Thom Adams (or "Dr. Thom" as his students called him) is an Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He is the only faculty member in the institute's history to have received all three of its highest honors, winning both the Dean’s Outstanding Teacher Award and the Board of Trustees Outstanding Scholar Award, and being appointed the Herman A. Moench Distinguished Professor. He is a leading educator in the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and author of one of the first textbooks on the subject aimed at an undergraduate audience. Though his traditional background is in the areas of heat transfer and energy systems, his current research focuses on what he calls “generalist scholarship,” in which physical systems and processes are purposely modeled using the most fundamental concepts and methods available in order to ascertain physical trends and correlations that often go unnoticed. His work has received national and international acclaim, having won numerous best paper awards in engineering education and technical research as well.