The Graduate School is pleased to announce the 2021-2022 DDF Fellowship Recipients
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2021-2022 DDF Fellowship! The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) gives the University's most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write a dissertation during the fellowship year.
Jessica Friedman
Epidemiology
Influences of parity, caregiving, and COVID-19 on depression in women
Advisor(s): Susan Mason & Darin Erickson
Marissa Milstein
Veterinary Medicine
The risk of zoonotic disease transmission from primate bushmeat in Guyana
Advisor(s): Tiffany Wolf & Peter Larsen
Jason Noer
Theatre Arts
Voices from the Margins of a Heterosexual Black Dance Form: A Study of the Hmong Experience and Queer Blackness in the Twin Cities Break(danc)ing Scene
Advisor(s): Ananya Chatterjea
Chelsea Cervantes de Blois
Geography
Modeling Human Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards in Azerbaijan
Advisor(s): Steve Manson
Cole Pulice
Comparative Studies In Discourse and Society
Fight Fantasies: Combat Sports, the Alt-Right, and the Crisis of Modern Masculinity
Advisor(s): Alice Lovejoy & Sumanth Gopinath
Stephen Heinsch
Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology (All-University)
Decoding the mechanisms of disease-suppressive soils
Advisor(s): Michael Smanski
Caleb Vogt
Biomedical Engineering
3D Bioprinting Pre-aligned and Pre-vascularized Microtissues for Tissue Engineering of the Gastroesophageal Junction
Advisor(s): Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari
William Peria
Physics
Magnetic damping in ferromagnetic thin films and multilayer structures
Advisor(s): Paul Crowell
Zachary Levonian
Computer Science
Facilitating online relationships between health peers
Advisor(s): Loren Terveen & Lana Yarosh
Dominique Ebbenga
Entomology
Understanding the Biology and Management of Japanese beetle in Minnesota Fruit Crops: Influence of a Changing Climate
Advisor(s): William Hutchison
Carlie Cervantes de Blois
History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Damming Indonesia: Contested Progress in Cold War Development
Advisor(s): Susan Jones
Upasana Arvindam
Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology
Overcoming mechanisms of immune suppression to improve natural killer cell-based cancer immunotherapy
Advisor(s): Jeffrey Miller
Pang Chaxiong
Educational Psychology
Hmong Parent Beliefs about Autism and Identification Experiences
Advisor(s): Jason Wolff & Rose Vukovic
Andrew Zhou
Pharmaceutics
Insulin resistance promotes blood-brain barrier dysfunction during aging, type-II diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease
Advisor(s): Karunya Kandimalla
Nicholas Heller
Computer Science
An Open Science Approach to Kidney Tumor Segmentation
Advisor(s): Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos
Timothy Rose
Pharmacology
Inhibitory signaling in the prefrontal cortex: plasticity, regulation, and addiction-related behavior
Advisor(s): Kevin Wickman
Corrie Nyquist
Entomology
Effects of environmental temperature on dynamics of cold-adapted midges from Minnesota and Iceland
Advisor(s): Leonard Ferrington
Jacob Wittman
Entomology
Harnessing the power of numbers to inform management practices of a devastating invasive insect, emerald ash borer
Advisor(s): Brian Aukema
Elise Toedt
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
"It's Really Hard to Pump as a Teacher!": An Inquiry into the Embodied Experiences of Lactating Teachers
Advisor(s): Timothy Lensmire
Megan Smith
Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology
Development of Novel Screening Methods to Identify and Study Beta-Lactone Producing Bacteria and Genes
Advisor(s): Lawrence Wackett
Elizabeth Howard
English
Borrowed Grief: The Patchwork of Nineteenth-Century Consolation Verse
Advisor(s): Andrew Elfenbein
Magaly Ortiz
Hispanic and Luso Literatures, Cultures and Ling
The Iberian Veil: Veiling Practices in Medieval and Early Modern Texts
Advisor(s): Michelle Hamilton & Raúl Marrero-Fente
Soyi Kim
Comparative Studies In Discourse and Society
Virality, Feminism, and Neocolonial South Korea
Advisor(s): Travis Workman
Tessa Cicak
Anthropology
Examining the role of competition in primate dietary morphology and isotopes
Advisor(s): Kieran McNulty
Shen Cheng
Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
Understanding the impact of pharmacogenetic differences in drug-drug interactions (DDIs): A model-based approach to predict differences in drug exposure
Advisor(s): Richard Brundage & Mahmoud Al-Kofahi
Rafa Della Coletta
Plant and Microbial Biology
Structural variation and genomic prediction in maize
Advisor(s): Candice Hirsch
Laise Moreira
Applied Plant Sciences
Phenotypic and genetic characterization of flavor and aroma compounds in cold-hardy grapes
Advisor(s): Matthew D Clark
Jian Tang
Medicinal Chemistry
Targeting N-Myc with Selective Aurora Kinase A Degraders
Advisor(s): Dan Harki
Collin Calvert
Epidemiology
The Role of Policies in Cancer Pain, Health Disparities, and Substance Use
Advisor(s): Rhonda Jones-Webb & Darin Erickson
Angelica Maier
Art History
Toxic Matter: American Sculpture, Materials Science and Cultural Fear, 1962-1979
Advisor(s): Jane Blocker
Jose Manuel Santillana
Feminist Studies
Racial Motherhood Ecologies: Towards a Mapping of Social Life, Violence & Resistance in the Southwest Borderlands, 1980-Present
Advisor(s): Zenzele Isoke & Edén Torres
Alexandra Klapperich
Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development
Contending Purposes of Pre-Kindergarten: A Comparative Case Study of Early Childhood Education Policy in Minnesota
Advisor(s): Roozbeh Shirazi
Abraham Seda
History
A Contested Ring: African Boxing, Social Control and "Subversive Culture" in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1890 to 1980
Advisor(s): Allen Isaacman & Helena Pohlandt-McCormick
Mara McPartland
Geography
Characterizing the persistent effects of drought in North American forests
Advisor(s): Scott St. George
Surabhi Talele
Pharmaceutics
Optimizing chemo- and radio-sensitizing drug regimens that inhibit DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms for brain tumor therapy
Advisor(s): William Elmquist
Gian Pujakusuma
Music
Music for Aurally Diverse Audiences; Inclusive Design in Composition
Advisor(s): Alex Lubet
Jacqueline Patz-DiPiero
English
In the Air: Atmospheric Tonality and the Death of Plot
Advisor(s): Timothy Brennan
Andrew Hardt
Mathematics
Lattice models, Hamiltonians, and Generalized Free Fermion Conditions
Advisor(s): Ben Brubaker
Ozge Ersan Cinar
Educational Psychology
Advances in Item Selection and Test Adaptivity to Improve Measurement in Computerized Adaptive Testing
Advisor(s): Michael Rodriguez
Gerardo Rodriguez Orellana
Biomedical Engineering
Investigating Ultrasound Effects on the Auditory System for a Novel Hearing Aid
Advisor(s): Hubert Lim
Eric Xu
Business Administration
Guaranteeing the Right to Health: The Role of Supply Chains and Access to Care
Advisor(s): Kevin Linderman
Morgan Brisse
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
The RIGI/MDA5 pathway as a source of innate protection against arenaviruses in mice
Advisor(s): Hinh Ly
Amber Hamilton
Sociology
Doing Race Online: An Exploration of Race-Making on Social Media Platforms
Advisor(s): Joyce Bell & Michael Walker
Alyssa Palmer
Child Psychology
Promotive and Protective Influences of Early Childhood Mental Health in the Context Rural Poverty
Advisor(s): Ann Masten & Dan Berry
Amanda Shopa
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Exploring the Life and School Histories of First-Generation College Graduate Teachers
Advisor(s): James Bequette
Dmitry Chichinadze
Physics
Competing instabilities in the particle-hole channel and superconductivity in strongly-correlated electronic systems
Advisor(s): Andrey Chubukov
Natalie Dollison
Theatre Arts
The Paradoxical Twenty-fifth”: Performance, Race, and Conditional Belonging on the American Imperial Frontier, 1870-1935
Advisor(s): Margaret Werry & Cindy Garcia
Aamod Zambre
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Dynamics of sexual signal divergence
Advisor(s): Emilie Snell-Rood
Vidya Chhabria
Electrical Engineering
Machine-learning-based Open-source Chip Design Tools for Power Management
Advisor(s): Sachin Sapatnekar
Keira Leneman
Child Psychology
The Psychophysiology of White Fragility
Advisor(s): Dan Berry & Megan Gunnar
Katherine Pierpont
History
The Public Body: Sex Work in 12th and 13th Century Southern France
Advisor(s): Kathryn Reyerson & Ruth Karras
Sarah Hammarlund
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
The Ecological Stability of Microbial Mutualisms
Advisor(s): William Harcombe
Rachit Shrivastava
Electrical Engineering
Regulation of Intracellular Transport by Molecular Motors: Theory, Instrumentation and DNA based Single Molecule Methods
Advisor(s): Murti Salapaka
Caroline Doenmez
Anthropology
Water Carriers: Indigenous Women Reclaiming Birth along the Red River
Advisor(s): Hoon Song & Jean O'Brien
Aditya Dhumuntarao
Physics
Applications of Holographic Models and Black Holes Phase Transitions
Advisor(s): Joseph Kapusta
Brendan Cook
Mathematics
Poisson learning: A new approach to semi-supervised learning with very limited data
Advisor(s): Jeff Calder
Clementine Hamelin
Earth Sciences
How does material flow in the depth of continents?
Advisor(s): Donna Whitney & Christian Teyssier
Elizabeth Hazel Rickard
Theatre Arts
Material Spirits: Race and Performing Objects in Nineteenth-Century American Spiritualism
Advisor(s): Margaret Werry
Yiao Wang
Chemistry
Enzymatically lipidated chemically self-assembled nanorings for cell-based cancer immunotherapy and targeted drug delivery
Advisor(s): Mark Distefano & Carston Wagner
Rafid Mahbub
Physics
Primordial black hole formation in the inflationary universe
Advisor(s): Joseph Kapusta
Diana Chandara
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Complicating Racialized Femininity: An Exploration of Lao and Cambodian American Girls
Advisor(s): Bic Ngo
Tristan Truttmann
Materials Science and Engineering
Hybrid Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth of Group-IV-Based Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductors
Advisor(s): Bharat Jalan
Allison Steinke
Mass Communication
The Institutionalization of Solutions Journalism
Advisor(s): Valerie Belair-Gagnon & Matthew Weber
Pearl Han Li
Child Psychology
Acquiring Moral Knowledge: Children’s Use and Evaluations of Moral Testimony Across Two Cultures
Advisor(s): Melissa Koenig
Henry Ward
Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology (All-University)
Developing next-generation methods for analyzing CRISPR genetic screens
Advisor(s): Chad Myers
Isabella Stallworthy
Child Psychology
Infant-parent physiological and affective synchrony in the context of technological distraction
Advisor(s): Daniel Berry & Jed Elison
Lun Gao
Civil Engineering
Advancing Satellite Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture and Vegetation Water Content
Advisor(s): Ardeshir Ebtehaj
Sijin (Cathy) Chen
Psychology
Sex-modulated strategy in Value-based Decision making
Advisor(s): Nicola Grissom
Mohammad Reza Zamani Kouhpanji
Electrical Engineering
Introducing novel and cost-effective approaches for large-scale fabrication and characterization of multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles
Advisor(s): Bethanie Stadler
Rashad Williams
Public Affairs
Twin Cities, Split Politics: Reparations and the Politics of Recognition and Redistribution
Advisor(s): Edward Goetz
Sang Min Lee
Economics
Globalization, Innovation, and Economic Growth
Advisor(s): Timothy Kehoe
Cedric Ndinga Muniania
Plant and Microbial Biology
Effect of ecological context on the evolution of plant-symbiont interactions
Advisor(s): Georgiana May
Christopher Warkentin
Chemistry
Understanding Plasmon-Mediated Chemistry and Photophysical Processes in a Selection of Plasmon-Molecule Systems
Advisor(s): Renee Frontiera
Tao Tao
Public Affairs
Nonlinear and threshold effects of built environment attributes on travel behavior
Advisor(s): Jason Cao
Kedar Nawathe
Mechanical Engineering
Effects of Aero-thermal Interactions among Different Coolants on Vane Passage Surface Cooling in a Gas Turbine
Advisor(s): Terrence Simon
Jae Shin Yoon
Computer Science
Human Rendering Machine: Learning to Render Photo-realistic Human from a Single Image
Advisor(s): Hyun Soo Park
Sarunas Verner
Physics
No-Scale Supergravity and Inflation
Advisor(s): Keith Olive
Cristian Aguilera Arellano
Economics
The China Shock and Job Loss in Mexico
Advisor(s): Mariacristina DeNardi
Aaron Morris
Conservation Sciences
Elephant carcass effects in savanna ecosystems and how ivory poaching reshapes
carrion ecology
Advisor(s): Joseph Bump
Chen Shi
Mathematics
Scattering of the Colinear Three-Body problem
Advisor(s): Richard Moeckel
Huda Zahid
Chemistry
Development of Small-Molecule Inhibitors and Biophysical Methods for the Epigenetic Protein BPTF
Advisor(s): William Pomerantz
Yangzesheng Sun
Chemistry
Machine learning in conjunction with molecular simulations for nanoporous materials discovery
Advisor(s): Ilja Siepmann
Einar Gunnarsson
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Modeling genetic and non-genetic heterogeneity in cancer: From the evolution of premalignant mutant fields to drug resistance driven by phenotypic switching
Advisor(s): Kevin Leder & Jasmine Foo
Sagar Tamang
Civil Engineering
Advancing the Predictability of the Earth System Processes: Insights from Optimal Mass Transport Theory
Advisor(s): Ardeshir Ebtehaj
Samuel Reed
Natural Resources Science and Management
Compounding Disturbances, Ecological Resilience, and the Turbulent Forest
Advisor(s): Peter Reich & Lee Frelich
Cydney McGuire
Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration
Pathways to Participation: Health and Structural Racism as Determinants of Individual Political Behavior
Advisor(s): Sarah Gollust
Zhichen Shi
Chemical Engineering
Strategies for selective and stable conversion of methanol to light olefins
Advisor(s): Aditya Bhan
Neil Razdan
Chemical Engineering
Mechanism, site requirements, and thermodynamic barriers of catalytic CH4
dehydroaromatization
Advisor(s): Aditya Bhan
Andreas Mueller
Materials Science and Engineering
Origins of Low Symmetry Particle Packings in Diblock Copolymer Melts
Advisor(s): Mahesh Mahanthappa & Frank Bates
Sarah Anderson
Biomedical Engineering
The Role of Cell Migration in Glioblastoma Progression
Advisor(s): David Odde
Robert Alvarez-Quinto
Plant Pathology
Study of the vertical transmission and activation of the plant pararetrovirus - Pelargonium vein banding virus
Advisor(s): Benham Lockhart
Julia Brokaw
Entomology
Maximizing the potential of prairie restoration and policy to benefit wild bees
Advisor(s): Daniel Cariveau
Isaiah Tolo
Conservation Sciences
A new tool for an old problem: Investigating koi herpesvirus as a biocontrol tool for common carp
Advisor(s): Nicholas Phelps
Anna Bennett
Plant and Microbial Biology
Hidden in plain sight: uncovering the diversity, distribution and functional potential of phototrophic Chloroflexi in Yellowstone hot springs
Advisor(s): Trinity Hamilton
Yue Wu
Rehabilitation Science
The Feasibility of Tele-Music Therapy on Children with Autism - A Concurrent Mixed Methods Study
Advisor(s): Peggy Martin
Ilya Slizovskiy
Veterinary Medicine
THE AGRICULTURAL ‘LABOR-OME’ PROJECT: Profiling the resistome and mobilome shared between pigs and agricultural workers
Advisor(s): Noelle Noyes & Jeff Bender
Hon Ki Cheung
Music
Different Uses of Chinese Musical Traditions and Their Sociocultural Implications in Contemporary Chinese American Music
Advisor(s): Sumanth Gopinath
Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries
Earth Sciences
Glacier change in Southern Patagonia: observations, forcings and feedbacks
Advisor(s): Andrew Wickert & Emi Ito
Maria Ramirez
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
Molecular and Cellular Forces in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Advisor(s): James Ervasti & Wendy Gordon