Dr. Thompson is CEO of Cortest Columbus Technologies, Inc. (CC Technologies), an engineering, research, and testing firm specializing in corrosion control, fitness-for-service, pipeline/plant integrity analysis, corrosion monitoring, materials evaluation and selection, asbestos analysis, and design and development of instrumentation and software. Under his direction, CC Technologies has grown from a staff of three in 1985 to over a staff of 100 including 17 Ph.D. scientists and a total of 55 engineers. CC Technologies is the largest “corrosion science” group in North America.

Dr. Thompson has directed or contributed to 32 major research projects and numerous field studies and testing projects examining various aspects of corrosion science, corrosion monitoring and cathodic protection. Topics have included: coating evaluations using electrochemical (AC) impedance spectroscopy, finite element analysis modeling of pipelines, CP of underground low level nuclear waste disposal tanks, corrosion mechanisms for high level nuclear waste canisters, monitoring of CP of pipelines, corrosion and CP of reinforcing steel in concrete, development of test procedure for life prediction of post-tensioned tendons in concrete structures, predicting corrosion behavior combining statistical design and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization methods, monitoring reinforced soil structures, and development of procedures and equipment for corrosion rate measurement. He is co-author of DC Electrochemical Test Methods published by NACE Press.

Dr. Thompson has managed programs for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), the Gas Research Institute (GRI), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), and the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP). Most recently, he was a major contributor to the FHWA project “Corrosion Cost and Preventive Strategies in the United States,” which established the cost of corrosion to the United States economy as $276 Billion annually.

Dr. Thompson has participated in workshops to review strategic initiatives for corrosion and safety of pipelines and highway bridge structures. He is currently Vice President elect of NACE International, the leading society for corrosion professionals in the world.