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Science, Engineering, and Technology

Dr. K. Rebecca Thomas, Interim Collegewide Dean for Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET)
Dr. K. Rebecca Thomas, Interim Collegewide Dean for Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET)

Montgomery College's Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) area consists of departments offering courses and associate degrees in physics, engineering, geosciences, computer science, cybersecurity, and network and wireless technologies disciplines.

As part of the Montgomery College mission of empowering students to change their lives, we are committed to providing quality instruction that leads to understanding and competence suitable for the emerging global economy. Most of the undergraduate courses are transferable to top tier four-year institutions. Students in these courses have numerous academic enhancement opportunities through student clubs, internships, and undergraduate research.

Dr. Thomas has served the Montgomery College community for nearly 20 years, as faculty, course coordinator, part-time faculty coordinator, and most recently as the chair of the biology department at the Rockville Campus since 2018. As chair, she developed and implemented operational efficiencies; implemented a departmental action plan to hire, onboard, mentor, and significantly increase ATPA embedded coaches in BIOL 150 courses; co-led a BIOL 150 early intervention pilot to reduce course DFW rates, supporting student success and completion; advocated for and supported the Early College biology program at the Rockville Campus; negotiated consensus among biology faculty on numerous curriculum revisions for biological sciences and environmental sciences programs to align with institutional priorities. She also implemented an innovative Biology Academic Advising MS Bookings site to improve students’ ability to connect with academic program advisors, which included training for faculty which fostered stronger, more frequent interactions between students and program advisors.

In addition to her work as chair, Dr. Thomas has served on numerous committees, including the Virtual Campus Initiative, Faculty Council (co-chair), MC’s Coronavirus Advisory Team, MC’s Return to Campus Advisory Team, and Comprehensive Advising Team and Advising Team Redesign Taskforce. She currently serves on the Student Success Network’s Completion Workgroup and MC’s Institutional Review Board and is the TPSS Hispanic Student Nursing Club’s faculty supporter. Since 2019, Dr. Thomas has been the principal investigator (PI) on a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (I-USE), Collaborative Research: Institutional and Community Transformation for Teaching and Learning Quantitative Reasoning in the Biological Sciences. This project, which brings together MC, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and three other Maryland community colleges, engages biology and math faculty across institutions to develop shared curricula that support biology students’ success by building quantitative skills across four core biology courses.

From 2008-2018, Dr. Thomas served as the biology department course coordinator for Principles of Biology (BIOL 151) and developed new curriculum materials, renewed course lab content, created lab OERs to reduce costs for students, and led the cross-campus faculty coordination for course outcomes assessment and textbook decisions. From 2006-2015, Dr. Thomas served as the biology department part-time faculty coordinator to improve support and environment for part-time faculty providing stronger mentorship, constructive evaluation, inclusion in department meetings, office space improvements, developed equitable standardized departmental processes for interviewing and hiring, and developed a more effective system for part-time faculty course assignments to diversify their teaching opportunities.

Dr. Thomas has several publications and has made presentations at a number of highly regarded events including, the Regional Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research, Council for the Study of Community Colleges, National Association of Biology Teachers, the Association of Faculties for Advancement of Community College teaching, among others. In 2023, the National Association of Biology Teachers awarded Dr. Thomas the Professor Chan Two-Year College Award for the Engaged Teaching of Biology, an honor bestowed upon one outstanding individual each year. Previously, she was also recognized with an Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Award from the College, and an Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff & Organizational Development.

Dr. Thomas earned her bachelor of science with honors in biology from Samford University and her master of science and doctor of philosophy in evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago. She is a 2021 graduate of the MC Presidential Innovation Leadership Institute and a 2024 graduate of the Higher Education Resource Services Leadership Institute (HERS), a nationally-recognized, competitive and transformational leadership development program.

Academic Departments

Physical Sciences, Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity and Networking Department - Germantown and Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campuses
Department Chair: Dr. Carrie Fitzgerald 

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Engineering, Physical and Computer Sciences Department - Rockville Campus
Department Chair: Dr. Lan Xiang

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Degrees and Certificates

More Programs and Courses

Grant Support

Our academic programs in the Science, Engineering, and Technology disciplines have grant support exceeding $2 million, including:

Cybersecurity Advisory Board

Internal MC Members

  • Dr. Alla Webb, Department Chair and Professor
  • Ms. Silvia Vargas, Professor
  • Dr. Helio Zwi, Department Chair and Professor
  • Dr. Nawal Benmouna, Interim Vice President for STEM and Health Sciences
  • Dr. Rebecca Thomas Interim Collegewide Dean 
  • Dr. Muhammad Kehnemouyi, Campus Dean for Rockville
  • Mr. David Vargas, Professor
  • Mr. Norman Singer, Cybersecurity Lab Manager
  • Mr. Alton Henley, Dean of Instruction
  • Phyllis O. Bresler - PW Communications
  • Susan Cargill - Collura - Cisco
  • Sheba Shastri - Index Group
  • Martin Rosendale - Maryland Tech Council
  • Michelle Ferrone - Maryland Tech Council
  • Sam Visner - Aerospace Corporation
  • Genny Gadwale - MITRE
  • Will Mapp - Qlarent
  • Joe Reddix - The Reddix Group
  • Chet Thaker - Telebright
  • Yum Yu Cheng - United Solutions
  • Michael Chung - Washington Software
  • Vennard Wright - Wave Welcome

Engineering and Computer Science Advisory Board

Internal MC Members

  • Dr. Nawal Benmouna, Interim Vice President for STEM and Health Sciences
  • Dr. Rebecca Thomas Interim Collegewide Dean
  • Dr. Alla Webb, Department Chair and Professor
  • Dr. Chienann Alex Hou, Program Coordinator and Professor
  • Dr. Muhammad Kehnemouyi, Campus Dean for Rockville
  • Dr. Max Nam, Program Coordinator and Professor
  • Dr. Helio Zwi, Acting Department Chair and Professor
  • Dr. Paul C. Brand – Center for Neutron research, NIST
  • Mr. Adrian Chapman – President and Chief Operating Officer, Washington Gas
  • Dr. Lorraine Fleming – Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Howard University
  • Dr. William Fourney – Associate Dean of Engineering, University of Maryland College Park
  • Ms. Mary Kraft – U.S. Director of Services, Hewlett Packard
  • Mr. Bobby Patton – CEO, Patton Electronics
  • Dr. Julia Ross – Dean of Engineering and Information Technology, UMBC
  • Mr. Daniel Sawyer – Group Leader, Dimensional Metrology Group, NIST
  • Dr. Devdas Shetty – Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, UDC
  • Dr. Joseph P. Teter – Director of Technology Transfer, Naval Surface Warfare Center
  • Dr. Benjamin Tsai – Physical Scientist, Sensor Science Division, NIST
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