Doctoral Exam Schedule
Sonia Preisser Rubio, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, “Alternative Sports and the Bigger Picture: Unlocking Their Untapped Potential to Foster and Enhance Social, Mental, and Environmental Well-being”, April 4, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Room 1214, Major Professors: Dr. Jonathan Casper and Dr. Kyle Bunds.
Logan Ritter, Chemistry, “Development and Applications of an Advanced Polarizable Force Field for Metal-Organic Frameworks,” April 7, 2025, 1:30 p.m., COX 306. Major Professor: Dr. Brian Space.
Yun Mao, Comparative Biomedical Science, “Cell-Specific Role of HMGB1 in Airspaces of Murine Lungs with Muco-obstructive Lung Disease,” April 9, 2025, 11:00 a.m., 101 Research Building. Major Professor: Dr. Yogesh Saini.
James Skripchuk, Computer Science, “Effective Help-Seeking in Programming Outside the Classroom: Challenges, Motivations, and Pedagogy,” April 9, 2025 11:00 a.m., Ventuire IV-Room 420. Major Professor: Dr. Thomas Price.
Corina De La Torre, TELS, “Race, Education, and Systemic Barriers: Examining the Psychological and Structural Dimensions of Educational Inequity”, April 10, 2025, 1:00 p.m., CTI Room 325, Major Professor: Christy Byrd.
Neda Jamaledding, Civil Engineering, “Numerical Study on the Response of Mooring and Microile Anchoring Systems Supporting Offshore Renewable Energy Devices under Environmental Loading,” April 14, 2025 12:00 p.m., FWH 4280. Major Professor: Dr. Mohammed Gabr.
Jesslyn Durling, PSY, “A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of the SPIRIT Toolkit for Facilitating Autism Diagnostic Feedback with Caregivers,” April 14, 2025, 12 p.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. John Begeny.
Ruth Mathenge, Learning and Teaching in STEM, “Impact of Immersive Virtual Reality Learning Environments on Students’ Conceptualization of the Structure and Scale of the Atom and its Effects on the Chemical Distinction of Elements, Compounds and Mixtures.”, April 14, 2025, 12:30 p.m., CTI Room 333, Major Professor: Dr. Cesar Delgado.
Andrew Shedlock, Mathematics, “An Inverse Problem for Hyperbolic PDEs on Riemannian Manifolds,” April 14, 2025, 12:30 p.m., SAS 3282. Major Professor: Dr. Teemu Saksala.
Ana-Maria Topliceanu, Learning and Teaching in STEM, “Mentoring Experiences of Graduate STEM Students”, April 16, 2025, 9:00 a.m., Center for Technology and Innovation Room 317, Major Professor: Dr. Margaret Blanchard.
Ralph Clark, Psychology, “Exploring How Driver’s Training and Crosswalk Guarding Apparatus Can Improve Pedestrian Safety at Roundabouts,” April 16, 2025, 10:30a.m., Withers Hall Conference Room 135. Major Professor: Dr. Christopher Mayhorn.
Jack Bobo, Horticultural Science, “Investigating the Phytotoxic Potential of Engineering Wood Substrates,” April 17, 2025, 9:00 a.m., 121 Kilgore Hall. Major Professor: Dr. Brian Jackson.
Samhita Pal, Statistics, “Bayesian Sparse Projection in High-dimensional Models,” April 17, 2025, 11 a.m., Tompkins Hall, 0G109. Major Professor: Dr. Subhashis Ghoshal.
Brent Vizanko, Civil Engineering, “Simulating Changes in Water Demand due to COVID-19 for Water Distribution Systems,” April 17, 2025, 1:00 p.m., FWH – 3280. Major Professor: Dr. Emily Zechman Berglund.
Hangjin Liu, Electrical Engineering, “A Machine Learning Approach for Predicting Factors that Impact Sweetpotato Traits and Predicting Crop Grades,” April 18, 2025, 10:00 a.m., PSB-4-4106. Major Professor: Dr. Cranos M. Williams.
Abdullah Al Arafat, Computer Science, “Towards Resilient and Secure Real-Time Cyber-Physical Systems,” April 18, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Zoom. Major Professor: Dr. Zhishan Guo.
Nagwa Khaled, Comparative Biomedical Science, “Evaluation of Marek’s Disease Virus-Induced Immunosuppression induced by very virulent plus Marek’s disease virus in Meat Type Chickens,” April 18, 2025, 12:00 p.m., CVM Main Building – 112 Green Theater (South). Major Professors: Dr. Isabel Gimeno and Dr. Ravi Kulkarni.
Ethan Foote, Crop Science, “Refining Integrated Pest Management Strategies for Peanut Production Systems,” April 25, 2025, 2:00 p.m., WMS 2405. Major Professors: Dr. David Jordan and Dr. Jeffrey Dunne.
Andrew Comstock, Physics, “Control of Magnetic States through Crystal Symmetry in Reduced Dimensional Perovskites,” April 21, 2025, 9 a.m., Partners II 1514. Major Professor: Dr. Dali Sun.
Esdras Carbajal Melgar, Crop Science, “Advancing Warm-season Turfgrass Breeding Through Biotechnology Applications and Assessment of Germplasm Stress Tolerance,” April 22, 2025, 2:00 p.m., WMS 2223. Major Professor: Dr. Dr. Susana Milla-Lewis.
Junyeong Jung, Electrical Engineering, “Design of electric Machines with Harmonic Loss Minimization for Aviation using Alternative Materials,” April 23, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Engery Board Room/FREEDM. Major Professor: Dr. Iqbal Husain.
Rachel Morris, Mathematics, “Convergence and Regularity Guarantees for Adversarially Robust Classifiers,” April 23, 2025, 1 p.m., SAS 4201. Major Professor: Dr. Ryan Murray.
Stephen J. McBride, Chemistry, “Development of SABRE Hyperpolarization Methods for Next Generation Metabolic Imaging,” April 24, 2025, 9:30 a.m., TOX 2104. Major Professor: Dr. Thomas Theis.
Caitlin Niven, Forestry and Environmental Resources, “Influence of Temperature and Precipitation on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Global Environmental Health”, April 25, 2025, 11:00 a.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214, Major Professor: Dr. Ayse Ercumen.
Xi Liu, PSY, “Understanding Respect Through the Lens of Chinese and American Cultures,” April 25, 2025, 11 a.m., Withers Hall Rm, 145. Major Professor: Dr. Amy Halberstadt.
Nazia Alam, Computer Science, “Improving student learning and reducing training time in intelligent tutors via machine learning and self-explanation,” April 29, 2025, 11:00 a.m., Zoom. Major Professor: Dr. Tiffany Barnes.
Logan Dameris, Toxicology, “The Effects of Cadmium Exposure During Critical Windows of Susceptibility on Liver Health and the Role of the Imprinted Gene Network,” April 29, 2025, 12 p.m., TOX 2104&2102. Major Professor: Dr. Michael Cowley.
Ryen Frazier, Forest Biomaterials, “Influence of Dissolving Pulp Biomass Source and Purity on Cellulose Carbamate and Ionic Liquid Textile Fiber Production”, April 29, 2025, 2:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Additional Room 1214, Major Professors: Dr. Ronalds Gonzalez, Dr. Ericka Ford, and Dr. Joel Pawlak.
Ragan Wilson, PSY, “The Impact of Video Format and Haptics on Viewing Sports Media Experiences,” April 25, 2025, 1:30 p.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Christopher Mayhorn.
Vicmarie Marrero-Colon, Toxicology, “Investigating the Function of Zac1 and the Imprinted Gene Network in Liver Disease Induced by the Early Life Environment,” April 25, 2025, 9 a.m., TOX 2104/2102. Major Professor: Dr. Michael Cowley.
Taylor O’Lear Reid, Prestage Department of Animal and Poultry Science, “Evaluating the Effects of Dietary Interventions and Housing Environments on Laying Hen Productivity and Pullet Development,” April 29, 2025, 1:30 p.m., Scott 216. Major Professor: Dr. Kenneth Anderson.
Jamie Breunig, Chemistry, “Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Heterocyclic Containing Natural Products,” April 30, 2025, 9 p.m., DAB 210. Major Professor: Dr. Joshua Pierce.
Xiaolu Bai, Psychology, “Using Verbal Prompts to Enhance Driver Engagement in Partial Automation,” May 1, 2025, 10 a.m., Withers Hall, Room 135. Major Professor: Dr. Jing Feng.
Charles Cheron, Nuclear Engineering, “Implementation and Testing of High Burnup Fission Gas Release and Other Fuel Performance Models in COBRA-TF,” May 1, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Burlington Nuclear Labs – 1121. Major Professor: Dr. Maria Avramova.
Marlee Reed, Civil Engineering, “Elucidating the role of granular characteristics on the behavior of MICP-treated sands. May 2, 2025, 9:30 a.m., FWH 3301. Major Professors: Dr. Brina Montoya.
Reem Alameh, Chemistry, “Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications of Rhenium (I) Complexes, May 5, 2025, 11 a.m., PSB 4152. Major Professor: Dr. Felix Castellano.
Martha McGrath-Brown, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, “Navigating Barriers and Gender Performance: Exploring the Experiences of Women in Leadership within Men’s Professional Sports”, May 5, 2025, 12:30 p.m., Biltmore Hall Room 1003, Major Professor: Dr. Mike Edwards.
Mai Abdlmigeed, Chemical Engineering, “Investigation of Green Bio-Base and Mesoporous Zr-MOF Composites Using Atomic Layer Deposition for Organophosphate and Chemical,” May 6, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Room 2015. Major Professor: Dr. Gregory Parsons.
Meggie Romick, ELPHD, “The Struggle is Real: The Stress and Coping Experiences of Doctoral Students with Mental Health Concerns”, May 7, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Hunt Library Teaching and Visualization Lab, Major Professor: Dr. Alyssa Rockenbach.
Laura Pierrie, ELPHD, “A Program Evaluation of Standards-Based Grading and Its Impacts on Teacher Morale and Retention.”, May 8, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Remote, Major Professor: Dr. Timothy Drake.
Ivan Raigosa-Garcia, Forestry and Environmental Resources, “Loblolly pine plantations productivity: Characterization, response to fertilizer and herbicide application, and its effects on net present value and carbon management”, May 8, 2025, 3:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214, Major Professors: Dr. Rachel Cook and Dr. Justin Baker.
Ali Eloki, Physics, “Universal Coarse Geometry of Spin Systems,” May 9, 2025, 10 a.m., Riddick 202. Major Professor: Dr. Corey Jones.
Mary Estrada, TELS, “Global Professional Development for Educators: A Case Study of North Carolina Teachers in Buenos Aires”, May 16, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Hunt Library Visualization Lab, Major Professor: Dr. Angela Wiseman.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.