2018-2019 Doctoral Dissertation Fellows Announced
The Graduate School is pleased to announce the 2018-2019 Doctoral Dissertation Fellows. The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) gives the University's most accomplished PhD 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. The award includes a stipend of $25,000 for the academic year (September-May), tuition for up to 14 thesis credits each semester (fall & spring), and subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan. Congratulations!
Adey Almohsen
History
Nation-Writing and Canon-Making: An Intellectual History of Palestinian Critiques in/of Exile
Advisor: Daniel Schroeter
Brandon Almy
Child Psychology
Self-Regulation and Adolescent Decision-Making
Advisor: Philip Zelazo
Evan Anderson
Chemistry
Ion-Transfer Voltammetry with Fluorous Matrices
Advisor: Phil Buhlmann
Sukaran Arora
Chemical Engineering
Mechanistic Insights of Methanol-to-Olefins Catalysis Over Zeolites
Advisor: Aditya Bhan
Anthony Auletta
Entomology
The Anatomical Distribution of Catecholamines in the Central Nervous Systems of the Arachnida and Their Roles in the Modulation of Behavior
Advisor: Karen Mesce
Sudhanya Banerjee
Bioproducts and Biosystems Science, Engineering and Management
Engineering, Economic, and Environmental Implications of Microalgae-based Multi-Product Biorefineries
Advisor: Shri Ramaswamy
Kari Campeau
Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication
Improvising Ability: Making Meaning of Autism Outreach, Diagnosis, and Services
Advisor: Mary Schuster
Qingfeng Cao
Mechanical Engineering
SALSCS – A Pollution Cleaning System for Urban Air Remediation
Advisor: David Pui
Alina Cernasev
Social and Administrative Pharmacy
Understanding the Experience of HIV Medication Adherence from the Perspective of African-Born Minnesotans Taking Antiretroviral Therapy
Advisor: Jon Schommer
Hari Cherupalli
Electrical Engineering
Application-specific Design and Optimization for Ultra-Low-Power Embedded Systems
Advisor: John Sartori
Hui-Min Chuang
Chemical Engineering
Study of DNA Physics by a Genome-Mapping Technique
Advisor: Kevin Dorfman
Ryan Connell
Materials Science and Engineering
Controlling Light Propagation in Luminescent Solar Concentrators
Advisor: Vivian Ferry
Daniel Cooper
Family Social Science
Moderating Effects of Risk and Protective Factors on the Relationship between Trauma Exposure and Family Functioning Among Latinx Subgroups
Advisor: Elizabeth Wieling
Loren Cowdery
History
An Empire of Cities: The Logistics of State Power in the Roman Republic’s Empire (264-133 BCE)
Advisor: Andrew Gallia
Alexandra Crampton
Biomedical Engineering
A High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture Model for Practical Personalized Medicine
Advisor: David Wood
Tianbai Cui
Physics
Disorder Effects and Non-Equilibrium Dynamics on the Electronic Order of Strongly Correlated Materials
Advisor: Rafael Fernandes
Carly Danielson
Communication Studies
Bystanders to Bullying in College: An Application of the Bystander Intervention Model
Advisor: Susanne Jones
Guilhem De Hoe
Chemistry
Sustainable Cross-linked Polyester Elastomers
Advisor: Marc Hillmyer
Rebecca Distefano
Child Psychology
Parenting Influences on Self-Regulation in Preschoolers Experiencing Homelessness
Advisor: Stephanie Carlson
Ana Claudia Dos Santos Sao Bernardo
Hispanic and Luso Literatures, Cultures and Ling
From the Dumpster to Bookshelf: Afro-Brazilian Literature Written by Women and the Quest for Mobility from 1960s to the Present
Advisor: Ana Paula Ferreira
Joshua Egan
Conservation Sciences
Ecological and Evolutionary Processes in the Origins of the Latitudinal Diversity Gradient
Advisor: Andrew Simons
Grant Fahnhorst
Chemistry
An Organic Chemist's Approach to Sustainable Polymers
Advisor: Thomas Hoye
Amy Fairgrieve
English
I've Got a Bad, Bad Feeling: Rethinking Negative Affect in Literary Studies
Advisor: Andrew Elfenbein
Mojtaba Fakhraee
Water Resources Science
Advisor: Sergei Katsev
Yadan Fan
Health Informatics
Automated Extraction Information of Dietary Supplements Information from Clinical Notes in Electronic Health Records
Advisor: Rui Zhang
Jessica Farrell
History
(Re)Capturing Empire: A Reconsideration of Liberia’s Precarious Sovereignty and American Empire as Exception in the 19th Century
Advisor: Helena Pohlandt-McCormick
Adam Fix
History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Sensible Mathematics: The Science of Music in the Age of the Baroque
Advisor: Victor Boantza
Jesse Fosheim
Mechanical Engineering
Soalr Fuels via Solar Chemical-Looping Methane Reforming
Advisor: Jane Davidson
Elena Gambino
Political Science
On Lesbian Existence: Making a Scene after the Feminist 1990s
Advisor: Nancy Luxon
Gautham Gampa
Pharmaceutics
Improving the Delivery of Molecularly-Targeted Therapies for the Treatment of Primary and Metastatic Brain Tumors
Advisor: William Elmquist
Amanda Gorton
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Adaptation in Ragweed Across Timescales of Environmental Change
Advisor: Peter Tiffin
Ghazaleh Haghiashtiani
Mechanical Engineering
3D Printing Electromechanical Transducers and Their Application in Development of Dynamic Organ Models
Advisor: Michael McAlpine
Jacob Held
Chemical Engineering
Atomic-Scale TEM Characterization of Complex Nanocrystals
Advisor: K. Andre Mkhoyan
Veronica Horowitz
Sociology
Towards a Sociology of Mercy: A Mixed-Methods Multi-Level Analysis
Advisor: Chris Uggen
Wenchao Jiang
Computer Science
Bridging Heterogeneous Wireless Technologies in IoT with Cross-Technology Communication
Advisor: Tian He
Anthony Jimenez
Sociology
Imperial Medicine: An Ethnography of Immigrant Experiences after the Affordable Care Act
Advisor: Lisa Sun-Hee Park
Jin Jin
Biostatistics
BayesianHierarchical Models for the Detection of Prostate Cancer Using Multi-ParametricMRIData
Advisor: Joseph Koopmeiners
Christopher Jonathan
Computer Science
Luna: An Adaptive Context-Aware Crowdsourcing Framework
Advisor: Mohamed Mokbel
Ezekiel Joubert III
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Educational Migrations: A Critical Narrative Study on the Economies of Black Student Movement in a Rural Southeast Michigan Community
Advisor: Timothy Lensmire
Elif Kalaycioglu
Political Science
The World Heritage System: Construction and Crisis of Universal Value in Global Politics
Advisor: Raymond Duvall
Simrat Kang
Feminist Studies
Ecologies, Economies, and Resilience: Vietnamese/American Resistance in Southeast Louisiana's Commercial Fisheries
Advisor: Jigna Desai
Yagmur Karakaya
Sociology
Imperial Daydreaming About the Ottoman Past: Turkey as a Case Study in State-Sponsored Nostalgia.
Advisor: Teresa Gowan
Jisu Kim
Mass Communication
Influence of Incorporating Citizen Eyewitness Images in the News on Audiences' Trust in the News Organizations and News Engagement
Advisor: Jisu Huh
Megan Kobiela
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
How Butterflies Respond to Anthropogenic Change
Advisor: Emilie Snell-Rood
Vighneswara Siva Santosh Kondeti
Mechanical Engineering
Plasma-Solid/Liquid Interactions: A Novel Approach to Green Chemical Processing and Wound Healing
Advisor: Peter Bruggeman
Shannon Kordus
Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology
Mechanisms of Susceptibility and Resistance to Para-Aminosalicylic Acid in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Advisor: Anthony Baughn
Molly Kupfer
Biomedical Engineering
3D Printing to Recapitulate Cardiac Tissue Structure, Development, and Function
Advisor: Brenda Ogle
Ethan Leng
Biomedical Engineering
Computer-Aided Detection of Prostate Cancer on Multiparametric MRI
Advisor: Gregory Metzger
Richie Lenne
Psychology
Sustaining Behavioral Changes: A Dynamical Systems Approach to Behavioral Medicine
Advisor: Alex Rothman
Sha Li
Psychology
Characterizing Learning Processes in Lung Cancer Detection: Human and Deep Learning
Advisor: Yuhong Jiang
Justin Lines
Neuroscience
Cortical Astrocyte - Neuronal Network Pathophysiology in Alzheimer's Disease In Vivo
Advisor: Alfonso Araque
Chih Hung Lo
Biomedical Engineering
Discovery of Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Protein-Protein Interactions by FRET-Based High-Throughput Screening and Structure-Based Drug Design
Advisor: Jonathan Sachs
Lotus Lofgren
Plant Biological Sciences
New Tools to Illuminate Fungal Host Specificity: From Mechanisms to Ecosystems
Advisor: Peter Kennedy
Morgan Meissner
Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics
Comparative Analyses of Molecular Mechanisms of Human Retroviral Replication
Advisor: Louis Mansky
Milica Milic
Anthropology
Negotiating Responsibility: Ethics of Choice and Care in Postsocialist Oncology Wards in Serbia
Advisor: Karen-Sue Taussig
Carrie Miller
Anthropology
Does Paternity Dertainty Elicit Protection and Support of Offspring by Male Gelada Monkeys?
Advisor: Michael Wilson
Dylan Mohr
Comparative Literature
Desiring the Captive Mind: Film, Visual Media, and the Siberian Prisoner of War Camps of WWI
Advisor: Cesare Casarino
Florencia Montal
Political Science
Investment Arbitration and its Discontents: The Reform of International Investment Treaties
Advisor: Ron Krebs
Sara Morsy
Computer Science
Data-Driven Methods for Course Selection and Degree Plan Generation
Advisor: George Karypis
Mirko Musa
Civil Engineering
Local and Non-Local Geomorphic Effects of Marine and Hydrokinetic Turbines: Bridging Renewable Energy and River Morphodynamics
Advisor: Michele Guala
Sarah Namugenyi
Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology
Determining the Role of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis PhoY Proteins in Persistence and the Identification of New Counter-Immune Mechanisms
Advisor: Anna Tischler
Justin Nelson
Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology
Genomic Approaches for Characterizing How Chemicals Act on Cells
Advisor: Chad Myers
Vegard Nygaard
Economics
The Determinants of High and Rising Life Expectancy Inequality
Advisor: Timothy Kehoe
Xiaoxue Qiu
Nutrition
Mechanistic Understanding of Chronic Inflammation Development During Obesity and Aging
Advisor: Xiaoli Chen
Veronica Quillien
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Bog or to Fix What has been Disturbed: Researching Back to Re/make the Culture of the Bàsàa People of Cameroon
Advisor: Mary Hermes
Sandra Rellier
Hispanic and Luso Literatures, Cultures and Ling
Recovering the Memories of European-Africans: Pieds-Noirs and Retornados
Advisor: Ana Paula Ferreira
Joel Runnels
Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
Joint Position and Attitude Estimation using Astrophysical Signals of Opportunity
Advisor: Demoz Gebre-Egziabher
Sarah Saddler
Theatre Arts
Training Corporate Bodies: Organizational Theatre in Global India
Advisor: Margaret Werry
Elizabeth Schneider
Geography
Multi-Scale Perspectives of Fire Activity in the Upper Great Lakes Region of Minnesota
Advisor: Kurt Kipfmueller
Allison Schwartz
History
Banking on Women’s Worth: Personhood and the Persistence of Gender Inequality in America’s New Debt Economy, 1961-2008
Advisor: Elaine Tyler May
Yunli Shao
Mechanical Engineering
Integrated Vehicle Dynamics and Powertrain Operation Optimization for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles
Advisor: Zongxuan Sun
Yanning Shen
Electrical Engineering
Nonlinear Models for Topology Inference and Learning over Graphs
Advisor: Georgios Giannakis
Narendra Singh
Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
Thermochemistry Modeling of Air for Hypersonic Flows
Advisor: Thomas Schwartzentruber
Aradhya Sood
Economics
Land Aggregation Frictions and Large Scale Manufacturing in India
Advisor: Thomas Holmes
Sara Sterner
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Exploration of Reading Whitely
Advisor: Marek Oziewicz
Wentao Tang
Chemical Engineering
Network Decomposition for Distributed Control and Optimization
Advisor: Prodromos Daoutidis
Xun Tang
Computer Science
Mining Spatial Patterns from Big Data
Advisor: Shashi Shekhar
Tatsuro Tanioka
Earth Sciences
Marine Phytoplankton and Global Environmental Change
Advisor: Katsumi Matsumoto
Viengneesee Thao
Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration
Economic Model of Maternal Opioid Use Disorder: Projecting Cost and the Effect of Treatment to Inform Value-Based Care and Policy
Advisor: Karen Kluntz
Joshua Thiede
Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology
Targeting Intrinsic Resistance Mechanisms to Potentiate Antitubercular Drugs
Advisor: Anthony Baughn
Kelsey Vitense
Natural Resources Science and Management
Shallow Lakes in Minnesota: Can We Predict the Good, the Bad, and the Vulnerable?
Advisor: John Fieberg
William Vogel
History of Science, Technology and Medicine
From War on Germs to Germs for War: Biological Weapons and American Biomedicine in the Early Cold War
Advisor: Susan Jones
Matthew Vollmer
Chemistry
Heterobimetallic Cooperativity for Chemical Catalysis: Making Metal Atoms WorkTogether in New and Unexpected Ways
Advisor: Connie Lu
Yan Wang
Chemistry
Field-Effect Modulation of Electrochemistry on Two-Dimensional Materials
Advisor: C. Daniel Frisbie
Everett Wenzel
Mechanical Engineering
Numerical Methods for the Simulation of Turbulent Multiphase Flows
Advisor: Sean Garrick
Amanda Wolfson
Germanic Studies
Positioning Genocide: Comparing the Holocaust and the Genocide of American Indians in Public History
Advisor: Leslie Morris
Jie Xue
Computer Science
Efficient Geometric Computing on Stochastic Datasets
Advisor: Ravi Janardan
Chenglong Ye
Statistics
Model Selection and Estimation for High-dimensional Data Analysis
Advisor: Yuhong Yang
Ethan Young
Psychology
The Cognitive Consequences of Early Childhood Adversity
Advisor: Jeffry Simpson
Biqiong Yu
Physics
Synchrotron X-ray Scattering Study of Copper-Oxide Superconductors
Advisor: Martin Greven
Ahmed Zamzam
Electrical Engineering
Intelligent Monitoring and Control for Next-GenerationSmart Grids
Advisor: Nikos Sidiropoulos
Wenjia Zhang
Chemical Engineering
Cell Membrane Stabilization by Block Polymers - A Novel Therapeutic Approach for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Advisor: Frank Bates
Yang Zhang
Computer Science
Securing and Enhancing Networks via Data-driven Analytics and Network Function Virtualization
Advisor: Zhi-Li Zhang
Tao Zhang
Materials Science and Engineering
Overcoming Loss Pathways to Unlock High Efficiency in Organic Solar Cells
Advisor: Russell Holmes
Chen Zhang
Public Affairs
In-Between People and Places: Collective Identity Formation in Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrants’ Community‐Defending Movements
Advisor: Kathy Quick
Zhengyang Zhao
Electrical Engineering
Development of Spintronic Devices for Ultra-Energy-Efficient Non-volatile Memory and Logic Applications
Advisor: Jian-Ping Wang
Jincheng Zhou
Biostatistics
Bayesian Causal Inference Methods for Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials: Does the Research Involve Animal or Human Subjects?
Advisor: Haitao Chu