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MAGE Faculty Spotlight: Thomas Dineen

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Thomas Dineen, MAGE faculty

Maryland Applied Graduate Engineering (MAGE) is proud to continue its Faculty Spotlight series, highlighting the outstanding educators who bring real-world expertise, industry context, and passion into our classrooms. For this feature, we are excited to shine a light on Thomas Dineen, a valued member of the MAGE teaching community and a recipient of the 2026 MAGE Outstanding Teaching Award alongside W. Lewis Collier.

Dineen brings over three decades of technical and engineering experience to his role at MAGE and currently teaches ENPM665 Cloud Security. Outside of academia, he serves as a Technical Director within Oracle’s Global Defence and Intelligence organization, where he leverages decades of industry background as a technical consultant. What drew him to engineering over 30 years ago was both the creative fulfillment of building custom solutions for customers and the rigorous discipline the field demands—a mindset he finds just as valuable in his personal life as in his professional career.

In the classroom, Dineen uses his deep background to give students a comprehensive view of modern cloud architecture and security. A favorite highlight of his course is a comprehensive, multi-cloud hands-on exercise that challenges students to manage workloads across AWS, Azure, and GCP. The project pushes students outside their comfort zones to integrate core concepts like Identity and Access Management (IAM), network security, application and database protection, and credential management into a unified environment.

"Being able to witness that transformation firsthand—watching students grow in technical skill, confidence, and professionalism—is what keeps me inspired every day."

Thomas Dineen, MAGE faculty

His extensive industry experience—and the dedication that earned him the 2026 Outstanding Teaching Award—allows him to go beyond surface-level theory and explain the why behind complex operational decisions. By sharing real-world successes, failures, and hard-earned lessons, he aims to prepare students for the practical realities of today's cybersecurity and cloud landscape.

For new and prospective MAGE students, Dineen encourages an open mind and a willingness to stretch: “Be open to trying new things. The MAGE program gives you opportunities to explore areas that may feel unfamiliar at first, but that’s often where you discover what you’re capable of.” For those preparing to graduate, his advice centers on long-term perspective and personal balance: “Find your life’s mission and pursue it with intention... Be present in the moment, be kind to yourself, and stay connected to your community.”

When he’s not guiding MAGE students through cloud infrastructure, Dineen stays active by playing hockey, surfing, and flying airplanes as a private pilot. He frequently incorporates aviation anecdotes into his lectures to offer fresh, relatable analogies for complex engineering principles.

Dineen credits both the supportive MAGE team and the high-energy, curious students for making his teaching experience so rewarding. MAGE is honored to recognize Thomas Dineen for his outstanding teaching and to have him share his industry leadership, passion, and mentorship with our graduate engineering community.

Published August 31, 2026