Dissertations: September 20, 2021

DISSERTATIONS DEFENDED

Applied Physics
Abler, Mel. Characterizing intermittent turbulent wave kinetics and energy transfer via three-wave coupling in dipole-confined plasma. Sponsor: Michael Mauel.

Ginsberg, Jared. Symmetry breaking and harmonic generation in metasurfaces and 2-dimensional materials. Sponsor: Alexander Gaeta.

Stewart, Ian. Transport barrier formation on HBT-EP. Sponsor: Michael Mauel.

Art History and Archaeology
Cataldo, Emogene. Living stones: Sculpted foliage in gothic architecture, c. 1140-1300. Sponsor: Stephen Murray.

Horisaki-Christens, Andrea. VIDEO HIROBA: Contingent publics and video communication in Japan, 1966-1981. Sponsor: Jonathan Reynolds.

Astronomy
Blue Bird, Julia. Evolution of neutral hydrogen properties of galaxies with respect to large-scale structure over one-third the age of the universe. Sponsor: Jacqueline van Gorkom.

Lucy, Adrian. The detection and description of accretion from cool evolved stars. Sponsor: Jennifer Sokoloski.

Biomedical Engineering
Mohan, Uma. Characterization and modulation of neural signals that support human memory. Sponsor: Joshua Jacobs.

Biomedical Informatics
Mitchell, Elliot. Enabling automated, conversational health coaching with human-centered artificial intelligence. Sponsor: Olena Mamykina.

Biostatistics
Wang, Qinxia. Statistical methods for modeling progression and learning mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders. Sponsor: Yuanjia Wang.

Business: Finance
Dashmiz, Shayan. Essays on financial economics. Sponsor: Tano Santos.

Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies
Costabile, Brianna. Structural and functional characterization of the retinol-binding protein receptor STRA6. Sponsor: Filippo Mancia.

Flynn, Elise. Genetic regulatory variant effects across tissues and individuals. Sponsor: Tuuli Lappalainen.

Ressler, Andrew. Reading the disease leaves: Signals, signatures and synchrony in neurodevelopmental disease. Sponsors: Michael Boland and David Goldstein.

Chemical Engineering
Gu, Yang. Osmophoresis of lipid vesicles in solute gradients. Sponsor: Kyle Bishop.

Huynh, Han. Heterogeneous chemistry of calcium carbonate aerosols with relevant stratospheric gases and its potential impact on stratospheric ozone. Sponsor: Vivian McNeill.

Wang, Xuanting. Identification of SARS-CoV-2 polymerase and exonuclease inhibitors and novel methods for single-color fluorescent DNA sequencing by synthesis. Sponsor: Jingyue Ju.

Chemistry
Bennett, Ellie. Synthetic and analytical advancements for zinc sulfide containing quantum dots. Sponsor: Jonathan Owen.

Bezjian, Carla. Discovery of novel ferroptosis regulators using genetic and lipidomic analyses. Sponsor: Brent Stockwell.

Bhowmik, Srijita. Synthesis and biology of novel Mitragynine analogs. Sponsor: Dalibor Sames.

Devanny, Alexander. Spatial organization and segregation of cells in breast cancer. Sponsor: Laura Kaufman.

Dismukes, Avalon. Exotic 2D materials systems. Sponsor: Xavier Roy.

Karp, Lindsey. Efforts towards greener photocatalysis and streamlining catalyst design. Sponsor: Tomislav Rovis.

Miao, Yupeng. Applications of stimulated Raman scattering microscopy: From label-free to molecular probes. Sponsor: Wei Min.

Wei, Mian. Development of advanced Raman microscopy methods to interrogate the brain. Sponsor: Wei Min.

Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Vlassis, Nikolaos. Towards trustworthy geometric deep learning for elastoplasticity. Sponsor: Waiching Sun.

Wu, Chunlin. Virtual experiments and designs of composites with the inclusion-based boundary element method (iBEM). Sponsor: Huiming Yin.

Computer Science
Correa, Juan. A computational perspective of causal inference and the data fusion problem. Sponsor: Elias Bareinboim.

Yang, Zixiaofan. Identifying speaker state from multimodal cues. Sponsor: Julia Hirschberg.

Earth and Environmental Sciences
Baublitz, Colleen. Variability in tropospheric oxidation from polluted to remote regions. Sponsor: Arlene Fiore.

Bock, Nicholas. Drivers of variability in the structure and function of marine microbial communities: From cell physiology to the global environment. Sponsor: Solange Duhamel.

Peltier, Carly. The precise timing and character of glaciations in Patagonia from MIS 6 to the little Ice Age. Sponsor: Michael Kaplan.

East Asian Languages and Cultures
MacBain, Abigail. Precepts and performances: Overseas monks and the emergence of cosmopolitan Japan. Sponsor: Michael Como.

Electrical Engineering
Binaie, Ali. LO-based analog signal processing in integrated circuits and systems: From RF to optics. Sponsor: Harish Krishnaswamy.

English and Comparative Literature
Engebretson, Jessica. Sovereign fictions: Self-determination and the literature of the Nigeria-Biafra war. Sponsors: Joseph R Slaughter and Matthew Hart.

Reid, Tiana. "Our World-Work:" Gender and labor in African diasporic literatures. Sponsor: Brent Edwards.

Windhauser, Kevin. Circulating knowledges: Literature and the idea of the library in Renaissance England. Sponsor: Alan Stewart.

Environmental Health Sciences
Comfort, Nicole. “Message in a Bottle”: Extracellular vesicle microRNAs as novel biomarkers of environmental exposures and health outcomes. Sponsor: Andrea Baccarelli.

Epidemiology
Huang, Debbie. Testing the assumptions of the network paradigm for studying depression. Sponsor: Katherine Keyes.

History
Halevy, Dotan. Ruination, Liminality, and the Making of the Gaza Strip, 1840-1950. Sponsor: Rashid Khalidi.

Kuersteiner, Sarina. Minds and margins: Notarial culture in Bologna (ca. 1250-ca. 1350). Sponsors: Adam Kosto and Neslihan Senocak.

Menashe, Tamar. Jews in cross-confessional legal cultures in reformation Germany. Sponsors: Elisheva Carlebach and Adam Kosto.

Mechanical Engineering
Hidayah, Rand. Modular cable-driven exoskeleton architectures for functional task assistance. Sponsor: Sunil Agrawal.

Li, Richard. Toward growth-accommodating polymeric heart valves with graphene-network reinforcement. Sponsor: Jeffrey Kysar.

Ophaswongse, Chawin. Data-driven design and control of wheelchair robot for active postural support (WRAPS) for users with impairment of the trunk. Sponsor: Sunil Agrawal.

Rastogi, Shruti. Enhanced strength and frictional properties of copper-graphene-copper nanolaminates. Sponsor: Jeffrey Kysar.

Wang, Xun. Mechanics in epithelial tissue morphogenesis. Sponsor: Karen Kasza.

Zhang, Tianyi. Filtering technique in ILC. Sponsor: Richard Longman.

Neurobiology and Behavior
Nunnelly, Luke. St18 specifies MGE lineage globus pallidus prototypic neurons. Sponsor: Edmund Au.

Pierce, Georgia. Movement-related activity surpasses touch responses in secondary somatosensory thalamus. Sponsor: Randy Bruno.

Rolotti, Sebastian. Neural circuit control of feature tuning in CA1 during spatial learning. Sponsor: Attila Losonczy.

Whitebirch, Alexander. Inhibitory-excitatory imbalance in hippocampal subfield cornu ammonis 2 circuitry in a mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Sponsor: Steven Siegelbaum.

Zhuravleva, Viktoriya. Stress-induced downregulation of Rab35 disrupts intracellular trafficking of AD-related proteins. Sponsor: Clarissa Waites.

Nursing
Bilazarian, Ani. Primary care practice structural capabilities and emergency department utilization among high-need high-cost patients. Sponsor: Lusine Poghosyan.

Operations Research
Tang, Yunhao. Reinforcement learning: New algorithms and new applications. Sponsor: Shipra Agrawal.

Zhang, Xuan. Two-sided matching markets: Models, structures, and algorithms. Sponsor: Yuri Faenza.

Zhao, Jingtong. Learning to optimize decisions in online service platforms. Sponsor: Van-Anh Truong.

Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine
Zhong, Timothy. Systemic regulation of cancer metastasis. Sponsor: Swarnali Acharyya.

Pharmacology and Molecular Signaling
Roybal, Daniel. Elucidating regulatory mechanisms of cardiac CaV1.2 and NaV1.5 channels. Sponsor: Steven O. Marx.

Philosophy
Hominh, Yarran. The problem of unfreedom. Sponsor: Akeel Bilgrami.

Physics
Emerman, Alexander. A search for heavy resonances decaying to HH → bbbb with the ATLAS detector. Sponsor: P. Michael Tuts.

Mahon, Devin. Search for displaced photons from exotic decays of the Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector. Sponsor: John Parsons.

Law, Yuk Ting Albert. Sphere partition functions and quantum de Sitter thermodynamics. Sponsor: Frederik Denef.

Saffold, Nathan. Development of lithium-drifted silicon detectors and investigation of cosmic A. Sponsor: Charles Hailey.

Sun, Zimo. A group theoretical approach to quantum gravity in (A)dS. Sponsor: Frederik Denef.

Political Science
Leavitt, Thomas. Essays in political methodology. Sponsor: Macartan Humphreys.

Milonopoulos, Theodoros. No wider war: Leaders, advisors, and the politics of wartime decision-making. Sponsor: Richard Betts.

Slavic Languages
Lussier, Benjamin. In all seriousness: Play, knowledge, and community in the union of real art. Sponsor: Irina Reyfman.

Sociology
Munson, Adrianna. Working on life: Autonomy and dependence for people with intellectual disability. Sponsor: Gil Eyal.

Sociomedical Sciences
Vasquez, Emily. (Pre)diabetic nation: Diagnosing risk and medicalizing prevention in Mexico. Sponsor: Alondra Nelson.

Statistics
Garrido García, Miguel Ángel. Characterization of the fluctuations in a symmetric ensemble of rank-based interacting particles. Sponsor: Ioannis Karatzas.

Yuan, Chaoyu. Event history analysis in multivariate longitudinal data. Sponsor: Zhiliang Ying.

Sustainable Development
Atal Chomali, Raimundo. Essays in energy and environmental economics. Sponsor: Geoffrey Heal.

TC / Behavioral Nutrition
Ijaz, Deeana. Understanding the association of breastfeeding and food insecurity on brain function in early childhood. Sponsor: Randi Wolf.

TC / Cognitive Science in Education
Gong, Rui. A process tracing approach to understanding the influence of incidental moods on attention and decision strategies in mixed-domain risky choice. Sponsor: James Corter.

Moore, Katherine. Learning through collaboration: Designing collaborative activities to promote individual learning. Sponsor: James Corter.

TC / Economics and Education
Escueta, Maya. The intergenerational transmission of trauma: The effect of a mother's childhood exposure to armed conflict. Sponsor: Alexander Eble.

TC / Measurement and Evaluation
Zhang, Jiaqing. Causal mediation analysis for effect heterogeneity. Sponsor: Bryan Keller.

TC / School Psychology
Johanson, Laura. Psychological resilience as a protective factor for the motor system in multiple Sclerosis. Sponsor: Stephen Peverly.

Kotsatos, Anna. The relationship between prior maternal trauma, emotion regulation and maternal emotional availability among high risk adolescent mothers. Sponsor: Stephen Peverly.

TC / Science Education
Sable, Julia. The frontiers of science: A case study for understanding interdisciplinary inquiry college science. Sponsor: Felicia Moore Mensah.

Dash II, Tyrone. Reconceptualizing what it looks like to enact project-based science in urban and multicultural settings: A case study. Sponsor: Christopher Emdin.

TC / Sociology and Education
White, Juontel. The battle over critical race curriculum: U.S. States and the political struggle over ethnic studies in K-12 schools in the 21st century. Sponsor: Jeffrey Henig.

TC / Teaching of Social Studies
Romero Amaya, Maria. Students' civic subjectivities amidst times of political transition: The case of a public school in Antioquia, Colombia. Sponsor: Sandra Schmidt.

DISSERTATION PROPOSALS FILED

Chemical Engineering
Ells, Andrew. Characterizing bulk and interfacial phenomena in K-ion batteries.

Mann, Vipul. Natural language processing and network theory for modeling reaction chemistry.

Mou, Hansen. Earth-abundant transition metal carbide and nitride catalysts for the electrocatalytic valorization of glycerol and other oxygenates.

Porter, William. Fundamental studies of olefin epoxidation on model catalyst surfaces.

Classical Studies
Lea, Luke. Nature and soul in the ethics of Antiphon and Plato.

Economics
de Albuquerque Furtado, Bruno. Essays on statistical decision theory, mechanism design, and identification.

Hyland, Sean. A novel factor score estimator for multiple-cause deconfounding.

English and Comparative Literature
Slater, Andrew. Urban imaginations of the Arabic novel: 20th century urban modernity from Damascus to Baghdad.

Earth and Environmental Sciences
Varuolo-Clarke, Arianna. What are the drivers of 20th-21st century precipitation trends in southeastern South America?.

History
Akcaguner, Yasemin. Celestial bodies: Astral science, medicine and the lifecycle in the Ottoman Empire (1757-1839).

Philosophy
Cao, Qian. Plato on truth and power of logos.

Psychology
Dunlea, James. Children's and adults' reasoning about punishment's messages.

Huggins, Dara. A theory of diversity and conflict for predicting workplace inclusion outcomes.

Nursing
Kueakomoldej, Supakorn. Strengthening the nurse practitioner workforce for the underserved: Examination of practice environment, burnout, turnover intention, and patient outcomes in community health center nurse practitioners.