Dr. Misty Thomas is an Associate Professor of Biology at North Carolina A&T State University. Her research integrates microbial evolution, genomics, and environmental microbiology to understand how bacteria adapt to complex and extreme environments, including spaceflight conditions and engineered antimicrobial surfaces. She leads projects funded by NASA and the NSF Engineering Research Center for Precision Microbiome Engineering (PreMiEr), focusing on Streptococcus mutans adaptation under simulated microgravity and the development of silver-based antimicrobial materials for hospital applications. Dr. Thomas is also deeply involved in graduate training and STEM education, coordinating the Applied Science and Technology Biosciences Ph.D. concentration and mentoring diverse student researchers through interdisciplinary collaborations across microbiology, materials science, and bioengineering.