Matthew Schram, Mechanical Engineering, “Shock Dynamics in High-Speed Performance Inlets at Off-Design Conditions,” July 20, 2026, 9:00 a.m., EBIII-3115. Major Professor: Dr. Venkat Narayanaswamy.

Teng Fei, Computer Engineering, “From Vulnerability to Usability: Practical Implications and Emerging Applications of Radio Access and RF Signals,” July 21, 2026, 9:00 a.m., EBII-III – Bridge 3001. Major Professor: Dr. Wenye Wang.

Rafaella Fonseca da Costa, Civil Engineering, “Characterization of Recycled Binder Contribution in Asphalt Mixtures, July 21, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Cassie Castoren.

Sara Craig, Comparative Biomedical Science, “A Developing Glial Network’s Role in Repair and Survival Following Intestinal Injury,” July 22, 2026, 1:00 p.m., CVM Main Building, A 101. Major Professor: Dr. Anthony Blikslager.

Alexa Gormley, Animal Science, “The use of pre-, pro-, and postbiotics to improve intestinal health and growth of nursery pigs through positive influences on the mucosal microbiota and mucosal immune responses,” July 23, 2026, 9:00 a.m., Polk 125. Major Professor: Dr. Sung Woo Kim.

Jessie Maier, Microbiology, “Exploring the Transductome – Methods, Tools, and Analyses to Investigate the Bacterial DNA Carried by Virus Like Particles,” July 23, 2026, 10:00 a.m, Thomas Hall 3503. Major Professor: Dr. Manuel Kleiner.

Seth Eisenberg, Chemistry, “Development of IR-MALDESI Instrumentation for Enhanced Signal, Analyte Detection, and Data Analysis,” July 24, 2026, 11 a.m., Broughton Hall, Rm. 4231. Major Professor: Dr. David Muddiman.

Rajan Paudel, Plant Pathology, “Genome Assembly and Comparative Genomics of Alternaria Linariae and Septoria Lycopersici and Genome Wide Association Mapping of Southern Stem Blight Resistance: Advancing Disease Management in Organic Tomato Production,” July 24, 2026, 3:00 p.m., VRB Conference Rm. Major Professors: Dr. Tika Adhikari and Dr. Frank Louws.

Tonya Greene, Community College Leadership, “From Industry Expertise to Teaching Practice: A Qualitative Case Study of CTE Facultly Professional Learning in a North Carolina Community College”, July 27, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Makena Stewart.

Ece Ari Akdemir, Civil Engineering, “Planning for Disruption: Exploring the Vulnerability of Liquid Biofuel Supply Chains and Power Grids to Drought,” July 27, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Virtual. Major Professor: Dr. Jordan Kern.

Saifur Rahman, Agricultural Education and Human Sciences, “The Adoption and Diffusion of Generative Artificial Intelligence among North Carolina Extension Agents,” July 29, 2026, 9:00 a.m., 220 Ricks Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Joseph Donaldson.

Kimberly Charron, Comparative Biomedical Science, “Neurodevelopmental Roles of Cyfip2 in Zebrafish Sensorimotor Circuit Assembly,” July 29, 2026, 10:00 a.m., 3503 Stephens Room/Thomas Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Kurt Marsden.

Nirwan Tandukar, Genetics and Genomics, “Genomic and Metabolic Signatures of Environmental Adaptation and Nutrient Utilization in Grass Crops”, July 29, 2026, 10:30 a.m., Plant Science Building Room 4152, Major Professor: Dr. Rubén Rellán Álvarez.

Anil Gurses, Electrical Engineering, “Wireless Digital Twins for UAV Communications and Networking,” July 30, 2026, 9:30 a.m., EBII-3110. Major Professor: Dr. Mihail L. Sichitiu.

Yesid Ricardo Garavito Duarte, Animal Science, “Nutritional strategies to support intestinal health in nursery pigs: roles of functional feed additives and amino acid nutrition,” July 31, 2026, 9:00 a.m., 125 Polk Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Sung Woo Kim.

Kira Lindelof, Plant Biology, “Ecology, genetics, and taxonomy of Houstonia: an integrated approach to conservation,” July 31, 2026, 1:00 p.m., 2321 Gardner Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Alexander Krings.

Felipe Sanchez, Geospatial Analytics, “Geospatial distribution and dynamics of swine disease in the United States”, July 31, 2026, 1:30 a.m., Jordan Hall 5103, Major Professors: Dr. Gustavo Machado and Dr. Chris Jones.

Anindya Samya Saha, Civil Engineering, “Assessment of the Shear Response and Residual Capacity of Bridge Elements Using Detailed Displacement Field Measurements,” August 4, 2026, 12:00 p.m., FWH 3301. Major Professor: Dr. Giorgio Proestos.

Mesbah Ahmad, Chemical Engineering, “Novel biodegradable and stretchable biopolymer films for soft electronics “ August 5, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Orlin D. Velev.

Rylan Paye, Nuclear Engineering, “Space-Time Discretization Schemes with Reconstruction for the Boltzmann Transport Equation,” August 6, 2026, 10:00 a.m., BU-1121. Major Professor: Dr. Dmitriy Anistratov.

Gavin Gaynor, Forest Biomaterials, “Development of butanol/water-based biorefinery for the valorization of miscanthus: Process optimization, solvent recovery, and modeling”, August 7, 2026, 9:00 a.m., Jordan Hall Room 1214, Major Professor: Dr. Lucian Lucia.

Yaqin Si, Bioinformatics, “Statistical and Computational Methods for Structural Variant Association Analysis in Whole-Genome Sequencing Studies,” August 7, 2026, 10 a.m., Ricks 336. Major Professors: Dr. Jung-Ying Tzeng and Dr. Wenbin Lu.

Victoria Yarmey, Biomedical Engineering, “Stop and Smell the RO’s: Investigating the Neuronal Role in the C. elegans Oxidative Stress Response,” August 7, 2026, 10:00 a.m., EBIII, 4142. Major Professors: Dr. Adriana San Miguel/Dr. Michael Gamcsik.

Ermek Belekov, Electrical Engineering, “Application of Multifrequency CMUT and Hybrid Piezoelectric-CMUT Arrays in Acoustic Angiography and Photoacoustic Imaging,” August 7, 2026, 11:00 a.m., EBII-3110. Major Professor: Dr. Omer Oralkan.

Taylor Grubbs, Nuclear Engineering, “A Novel Bubble Coalescenece Control Methodology for Multiphase Flows Using Interface Capturing Simulation,” August 10, 2026, 9:30 a.m., BU-1121. Major Professor: Dr. Igor Bolotnov.

Adara Bacon, Chemistry, “Small-Molecule Aptamer Isolation and Sensor Development,” August 10, 2026, 10 a.m., D.H. Hill Library, 2312N. Major Professor: Dr. Yi Xiao.

Kevin Joy, Mathematics, “Computations of Mixed Segre Zeta Functions,” August 11, 2026, 11 a.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Yairon Cid Ruiz.

Zhansen Akhmetov, Electrical Engineering, “Comprehensive Modeling and Analysis of a Split Litz Wire-Based Open Bifilar Coil,” August 12, 2026, 10:30 a.m., Energy Board Room/Keystone Science Center. Major Professor: Dr. Pantic.

William Hurley Martin, Civil Engineering, “Structural Behavior and Self-healing of Fiber-reinforced Polymer Composites via Inductive Heating,” August 12, 2026, 1:00 p.m., FWH 3301. Major Professor: Dr. Jason F. Patrick.

Sergei Rigin, Material Science & Engineering, “Tailoring Advanced Surfaces for Sustainable Material Solutions,” August 13, 2026, 9:00 a.m., EBI – Room 3018. Major Professor: Dr. Yaroslava Yingling.

Jack Turicek, Mechanical Engineering, “Multifunctional Fiber reinforced Polymer Composites with Bioinspired Damage sensing, Self healing, and Thermal regulation,” August 19. 2026, FWH 3301. Major Professor: Dr. Jason F. Patrick.

Ayesha Awan, Comparative Biomedical Science, “Metaproteomic Investigations of Dietary Protein Sources and their Interactions with the Host and Gut Microbioma,” August 25, 2026, 9:30 a.m., 3503 Thomas Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Manuel Kleiner.

Vincenzo Musico, Material Science & Engineering, August 25, 2026, 11:00 a.m., EBI – 3018. Major Professor: Dr. Veronica Augustyn.

Nicholas Sengstaken, ELPHD, “Financial Resilience and Institutional Adaption in U.S. Higher Education”, September 2, 2026, 2:00 p.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Paul Umbach.

Mahe Rukh, Chemical Engineering, “Perovskite Oxides as Redox-Activated CO2 Sorbents for Sorption-Enhanced Oxidative Gasification/Reforming Reactions,” October 1, 2026, 3:00 p.m., EBI-1005. Major Professor: Dr. Fanxing Li.