presented at conferences.  In addition, he has published more than 50 photo-illustrated articles on river conservation, angling, and other watershed-related topics in popular magazines.

Tompkins earned both bachelor’s (1996) and master’s (1998) degrees from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. (2006) in Environmental Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.