William A. Thomas graduated from Georgia Institution of Technology with a Civil Engineering Degree in 1961. Then he went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a Masters in Hydraulics and Sedimentation in 1966.

After being registered in Civil Engineering in 1967, William Thomas went to work for the US Army Corps of Engineers, where he gained 32 years of professional experience in hydraulic design, hydrologic engineering, river engineering, sedimentation engineering, the development and application of computer programs, and technology transfer. He conceived, designed, and coded the one-dimensional sediment transport model commonly known as HEC-6, "Scour and Deposition in Rivers and Reservoirs." In 1985, his HEC-6 code was listed by Dr. John F. Kennedy (Carver Professor of Engineering and Director of the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa) as one of the "Ten River Engineering Achievements That Shook the World" over the past 100 years.

During his time with the USACE, Mr. Thomas served as chairman of the Flood Control Committee; Research Committee; Sedimentation Committee; and the Task Committee to Expand ASCE Manual 54, Hydraulics Division, ASCE. He also made many contributions that advanced the state of the art. Some of these include serving as team leader and major contributor to (TABS-2) "Open Channel Flow and Sedimentation," US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, 1984, and authoring several reports: (LRD-1) "Multiple Backwater Profiles with Equations for Bridge and Weir Losses," Little Rock District Corps of Engineers, 1964; (HEC-6) "Scour and Deposition in Rivers and Reservoirs," The Hydrologic Engineering Center, Davis, CA, 1974; (SAM) "Hydraulic Design Package for Channels," US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, 1993; and (HEC-6T) "Sedimentation in Stream Networks," Mobile Boundary Hydraulics, Vicksburg, MS, 1994.

Some of Thomas' other professional publications include technical chapters in 3 books, numerous technical reports, numerous technical society proceedings, journal papers, and 8 instructional reports for using computer programs. He also served as task committee leader to add a chapter to the ASCE Manual 54, "Sedimentation Engineering."

Some of William Thomas' honors include WES Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees, 1995, ASCE Hans Albert Einstein Award, 1993, Dept. of the Army Decoration for Meritorious Civilian Service, 1989, ASCE Hydraulic Engineering Achievement Award, 1986, Federal Lab. Consortium Special Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer, 1986, and Commander and Director's Research and Development Achievement Award, 1984.