User:Thomake

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Dr. Keisha J. Rhines-Thomas is a Senior Electrical Engineer with over 14 years of experience. Born and raised in poverty, she was the middle child of a blended family of seven children from the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Thomas's maternal family and siblings immigrated from the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and St. Vincent. Her father migrated to New York City from Tyrrell County, North Carolina. In her youth, Keisha enjoyed being a church soloist and choir member, and playing the baritone horn. After passing all ten exams required, Keisha received a Regent's Honors Diploma while completing high school in less than three years.

At, Delaware State University (DSU), Keisha played baritone horn in DSU’s Marching Band and volunteered in community service activities through her education sorority (Kappa Omicron Tau). Working full-time while being a full-time college student, various jobs Keisha held include: hair stylist, maintenance worker, tutor, security officer, and fast-food worker. Developing technical skills, her summer internship experience includes: University of New York at Stony Brook, NASA at Langley, Virginia (with an extended co-op during her junior year), the University of Connecticut, and Plug Power (formerly H-Power) Hydrogen Fuel Cell Company.

Keisha received her M.S.E.E (2004) and PhD in Electrical Engineering (2009) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte while working full-time as an Electrical Engineer, and as a mother of two small children. She was selected as Student Body Speaker at her 2004 graduation. Nominated by her university's Electrical Engineering professors, Dr. Thomas won the prestigious UNC-Charlotte's William States Lee College of Engineering "Outstanding Graduate Student" award upon her 2009 college graduation. Dr. Thomas completed her Post-Doc at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Facilities Power Clinical Informatics and completed a fast-track Facilities Management Certification program at Arizona State University. "Minority Engineer" magazine's Spring 2011 issue includes an article highlighting Keisha's work experiences in her engineering career.

Dr. Thomas’s Electrical Engineering experience include: Duke Energy (Charlotte, NC), Lexmark International (Lexington, KY), Intel Corporation (Hillsboro, OR), and Ebara Technologies (Hillsboro, OR). While at Lexmark, Keisha received patent awards for her work towards an optical toner density sensor and a capacitive toner level sensor used in laser printers.

Between election cycles, Keisha volunteers as a neighborhood canvasser in Get-Out-The-Vote and voter registration efforts. On many occasions, she's phone banked and assisted in political fundraisers. Keisha’s work enabled her to be selected and graduate from the Oregon chapter of Emerge, a national organization that helps women run for political office.

Education and mentoring under-represented youth remain as Keisha's passion. Since 2002, she has volunteered, developed and managed computer education camps, ran after-school tutoring programs, and chaired/facilitated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-based programs. In 2016, Portland City Council honored Keisha with the Steve Lowenstein Trust Award for her volunteer work in youth education programs. Keisha currently assists in helping to maintain these programs through the Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta as Treasurer and Fundraising Chair.

In 2017, Keisha founded the Portland Chapter of Black Nonbelievers, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, helping non-believers of color to connect, and find support in one another.

These days, Dr. Thomas enjoys being a creator and inventor. She loves socializing, nature hikes, and spending time with her husband of 19 years, Paul, and family of four children. Keisha is a long-time fan of the National League baseball team, the New York Mets.