Doctoral Exam Schedule

Madeline Lockhart, Nuclear Engineering, “Kinetics Parameter Identifiability in Multi-source Multiplicity Analysis Analysis of Uranium-233 Oxides,” May 16, 2025, 11:00 a.m., Burlington 1121. Major Professor: Dr. John Mattingly.

Anil Radhakrishnan, Physics, “Adaptive Neural Architectures for Physical Systems: Exploring the Intersection of Nonlinear Dynamics and Machine Learning,” May 16, 2025, 12:45 p.m., Riddick 415. Major Professor: Dr. William Ditto.

Katy Hollinger Beatty, MEAS, “Climate Change Influences on the Rainfall and Flooding Associated with Synoptically Diverse Landfalling North Carolina Tropical Cyclones,” May 19, 2025, 9 a.m., BI-3018. Major Professor: Dr. Gary Lackmann.

Phoenix Tiller, Forest Biomaterials, “Examination of the Impact of Fines in Cotton Linter Activation, Catalyzation, and Acetylation Toward Cellulose Acetates”, May 23, 2025, 2:00 p.m., Biltmore Hall Room 1003, Major Professor: Dr. Sunkyu Park.

Maurika Smutherman, CRDM, “Threading Technologies: BlackFem Beatmaking and the Legacy of the Digital Griotte,” May 28, 2025, 11 a.m., Teaching and Visualization Labe, Hunt Library. Major Professor: Dr. Fernanda da Costa Portugal Duarte.

Gaurav Dhungel, Forestry and Environmental Resources, “Long-term Sustainability of Oaks in the US: Role of Management and Markets”, June 2, 2025, Partners II Suite 2500, Major Professor: Dr. Justin Baker.

Naomi Singer, Statistics, “Astronomy-Driven Finite Sample Inference,” June 2, 2025, 11 a.m., SAS 5202. Major Professors: Dr. Jonathan Williams and Dr. Sujit Ghosh.

Hyesim Seo, Textile Technology Management, “Green or Unique? How Design Typicality and Material Domain Distance Influence Purchase Intentions for Upcycled Clothing,” June 5, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Zoom. Major Professor: Dr. Byoungho Ellie Jin.

Monica Simmons, Community College Leadership, “Faculty Perceptions of Their Role in Workforce Readiness and Professional Development with Traditional Teaching Responsibilities”, June 6, 2025, 9:00 a.m., Remote, Major Professors: Dr. Audrey Jaeger and Dr. Bobbie Frye.

Junjian Wang, Animal Science and Poultry Science, “Statistical and Computational Methods for Genomic Prediction and Genetic Effect Identification in Livestock,” June 9, 2025, 9:00 a.m., 125 Polk Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Jicai Jiang.

Usman Amin, Food Science, “Food Structure Building Blocks Derived from Milk and Pluses: Soft Matter and Enzymatic Modification Aspects,” June 10, 2025, 10:00 a.m., G40 Schaub Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Haotian Zheng.

Magdelene Lee, Chemical Engineering, “New Technologies to Augment Biomolecular Data Assembly and Storage Capacities,” June 11, 2025, 3:00 p.m., Toxicology 2104. Major Professor: Dr. Albert Keung.

Zarife Begum Yagci, Chemical Engineering, “Human Models to Study Neurodevelopment with a Focus on UBE3A,” June 12, 2025, 2:30 p.m., Toxicology Building – 2104. Major Professor: Dr. Albert Keung.

Liannian Wang, Civil Engineering, “Advancing Construction Requirements Management through 4D BIM and Generative AI,” June 13, 2025, 10:00 a.m., FWH 3280. Major Professors: Dr. Kevin Han/Dr. Abhinav Gupta.

Karishma Rajeev Matange, Chemical Engineering, “Driving scalability of DNA based data storage systems through innovation in write and access functionalities,” June 13, 2025, 11:00 a.m., EBI-2018. Major Professor: Dr. Albert Keung.

Lauren Gonzalez, Forestry and Environmental Resources, “The Role of Gap-Based Silviculture in Hemlock Woolly Adelgid IPM: Impacts on Seedling Establishment, Biocontrol Agents, and Pest Physiology in the Southern Appalachians”, June 16, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214, Major Professors: Dr. Robert Jetton and Dr. Kelly Oten.

Yi Hu, Electrical Engineering, “Generative AI for Power Systems Data Analysis,” June 18, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Energy Board Room, FREEM Systems Center. Major Professor: Dr. Ning Lu.

Leandra Caywood, Chemical Engineering, “Mapping and modeling the dynamic transfer functions of eukaryotic gene regulation,” June 17, 2025, 12:00 p.m., Toxicology 2104. Major Professor: Dr. Albert Keung.

Tianyu Li, Chemical Engineering, “Engineering Vibrio natriegens for degrading and assimilating Poly(ethylene terephthalate),” June 18, 2025, 10:00 a.m., EBI-2018. Major Professor: Dr. Nathan Cook.

Mustapha Abdulmojeed, Chemistry, “Advancing SABRE-SHEATH Hyperpolarization for pH Sensing and reaction
monitoring,” June 19, 2025, 10 a.m., Partners III, Room 302. Major Professor: Dr. Thomas Theis.

Jennifer Campbell, Community College Leadership, “What’s Motivating Mom: The Lived Experiences of Single Mother Community College Students”, June 25, 2025, 10: a.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Audrey Jaeger and Dr. Catherine Hartman.

Munmun Basak, Forest Biomaterials, “Functional Agro-residue and Nonrecycled Waste Derived Nanocellulose for Packaging and Agricultural Applications”, July 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m., Biltmore Hall Room 2221, Major Professors: Dr. Lokendra Pal and Dr. Lucian Lucia.

Mohamad Javad Haghighat Manesh, Chemical Engineering, “Harnessing thermoacidophilic archaea for recovery and separation of critical metals and elements,” July 2, 2025, 10:00 a.m., O’Dell Room. Major Professor: Dr. Robert Kelly.

Tiancheng Xue, Operations Research, “ROM and Anderson Acceleration For Iterative Schemes on Least Squares Problems and Applications to Neural Network and PDEs,” July 3, 2025, 2:30 p.m., SAS 3282. Major Professor: Dr. Kazufumi Ito.

Yang Xu, Statistics, “Causal Decision Making: From Offline Evaluation to Online Learning,” July 8, 2025, 1 p.m., Remote. Major Professors: Dr. Rui Song and Dr. Wenbin Lu.

Cassie Gann-Phillips, Civil Engineering, “Advanced seismic velocity models for regional ground motion characterization,” July 11, 2025, 11:00 a.m.., FWH 3301. Major Professor: Dr. Ashly Cabas.

Ivan Sanin Sprague, Chemistry, “Rapid One-pot Synthesis of Quinolizinium Scaffolds via Formal Cycloaddition between Stabilized Azinium Ylides and Cyclopropanones,” July 16, 2025, 1 p.m., COX 400. Major Professor: Dr. Vincent Lindsay.

Chinazam Emmanuel Chukwuma, Chemistry, “The Fate of Siderophores: Biotic Degradation of Siderophores,” July 18, 2025, 1 p.m., Williams Building, Room 2223. Major Professors: Dr. Reza Ghiladi and Dr. Owen Duckworth.

Juliana Pin, Operations Research, “Optimizing a Nationwide Supply Chain for Oilseeds in Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production: Pennycress, Camelina, and Carinata,” August 8, 2025, 11:45 a.m., PSB 4152. Major Professor: Dr. Daniela Jones.

Julia Harrison, Civil Engineering, “Monitoring and Modeling Fecal Contamination in Coastal Systems and Assessing Microbial Health Risks from Flooding,” August 11, 2025, 9:00 a.m., FWH 3280. Major Professors: Dr. Angela Harris/Dr. Natalie Nelson.