Miriam Mason Higgins Thomas (June 22, 1920 – September 15, 2002) was an American chemist, based in the United States Army Research and Development Command at Natick, Massachusetts.

Her mother was an alumna of the University of Chicago, dean of women at Bethune-Cookman College, and a social service consultant for the Illinois Department of Public Aid.

[4] Higgins graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1936, and earned a bachelor's degree in nutrition and chemistry from Bennett College in 1940.

[5] She was a research chemist at the U. S. Army Natick Development Center, studying nutritional content of military rations under various conditions.

[7] In 1975 she won an Army SARS Fellowship to study food processing and nutrition analysis techniques in Japan, India, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands, and Guatemala.