Retired April, 2012
Bio
Dr. Thomas M. Losordo retired from the faculty April, 2012. He is currently an emeritus professor of the department. Tom has worked at NCSU for a little over 24 years, with the last 10 years working in the BAE department. In this department. he held the position of extension leader for 4 years and additionally, worked for the University of North Carolina General Administration as a faculty advisor for military affairs for two years.
Dr. Losordo has earned a Bachelor degree in Biology from Bates College, Lewiston Maine a M.S. Agricultural Engineering from the University of Hawaii and his Ph.D. Agricultural Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Losordo is internationally recognized for his work in aquaculture having made significant contributions in the area of indoor recirculating aquaculture technology. He has been the main force behind NC States well known Lake Wheeler Road Fish Barn, a research and demonstration facility for recirculating aquaculture systems. The program at the barn develops, evaluates and demonstrates new technology for intensive fish farming at the commercial scale. Losordo also served as Principal Investigator of the Marine Aquaculture Reseach Center near Morehead City, and was also the Co-PI for the College of Ag. and Life Sciences at the LaPaz Sturgeon facility in Happy Valley, North Carolina. His research developments in this area have brought substantial improvements to operational methods and equipment design which are now used widely in the industry.
Dr. Losordo and his team have provided essential technical assistance to established indoor tank-based aquaculture farm businesses and assisted with many new startups helping to support the development of new businesses in North Carolina. His strong relationships with the aquaculture industry has been instrumental in bringing over $5 M in monetary and aquaculture facility bequeaths to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Education
Ph.D. Agricultural Engineering University of California, Davis 1974
M.S. Agricultural Engineering University of Hawaii 1980
B.S. Biology Bates College 1974
Publications
- Evaluation of chemical polymers as coagulation aids to remove suspended solids from marine finfish recirculating aquaculture system discharge using a geotextile bag , AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING (2020)
- An evaluation of solid waste capture from recirculating aquaculture systems using a geotextile bag system with a flocculant-aid , AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING (2012)
- Evaluating the effects of organic carbon on biological filtration performance in a large scale recirculating aquaculture system , AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING (2010)
- An evaluation of commercially available biological filters for recirculating aquaculture systems , AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING (2009)
- Thermal modeling of greenhouse aquaculture raceway systems , AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING (2009)
- Comparing denitrification rates and carbon sources in commercial scale upflow denitrification biological filters in aquaculture , Aquacultural Engineering (2007)
- Pilot production of hatchery-reared summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus in a marine recirculating aquaculture system: The effects of ration level on growth, feed conversion, and survival , Journal of the World Aquaculture Society (2007)
- Wood chips and wheat straw as alternative biofilter media for denitrification reactors treating aquaculture and other wastewaters with high nitrate concentrations , AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING (2007)
- A comparison of alternative designs and technologies in recirculating aquaculture , Aquaculture Canada 2004 : ?b proceedings of contributed papers, Canadian Freshwater Aquaculture Symposium, Que?bec City, Que?bec, October 17-24, 2004 (2006)
- Growth and feed utilization of captive wild black sea bass Centropristis striata at four different densities in a recirculating tank system , JOURNAL OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY (2003)