Thomas English Cochrane is a California Professional Geologist (#6124). Born and raised in Greene, New York, he wandered and roamed the area’s glacially-formed hills and valleys while growing up including the Catskills, the Adirondacks, and the Appalachian mountains. These youthful explorations led to him obtaining an under-graduate degree in Geology at the State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton. He subsequently did graduate work in Education at Colgate University, graduate work in Geology at Indiana University, and a study in field geology at Miami of Ohio’s Geology Field Camp in Wyoming.
In the early part of his career, he taught science, mathematics, earth science, and physics in his hometown at Greene Central School, later becoming the chairman of the Science Department and acting Chairman of the Mathematics Department. He then received a National Science Foundation Grant to study Glaciology for a summer on the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska.
Mr. Cochrane began his 24-year career in the oil and gas business in 1964 in Oklahoma with Pan American Petroleum. He left Pan Am in 1968 and spent the next 20 years working as a consulting petroleum geologist. During this time, he was also editor of the Shale Shaker, a geologic publication of the Oklahoma City Geological Society.
In 1988, he moved to The Sea Ranch in Northern California where he’d been spending time for over a decade, and began consulting on geologic hazards and local geology along the coast. He became a California Registered Geologist in 1995 (this designation was recently reclassified as a California Professional Geologist). He is the author of another book, Shaping the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast—Exploring the Coastal Geology of Northern California (River Beach Press, 2017), and he regularly addresses regional groups and organizations on topics relating to coastal geology. Mr. Cochrane was also recently named Director of the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy, a 501(c)3 nonprofit which is a member of the National Land Trust Alliance and California Northern Region Land Trust Council.