Johnna Brooks, Biomathematics, “Developing a Tag-Integrated State-Space Model to Estimate Seasonal Population Dynamics and Episodic Natural Mortality in Spotted Seatrout,” March 19, 2026, 10 a.m., CMAST 205. Major Professors: Dr. Jie Cao and Dr. Jeffrey Buckel.

Morgan Demmler, Fiber and Polymer Science, “Structural Elucidation of Basic Dyes in Ballpoint Pen Inks and Textiles and Their Photodegraded Products: A Mass Spectrometry Study,” March 19, 2026, 10:00 a.m., WCOT, room 3438. Major Professor: Dr. Nelson Vinueza.

Bee Rinaldi, CRDM, “Speculative Expressive Computing and Code as Epistemological Praxis,” March 19, 2026, 1 p.m., Visualization Gallery, DH Hill Library. Major Professor: Dr. Paul Fyfe.

Han Phan, Biochemistry, “Discovery, cofactor selection, and mechanisms of bi-nuclear dependent para-aminobenzoate synthases,” March 19, 2026, 3:00 p.m., Polk Hall 128. Major Professor: Dr. Thomas Makris.

Moein Moosavi, Horticultural Science, “Enhancing strawberry propagation efficiency in controlled environment agriculture with photoperiod, planting density, and intracanopy lighting,” March 20, 2026, 9:00 a.m., 121 Kilgore Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Ricardo Hernandez.

Erica Vilsaint, ELPHD, “Navigating Race and Gender in Roles of Authority: A Case Study on the Coping Styles of Black Female Leaders in STEM Higher Education”, March 20, 2026, 9:00 a.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr Susan Barcinas.

Zachary Parks, Computer Science, A study of error diagnostic and error mitigation protocols applied to quantum computing applications,” March 20, 2026, 12:00 p.m., EB2 3265. Major Professor: Dr. Patrick Dreher.

Peng Chen, Mechanical Engineering, “Mechanics-Guided Design of Imageable and Swelling-Responsive Calcium Alginate Microspheres for Predictable Transcatheter Arterial Embolization,” March 20, 2026, 1:00 p.m., EBIII-3115. Major Professor: Dr. Jingjie Hu.

Dylan Cadwallader, Food Science, “Flavor and Flavor Chemistry of Aseptic Milk,” March 23, 2026, 8:30 a.m., 100-E / Schaub Hall. Major Professor: Dr. MaryAnne Drake.

Xinyu Xu, Industrial Engineering, “A Distributionally Robust Chance-constrained Quadratic-surface Twin Soft Support Vector Machine,” March 23, 2026, 10:00 a.m., FWH 4361. Major Professors: Dr. Shu-Cherng Fang/Dr. Xiaolei Fang.

Saviasachi Vaidya, Textile Technology Management, “A New Test Method for Sweat Management to Evaluate Wear Comfort by Measuring Absorption Rate, Wicking Rate and Drying Rate of Textiles,” March 23, 2026, 11:00 a.m., WCOT, room 4404. Major Professors: Dr. Kavita Mathur and Dr. Warren Jasper.

Micki Recchuiti, MEAS, “Investigating the Rheology of Basaltic Lavas on Venus and Earth via Remote Sensing and Experimental Methods,” March 23, 2026, 2:30 p.m., JH 1132. Major Professor: Dr. Arianna Soldati.

John Hensley, TELS, “”I Always Had a Voice”: How Community-Based Civics Can Empower Students to Embrace Engagement”, March 23, 2026, 3:00 p.m., CTI Buildling Room 325, Major Professor: Dr. Meghan Manfra.

Jared R. Cossin, Chemistry, “Efforts Towards Diverse Polyketide Production via CoA Ligase and PKS Engineering,” March 24, 2026, 9 a.m., DAB 210. Major Professor: Dr. Gavin Williams.

Joy Tongsri, ELPHD, “Estimating the Effect of Leadership Training on Social Change Behaviors Among College Students: A Propensity Score Weighted Analysis”, March 24, 2026, 11:00 a.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Joy Gayles.

Tanner Verber, Computer Science, “Addressing Realistic Client Constraints in Privacy-preserving Cloud-based protocols,” March 24, 2026, 3:00 p.m., EBII 2240. Major Professor: Dr. Alessandra Scafuro.

Deveshwar Hariharan, Electrical Engineering, “Cooperation Among Vehicles,” March 24, 3:30 p.m., EBII-3001. Major Professor: Dr. Seth Hollar.

Lei Xue, Civil Engineering, “Performance evaluation of asphalt mixtures using BMD + tests and indirect tensile test,” March 27, 2026, 9:00 a.m., FWH 4280. Major Professors: Dr. Y. Richard Kim/Dr. Shane Underwood.

Amelia Rivera, TELS, “Transforming Teacher Preparation Through a Global Immersion: Developing Linguistic Justice Orientation in Preservice Teachers.”, April 3, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Hunt Library Room 4505, Major Professor: Dr. Jamie Pearson.

Christy Batts, ELPHD, “Public Education Resources for Homeschoolers: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Homeschool Students’ Access to and Use of Pubic Education Resources in the Triangle Region of North Carolina”, April 7, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Remote, Major Professors: Dr. Tamara Young and Dr. Anna Egalite.

Vinit Kumar Singh, Computer Engineering, ” Learning Dynamics and Applications of Neural-Network Quantum States,” April 7, 2026, 12:00 p.m., EBIII-4142 BME. Major Professor: Dr. Sabre Kais.

Sarangi Joseph, Civil Engineering, “Sorption Equilbria of Per – and Polyfluoroalkl Substances (PFAS) on Activated Carbon,” April 8, 2026, 1:00 p.m., FWH 3280. Major Professor: Dr. Detlef Knappe.

Muhammad Anees, Electrical Engineering, “Stability considerations for DC Microgrids,” April 10, 2026, 11:00 a.m., Energy Board Room, FREEDM Systems Center. Major Professor: Dr. Srdjan Lukic.

James Birkett, ELPHD, “The Impact of Federal Grad PLUS Loans on Professional Degree Production: A Comparative Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Professional Masters and Doctoral Programs”, April 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Stephen Porter.

Harley Hanes, Mathematics, “Hyper-Reduction, Boundary Penalties, and Sensitivity Equations in
Projection-Based Reduced-Order Models,” April 13, 2026, 10 a.m., SAS 3282. Major Professor: Dr. Ralph Smith.

Taylor Leonard, Psychology, “Retirement Certainty and Financial Decision-making Competence: The Effect of Uncertainty on Subjective Financial Well-being,” April 13, 2026, 3 p.m., Faculty Seminar Room, 2312N, D.H. Hill Library. Major Professor: Dr. Daniel Gruehn.

Vinutha Ravinageswaran, Chemistry, “Exploring Interdisciplinary Knowledge Integration using Systems Thinking and Mechanistic Reasoning frameworks,” April 14, 2026, 1 p.m., COX 400. Major Professor: Dr. Maria Oliver-Hoyo.

Francisco Ponce Carrion, Mathematics, “Combinatorial Problems in Applied Algebraic Geometry,” April 14, 2026, 2:30 p.m., SAS 3282. Major Professor: Dr. Seth Sullivant.

Javier I. Madariaga Roman, Mathematics, “Stochastic Iterations in Hilbertian Nonlinear Analysis,” April 17, 2026, 11:30 a.m., SAS 3282. Major Professor: Dr. Patrick Combettes.

Rohit Singh, Computer Engineering, “Revisiting Simple Paradigms for Exploiting Control Independence in Superscalar Processors, April 17, 2026, 3:00 p.m., EBII 2095. Major Professor: Dr. Eric Rotenberg.

Madhusudan Madhavan, Mathematics, “Fast Algorithms For Optimal Data Acquisition in PDE-constrained Optimization Problems,” April 21, 2026, 8 a.m., SAS Hall, Rm. 3282. Major Professors: Dr. Alen Alexanderian and Dr. Arvind Saibaba.

Tran Anh Thu Nguyen, Chemistry, “Toward the Total Synthesis of Phyllobilins: Enabling Access to Biologically Relevant Chlorophyll Catabolites,” April 21, 2026, 8:30 a.m., COX 306. Major Professor: Dr. Jonathan Lindsey.

Joanna Elizabeth Muir, Chemistry, “Synthesis of Cyclobutanone Derivatives via Stereospecific Ring Expansion of Cyclopropanone Adducts,” April 27, 2026, 9 a.m., Cox Hall, Rm. 306. Major Professor: Dr. Vincent Lindsay.

Miara Bailey-Hall, Sociology, “The Complexities of Black Consumption: Black Experiences, Coping Strategies, and Resistance to Hegemonic Ideologies of Consumption,” April 28, 2026, 10 a.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Kim Ebert.

Muhammad Abdelraziq, Electrical Engineering, “Optimization-Driven Modeling, Analysis, and Design of High-Efficiency, High-Gravimetric-Power-Density Inductive Wireless Chargers for Unmanned Aerial Systems,” April 29, 2026, 10:00 a.m., FREEDM Energy Board Room. Major Professor: Dr. Zeljko Pantic.

Yongseok Jeon, Industrial Engineering, “Calibrating Digital Twins in Rapidly Changing Systems,” May 5, 2026, 9:00 a.m., FWH 4361. Major Professor: Dr. Sara Shashaani.

Vincent Novellino, Nuclear Engineering,” Multi-Level Hybrid Deterministic/Monte Carlo Methods for Neutral Particle Transport,” May 5, 2026, 11:00 a.m., BU 1121. Major Professor: Dr. Dmitriy Anistratov.

Kayla Hahn, Nuclear Engineering, “Plasma bubble spectroscopy: An in-situ method for material quantification of molten salts,” May 5, 2026, 3:00 p.m., BEL-1202. Major Professor: Dr. Alexander Bataller.

Keisha White, ELPHD, “To Be or Not to Be: An Exploratory Qualitative Study on Black Women District Leaders Aspiring to the Superintendency”, May 6, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Lance Fusarelli.

Doan Phuong Lien Cao, Chemistry, “Design and Synthesis of Porphyrins For Cancer Treatment,” May 7, 2026, 10 a.m., COX 400. Major Professor: Dr. Jonathan. S. Lindsey.

Davis Bryars, Nuclear Engineering, “Spectroscopic Characterization of Molten Salts,” May 7, 2026, 1:00 p.m., BUI 1202. Major Professor: Dr. Alexander Bataller.

Tiffany VanDerwerker, Social Science, “There Must be Something in the Water: Evaluating Water Quality in PFAS-Impacted Coastal Plain Aquifers,” May 11, 2026, 12:00 p.m., 2405 Williams. Major Professors: Dr. Detlef Knappe and Dr. Owen Duckworth.

Bret Timmons, Horticultural Science, “Sourcing, processing, and managing wood substrates for horticultural use,” May 12, 2026, 10:00 a.m., 121 Kilgore Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Brian Jackson.

Naimur Rahman Chowdhury, Industrial Engineering, “Location-Allocation and Multi-Agent Preferences in a Food Bank Network,” May 12, 2026, 11:00 a.m., FWH 4361. Major Professors: Dr. Osman Ozaltin/Dr. Julie Simmons Ivy.

John Yu, Electrical Engineering, “Decision-Relevant Probabilistic Forecasting for Power Systems-Methods, System-Level Evaluation, and Real-Time Implementation,” June 11, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Wenyuan Tang.

Yufeng Lin, Food Science, “Valorization of whey streams: protein and permeate aspects,” June 16, 2026, 10:00 a.m., G-40 / Schaub Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Haotian Zheng.