Faculty and Staff

Biography

Dr. Benmouna joined Montgomery College in 2006 as a faculty member in the Rockville Physics, Engineering, and Geosciences department. She holds a PhD in experimental nuclear physics from American University and conducted her doctoral research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Palo Alto, California. Prior to joining the College, she was a postdoctoral research scientist at the George Washington University where she conducted research in experimental nuclear physics at the Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory.

During her tenure at Montgomery College, Dr. Benmouna received a National Science Foundation grant to develop a Student Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs, known as SCALE-UP, in pilot sections in physics. Her work led to a redesigned inquiry-based curriculum in non-engineering physics classes. She has served for many years on the Collegewide Outcomes Assessment Team, working particularly with the general education assessment subgroup to develop collegewide assessment rubrics, and currently serves on the General Education Transform and Restructure Committee. She formerly served on the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Transform Group, and chaired the Rockville CTL Work Group for two years to facilitate active learning and inquiry-based learning workshops for College faculty.

Dr. Benmouna has been an active collaborator on the Physics Education Research group at the University of Maryland in the development of physics for life sciences curriculum, an emerging national model in the field. She is a member of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers. She has co-authored publications in the field of physics education and presented at national conferences.

Dr. Benmouna is a recipient of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Excellence award, the Montgomery College Faculty Outstanding Service Award, and the Above and Beyond the Call award from the Office of Institutional Advancement. She has been recognized by the Office of the Vice President for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness for her work in Outcomes Assessment in the sciences.

Biography

Ms. Bennett is the Departmental Administrative Assistant and Office Manager. She is responsible for the management of the day-to-day operations of the department. Prior to joining Montgomery College, Ms. Bennett held administrative support positions at Johns Hopkins University on the Montgomery County Campus. She has a BS in Business and Management from the University of Maryland, University College.

Biography

Dr. Fitzgerald received her MS and PhD degrees in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a BS degree in Physics from Stetson University. She joined the department during the fall 2009 semester, after working as a senior scientist at National Security Technologies Remote Sensing Laboratory. Prior to that, she was awarded a National Research Council Associateship with the Space Sciences Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Currently she is teaching Astronomy (AS101) and is actively engaged in getting the new observatory facility on the roof of the Science Center ready to use for astronomy education, student research, and community outreach. Dr. Fitzgerald organizes the twice monthly observatory public nights and special astronomy events. Additionally, she serves as the faculty advisor for the Astronomy Club (the 2012 “Club of the Year” at Montgomery College). 

Educational Background

• BS, Physics, Stetson University
• MS, Physics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 
• PhD, Nuclear Astrophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Biography

Dr. Alexander holds a BS degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, an MS in Operations Analysis, and a PhD in Computer Science from Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He joined Montgomery College in fall 2013 and has taught Computer Science I and II, Introduction to Programming, and Discrete Structures.

Dr. Alexander served 23 years as in the U.S. Army as an Armor officer and as an Operations Analyst. He then worked in industry at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Knowledge and Decision Sciences (KADSCI) for 15 years and continues to consult through KADSCI. His projects included development of simulations and frameworks for distributed simulations, analysis of various defense systems using distributed simulation, Social Network Analysis and Crowd-Sourcing as intelligence analysis tools, a National Cancer Institute initiative to integrate biomedical informatics systems nationwide, and development of a Human Resources tool for the IRS to compare workload with available workforce. His research interests include simulation of combat operations, computational geometry, and artificial intelligence. As an adjunct professor he has taught undergraduate Computer Science courses at Park College, Mo., and graduate Operations Analysis courses at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.

Educational Background

• BS, General Engineering, United States Military Academy
• MS, Operations Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School,United States Military Academy
• PhD, Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School

Educational Background

Biography

Dr. Grinberg holds a B.S, a M.S. and Ph.D. from State Technical University, St. Petersburg, Russia, in Mechanical Engineering. He joined the department in Fall 2001. Dr. Grinberg has taught all levels of Computer Science and Information Technologies courses. He is one of the organizers of the annual programming competition for high school students that has been offered since 2007.

Dr. Grinberg’s research interests are in mobile programming, such as iPhone, iPad, and Android programming.

Educational Background

• BS & MS, Mechanical Engineering, State Technical University, St. Petersburg, Russia
• PhD, Mechanical Engineering, State Technical University, St. Petersburg, Russia

Biography

Professor Joy holds a B.S. from Inter-American University in Puerto Rico, an M.S. from City University of NY (Brooklyn College) in Computer Science, and a M.Ed. in TESOL (ESL) from Shenandoah University.

She joined Montgomery College full time in spring 2009. Prior to joining Montgomery College, Professor Joy taught computer science at Northern Virginia Community College, Trenton State College and LaGuardia Community College in New York. She also worked as a programmer for several years.

Professor Joy is especially interested in online learning and the use of online technology to enhance learning. She has developed two educational websites, hello-world.com for language learning, and zebra0.com for computer science education.  She creates educational games and activities using Flash, ActionScript, PHP, and Javascript.

Educational Background

• BS, Psychology, Interamerican University
• MS, Computer Science, Brooklyn College
• MEd, TESOL, Shenandoah University

Biography

Dr. Kuijt graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in computer science from the University of Maryland College Park, where he later earned a Ph.D. after completing a computer science dissertation on "An Object-Oriented Approach to Parallel Spatial Indexing of Vector-Format Polygons."  After serving as an adjunct professor who taught courses in computer science and electrical engineering, Dr. Kuijt joined Montgomery College as a full-time associate professor at the start of the fall 2015 semester.  

Prior to joining MC, Dr. Kuijt taught both undergraduate- and graduate-level computer and information systems courses at the American University. He has also taught in the College Park and University College divisions of the University of Maryland. 

Dr. Kuijt was born in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is director of the MC Grand Challenges Scholars Program and faculty mentor for the MC NASA Swarmathon competition team.

Educational Background

• BS, Computer Science, University of Maryland
• PhD, Computer Science, University of Maryland

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Computer Science and Information Systems, Bilkent University, Turkey 
• MS, Computer Science and Information Systems, Johns Hopkins University, USA

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Master of Engineering (MEngg) from Nagoya Institute of Technology (NIT), Nagoya, Japan
• PhD, Computer Science, Texas Tech University

Educational Background

Professor Thai holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, a MS in electrical engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, and a MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management.  In addition, he is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Professor Thai has taught on-campus, on-line and blended courses in the business, computer science and computer applications disciplines at Montgomery College (MC) for more than ten years.  Prior to teaching at MC, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Phoenix.  Professor Thai has more than 20 years of software development and project management experience, working as a project manager managing IT projects for various organizations in the Washington D.C. area.

Professor Thai enjoys sharing his knowledge with his classes, and he is passionate about teaching.  His current interests include mobile and web development, and software development in the engineering discipline.

Educational Background

• BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland
• MS, Electrical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University
• MBA, Keller Graduate School of Management

Educational Background

Dr. Alla Webb holds both a B.S. and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from State Technical University, St.Petersburg, Russia, a M.S. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from George Washington University.  She has over 15 years of experience in higher education and has taught a wide variety of computer science courses. Her professional experience in the private sectors involved all phases of the system development cycle, including project management, requirement analysis, system design, programming, testing, system administration, database design and administration, and system installation. Dr. Webb is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the American Association of Colleges and Universities Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM (TIDES) grant.

Dr. Webb’s research interests include mobile development, software engineering, and database management systems.

Educational Background

• BS & MS, Mechanical Engineering, State Technical University, St.Petersburg, Russia
• MS, Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University
• PhD,Systems Engineering, George Washington University

Biography

Dr. Palma Catravas holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BM in piano performance from the University of Maryland at College Park and an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She performed research in the area of radiation-based electron beam diagnostics and plasma based accelerators at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Prior to joining Montgomery College, Dr. Catravas mentored undergraduates as a faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Union College, where she was a finalist for the Stillman Teaching Prize in 2014 and the recipient of the Student-nominated Brate Advising Award in the spring of 2018.  Dr. Catravas developed a specialized laboratory at the interface of Electrical Engineering and Music (Phasor Lab) and has received a patent on a spectral analysis technique derived from music visualization.

In addition to traditional EE topics, her teaching interests also include nanoscale microscopy, including scanning electron and atomic force microscopy.

Educational Background

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• MS in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• BS in Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park
• BM in Piano Performance, University of Maryland at College Park

Biography

Dr. Day holds a B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a M.S. from University of Maryland, College Park and a Ph.D. from American University. He has been with the department since 1967. Dr. Day has taught all levels of Physics, Physical Science, and Engineering courses over the years. He is currently responsible for much of the engineering advising for our 1200 engineering students. He is the co-creator of the new Engineering Advising website.

Dr. Day created PH110 (Sound & Light in the Arts), ES240 (Engineering Computation), PH161 (Engineering Physics I, Mechanics), PH262 (Engineering Physics II, Electricity and Magnetism), PH263 (Engineering Physics III, Optics and Modern Physics), EE204 (Circuit Theory) and was a co-creator of the college's original course in computer graphics, CG120.

Educational Background

• BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• MS, University of Maryland, College Park 
• PhD, American University

Biography

Professor Garrison-Mogren holds a B.S. from Clarkson University and a M.S. from Syracuse University. He joined the department in spring 2006 semester. Prior to joining us Professor Garrison-Mogren was Professor and department chair at the Montgomery College Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus where he taught chemistry, engineering, and physics courses.

He was an international service engineer for Westinghouse Power Service Company. His research work at Syracuse was in studying the kinetic properties of molecules in free molecular flow inside capillaries. He designed, organized, and built the graduate and undergraduate mechanical engineering laboratories at Johns Hopkins University. At the Maryland Science Center, he worked with the educational programs and advised on various technical questions in developing the programs.

He has since been a consultant engineer on the mechanical analysis of scaling down of chemical reactions in microplates, lifespan of flexing fiberglass plates, and mechanical properties of elastic membranes. He is currently working on design of residential energy systems (solar photo-voltaic systems, ground loop HVAC, energy efficient residential construction). Professor Mogren is also the faculty advisor for the Montgomery College chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-USA).

Educational Background

• BS, Mechanical Engineering, Clarkson University
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Syracuse University

Biography

Dr. He received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a B.S. degree in applied mechanics from the National University of Defense Technology, China. She joined the department in the Fall 2005 semester. Dr. He worked in the aerospace industry for five years where her duties included mechanical design, thermal stress, and heat transfer analysis of rocket engines. Prior to joining Montgomery College, Dr. He was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Lake Superior State University, where she taught the complete range of general engineering courses and supervised senior research projects involving the development of an underwater robotic arm and associated control systems.

Dr. He’s research work includes the design of mechanical testing and numerical modeling on biomaterials and biomechanical design for the chromatography column, which had been collaborated with Holland Laboratories (of American Red Cross) in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. He is a member of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, and the International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue.

Educational Background

• BS, Aerospace Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, China
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• PhD, Bio-mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Biography

Dr. Hou holds a B.S. from National TsingHwa University in Taiwan and a M.S. and Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Dr. Hou joined the department in fall 2002. Dr. Hou taught Mechanical Engineering for more than ten years at Howard University. He also has five years experience working in the aerospace industry and for the federal government as a computer systems engineer. He holds a Professional Engineer (PE) license in DC and has co-authored more than 20 research articles and served as chair of many professional conferences.

He is the Engineering Program Coordinator responsible for coordinating engineering events and activities. His primary teaching responsibilities cover almost all Engineering Science (ES) courses. He has served as the Robotics Club advisor since 2003, leading students to national competitions. From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Hou was the Principal Investigator (PI) of NSF S-STEM grant that provided more than a half million dollars in MC and transfer scholarships.  In fall 2013, he was invited as a visiting honorary professor to teach and conduct research at China University of Science and Technology (CUST) in Taiwan. 

Dr. Hou's research interests are in CAD/CAM, robotics, numerical mechanics, and engineering education.

Website: https://info.montgomerycollege.edu/faculty/chou/index.html

Educational Background

• BS, Power Mechanical Engineering, National TsingHua University, Taiwan
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University
• PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University

Biography

Dr. Kuijt graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in computer science from the University of Maryland College Park, where he later earned a Ph.D. after completing a computer science dissertation on "An Object-Oriented Approach to Parallel Spatial Indexing of Vector-Format Polygons."  After serving as an adjunct professor who taught courses in computer science and electrical engineering, Dr. Kuijt joined Montgomery College as a full-time associate professor at the start of the fall 2015 semester.  

Prior to joining MC, Dr. Kuijt taught both undergraduate- and graduate-level computer and information systems courses at the American University. He has also taught in the College Park and University College divisions of the University of Maryland. 

Dr. Kuijt was born in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is director of the MC Grand Challenges Scholars Program and faculty mentor for the MC NASA Swarmathon competition team.

Educational Background

• BS, Computer Science, University of Maryland
• PhD, Computer Science, University of Maryland

Educational Background

Dr. Kung received his M.S. in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University. He joined MC in 1987. He has taught courses in multiple departments including courses in Computer-Aided Design, Automation and Control, Computer Applications, Computer Science, Math, Physics, and Engineering. Dr. Kung has enjoyed teaching courses at all levels ranging from the developmental courses at MC to a graduate course at Howard University. His industrial experience includes nuclear power plant simulator design at Singer, space structural design at NSI/Goddard, army water transport system design at Vitro, power plant renewal at Bechtel, and software development at AutoDesk. 

Dr. Kung likes to design and operate radio controlled flying machines. He also has an interesting collection of humanoid robots and Arduino-based mobile robots. 

Educational Background

• MS, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
• PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University

Biography

Dr. Xiang holds a BS from Jiaotong University in China and an MS and PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the department in fall 2003. Dr. Xiang has taught all of the electrical engineering courses including: Digital Logic Design, Basic Circuit Analysis, and Programming Concepts for Engineering.

Dr. Xiang's research interests are in communication systems, statistical and digital signal processing, blind source separation, and interference cancellation.

Educational Background

• BS, Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiantong University
• MS Electrical Engineering,  Xi'an Jiaotong University
• MS, Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
• PhD, Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania

Biography

Dr. Cutler holds a B.A. in geology from Carleton College, a M.S. in geology from the University of Rochester, and a PhD, in geosciences from the University of Arizona. Over his career he has worked as a scientific researcher, exhibit developer, science writer at the Smithsonian Institution and taught geoscience courses at the University of Rochester, University of Chicago, National Louis University, and Northern Virginia Community College. Before joining the department in fall 2010, Dr. Cutler was a science writer and publications officer at the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Dr. Cutler’s book, the Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers 2003 summer selection and won the National Association of Geoscience Teachers James H. Shea Award in 2008. His writings have appeared in Science magazine, the Washington Post, Geotimes, and numerous other publications.

Dr. Cutler’s primary research interests are in paleobiology, paleoecology, the history of geology, and the geology of Montgomery County.  He also continues an active interest in science writing.

Educational Background

• BA, Geology, Carleton College
• MS, Geology, University of Rochester
• PhD, Geosciences, University of Arizona

Biography

Dr. Arya Akmal obtained a BS and an MS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after beginning his career as an engineering student at the Rockville campus. He holds a PhD in computational nuclear physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Akmal has co-authored research articles in a wide range of fields, including atmospheric radiative transfer and remote sensing, physical oceanography, spectroscopy of diffuse media, and thermodynamics of biological macromolecules. He contributed to the development of the Akmal-Pandharipande-Ravenhall (APR) equation of state for dense matter, a commonly used, realistic description of matter under extreme conditions such as that found in the interior of neutron stars.

His research interests involve phase transitions and critical phenomena in “soft” condensed matter. He has most recently studied folding mechanisms of biological macromolecules, and is interested in self-assembling mesoscale structures in aqueous solutions. He has taught at Montgomery College since the spring of 2007.

Educational Background

• BS, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• MS, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• PhD, Computational Nuclear Physics University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Biography

Dr. Cetina received her PhD degree in experimental nuclear physics from the George Washington University based on work performed at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility in Newport News, VA. She studied fission of heavy nuclei induced by photons in the few-GeV energy range.

Dr. Cetina won the National Research Council award for postdoctoral research at the Naval Research Laboratory and worked in applied physics at the lab's multipurpose 3-MV accelerator facility. She concentrated on accelerator mass spectrometry and specialized in high-precision isotope analysis, but also performed accelerator-based ion-beam implantations and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.

Dr. Cetina started teaching physics to engineering students in her home country – Romania. She later returned to teaching at Northern Virginia Community College, where she was also co-advising the undergraduate research activity within the local chapter of the Society of Physics Students.  She joined the physics faculty at Montgomery College, Rockville, in fall 2013 and is currently serving as STEM representative on the General Education Restructuring Committee. 

Educational Background

• BS/MS, Nuclear Physics, University of Bucharest, Romania
• PhD, Nuclear Physics, The George Washington University, Washington DC

Educational Background

Dr. Williams holds a B.A. in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. and a Ph.D. – both in physics – from American University. He has taught from high school through all college levels. Other institutions at which he has taught include T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA; Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology; Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale); The American University; and, Trinity University. 

The emphases of his master’s thesis and Ph.D. research dissertation were in acoustical physics, since music has always been a major key (B#) of his life.

Dr. Williams is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and continues his lifelong love affair with music by participating in various live music events, where he mainly plays bass (guitar) and sings (often in harmony). He is a longtime member of a local choir.

His current responsibilities at Montgomery College are teaching physics to enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts, alike.

Educational Background

• BA, Physics,  University of Pennsylvania
• MS, Physics,  American university
• PhD, Physics American University

Biography

• PHYS161/262 Coordinator
  Fall 2019: PHYS262/262D/262L, PHYS263/263D/263L

Educational Background

• BS, Physics, UNICAMP Brazil
• MS, and PhD, Physics, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Biography

Gloria Barron is an instructional designer, professional development trainer and course developer.  She is a technical subject matter expert and provides guidance to less experienced employees. Gloria teachers computer courses in digital media and society, computer concepts, introduction to computer programming and animation. 

Educational Background

• Bachelor of Science, Computer Information Systems, University of Houston
• Master of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, George Mason University
• Master Certificate in IT: eLearning, George Mason University
• Web Development and Design, Montgomery College

Courses Taught

CMSC 100, CMSC 110

Biography

Educational Background

• BS in Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park
• MS in Information Systems, and Technologies, Johns Hopkins University

Educational Background

• BS, Georgetown University
• MS & PhD, Pennsylvania State University

Educational Background

• BS, Computer Science, University of Maryland
• MS, Information and Telecommunication Systems, The Johns Hopkins University

Educational Background

• BS, Mathematics & Music, Greenville University
• MAT, Mathematics, Brown University

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Computer Science, and BS, Mathematics, Brigham Young University
• MS, Computer Science, University of Southern California 

Educational Background

• BS, University of Maryland University College, Management and Marketing
• MS, University of Maryland University College, Management and Marketing

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Meteorology, Rutgers University
• MEd, Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University

Educational Background

• BS, Physics, University of Isfahan, Iran
• MS, Solid State Physics, Michigan State University
• MS, Nuclear Physics, and completed PhD course works in Nuclear Physics, Florida State University

Educational Background

• MS, Computer Science, Novosibirsk State University, Russia

Educational Background

Courses Taught

Biography

Educational Background

Biography

Chidubem Arthur Nwokoye, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor in the Rockville Engineering, Physical, and Computer Sciences Department, where he has taught courses such as ENEE 207 (Electric Circuits) and ENES 100 (Introduction to Engineering Design). He has B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University, and a M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He has over 10 years of experience working as an electronics engineer for the Navy on projects that involve ferromagnetic resonance measurement systems, low temperature magneto-optical measurement systems, antenna systems design, and radar systems. He is the author of nine peer-reviewed technical papers and is the recipient of the Twelfth Annual NAWCAD Commanders Award and the 2014 BEYA’s Modern Day Technology Leader Award. He is also a member of the American Physical Society (APS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Association of Old Crows (AOC).

Educational Background

BS, Electrical Engineering, George Washington University
MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
PhD, Electrical Engineering, George Washington University

Educational Background

• BS, Physics
• BS, Science Education
• MDiv, Theology

Educational Background

Biography

Educational Background

• BA, Math, Rice University 
• PhD, Physics, University of Colorado

Biography

Educational Background

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Electronics and Telecommunications, Pune University, India
• MS, Information Systems and Technology, The Johns Hopkins University

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Elementary Education, Pennsylvania State University
• Master's Degree, Educational Technology, Johns Hopkins University
• Supervision and Administration Certificate from McDaniel College

Educational Background

• BS, Electrical Engineering
• MS, Computer Systems, Management, University of Maryland University College

Biography

Educational Background

Educational Background

Educational Background

• BS, Applied Chemistry, Tam Kang University, Taiwan
• MA, Recreation, Resource Planning, and Management, University of Maryland 
• MS, Information Systems, George Mason University

Biography

Educational Background

• BS, Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
• PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University

Biography

Biography

Biography

Biography

Ms. Hosseini received her BS in Physics from Razi University in Iran and her MS in Condensed Matter Physics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. After receiving her MS, she continued her studies as a Physics PhD candidate and completed all PhD courses. During this time, she conducted research in areas such as growth of semiconductor, electrodeposition of thin films, surface hardening and microstructure development in complex alloys, and surface analysis using X-ray diffraction, optical and scanning electron microscopes. Ms. Hosseini started her teaching career in 2010.  She continued teaching college level Physics and Math courses until June 2017 when she joined the Montgomery College Engineering, Physical, and Computer Sciences Department as the Physics Instructional Lab Coordinator.

Biography

Biography

Dr. Zhelezinskaia earned her BS in Exploration Geology from Murmansk State Technical University in Russia and an MS and a PhD degree in Geology from the University of Maryland. She conducted research on stable isotope geochemistry of Neoarchean sedimentary rocks to understand ancient surface environments. Dr. Zhelezinskaia joined the department in 2018 as the Geosciences Laboratory Coordinator. She is responsible for the setup and maintenance of all equipment and materials for the geology, meteorology, and astronomy classes and extracurricular activities. Her interests are wide spanning from geology and space exploration to computer science and geopolitics.