Doctoral Exam Schedule
Mengyue Chen, Mechanical Engineering, “Study on Therapeutic Ultrasound in Transcranial Neuromodulation, Transient Hyperthermia, Intratumoral Sonoporation and Histotripsy,” November 21, 2025, 9:00 a.m., EBIII- 3115A. Major Professor: Dr. Xiaoning Jiang.
Lucia Rebeca Gomez Hurtado, Nuclear Engineering, “Irradiation Effects on Gallium Oxide: From Sample Preparation to Microstructural Characterization,” November 21, 2025, 9:30 a.m., Burlington. Major Professor: Dr. Ge Yang.
Alexis Kriete, Entomology, “Conditional Sex Conversion Systems for Improved Control of Insect Pests,” November 21, 2025, 11:00 a.m., Gardner 2321. Major Professor: Dr. Maxwell Scott.
Sana Behnam Asl, Design, “A Human-Centered Approach for Sharing Patient Narratives through Digital Storytelling: A Research through Design Study,” November 21, 2025, 11 a.m., KAM-130. Major Professors: Dr. Carolina Gill and Dr. Kelly Umstead.
Dominic Manz, Forestry, “Phenology, Risk Assessment, and In-Field Management: Understanding Elongate Hemlock Scale in Fraser fir Christmas Trees.”, November 21, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Addition Rom 3213, Major Professors: Dr. Robert Jetton and Dr. Clyde Sorenson.
Fatemeh Ashrafi, Textile Technology Management, “U.S.–Mexico Denim Trade under Tariff Increases: An Elasticity and Welfare Analysis,” November 26, 2025, 10:00 a.m., Zoom. Major Professors: Dr. Marguerite Moore and Dr. Zahra Saki.
Naycari Forfora, Forest Biomaterials, “Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Selected Fibers: Carbon Footprint of Tissue and Textile Applications”, December 2, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214, Major Professor: Dr. Ronalds Gonzalez.
Sayada Momotaz Akther, Soil Science, “The turfgrass root microbiome: responses to the environment and mechanisms for promoting resilient plant,” December 2, 2025, 2:00 p.m., WMS 2223. Major Professor: Dr. Wei Shi.
Uchenna Osia, Geospatial Analytics, “Policy, Place, and Practice: Mapping Data into Decisions for Environmental Investment”, December 2, 2025, 3:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Room 5103, Major Professor: Dr. Bethany Cutts.
Christopher Jadelis, Mechanical Engineering, “Investigation of Experimental Movement Type and Effort Level Selections for Personalization of a Wrist Musculoskeletal Model,” December 3, 2025, 9:00 a.m., EBIII-3114. Major Professor: Dr. Katherine Saul.
Mabel Barreiro Carpio, Chemistry, “Strategies to Improve Pharmacological Efficacy of Tyrosine Kinase
Inhibitors,” December 3, 2025, 11 a.m., Dabney 210. Major Professors: Dr. Joshua G. Pierce and Dr. Yevgeny Brudno.
Jingtian Lu, Fiber and Polymer Science, “Assessing the Essential Use of Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances in Firefighters’ Protective Clothing in terms of Repellency and Flammability,” December 3, 2025, 2:00 p.m., Zoom. Dr. Bryan Ormond.
Maria Herrera Quesada, Nuclear Engineering, “Tracking Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species in Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets: Advanced Diagnostics from Gas to Liquid to Biological Effects,” December 3, 2025, 2:00 p.m., BUI 202. Major Professor: Dr. Katharina Stapelmann.
Ivana Paola Azuaje Villasmil, Forest Biomaterials, “Understanding the carbon footprint, recuclability and techno-economics of alternative fibers in packaging products”, December 4, 2025, 9:00 a.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214, Major Professors: Dr. Ronalds Gonzalez and Dr. Richard Venditi.
Donghyeon Koh, Electrical Engineering, “Critical Path Delay Prediction for Evolving Netlists,” December 4, 2025, 11:00 a.m., MRC 446. Major Professor: Dr. William Davis.
Shian Su, Electrical Engineering, “Experimental Characterization of Active Metamaterial with XY-Direction Unit Cells and Z-Direction Array,” December 4, 2025, 11:30 p.m., EBII-2095. Major Professor: Dr. David Ricketts.
Doyeong Hur, Soil Science, “A comprehensive evaluation of chemical and biological inhibitors to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions and ammonia volatilization from agricultural soils,” December 4, 2025, 2:00 p.m., WMS 2223. Major Professors: Dr. Dr. Alex Woodley and Dr. Luke Gatiboni.
Corey Wishon, Animal and Poultry Science, “Evaluation of Cold Pressed Hemp Seed Cake as Viable Protein Additive in Commercial Turkey Rations,” December 5, 2025, 8:00 a.m., Scott 216. Major Professors: Dr. Adam Fahrenholz and Dr. Jesse Grimes.
Michael Palmer, Horticultural Science, “The Impact of Initial Plant Size and Chill Hours on Meristem Fate and Vegetative Development of Rooted Strawberry Transplants,” December 5, 2025, 2:00 p.m., 121 Kilgore Hall. Major Professors: Dr. Mark Hoffman and Dr. Ricardo Hernandez.
Harshit Nath, Electrical Engineering, “Grid Forming Strategy for MMC based ES-STATCOM and PCS,” December 5, 2025, 2:00 p.m., Energy Board Room/FREEDM. Major Professor: Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya.
Tana Palomino, Chemistry, “Integration of Chemical and Instrumental Methods to Structurally Elucidate and Spatially Resolve Labile Glycan Modifications,” December 5, 2025, 10 a.m., Dabney 210. Major Professor: Dr. David Muddiman.
Emmanuella Martin, Adult and Community College Education, “”That’s Your Eduge Up. Be Original.”: Exploring Momentum in the Experiences of Black Transfer-Intending Community College Students”, December 5, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Remote, Major Professors: Dr. Audrey Jaeger and Dr. Catherine Hartman.
Sivaranjani Palani, Microbiology, “Microbial Ecology of Rare and Abundant Microorganisms in Anaerobic Degradation of Long Chain Fatty Acids,” December 8, 2025, 9:30 a.m., FWH CCE 3301. Major Professor: Dr. Francis Lajara de los Reyes.
Michael Bergman, Chemical Engineering, “Computational Design and Evaluation of Plastic-Binding Peptides,” December 8, 2025, 10:00 a.m., EBI-1010. Major Professor: Dr. Carol K. Hall.
Jacob Daye, Aerospace Engineering, “Ultra-thin Composite Space Structures: From Active Deployment to Cable-stayed Architectures,” December 8, 2025, 11:30 a.m. Major Professor: Dr. Andrew Lee.
Shriarjun Shastry, Chemical Engineering, “Advances in Peptide Pseudo-Affinity Chromatography for Viral Vector Purification,” December 8, 2025, 2:00 p.m., BTC135-BTEC. Major Professor: Dr. Stefano Menegatti.
Anna Evers, Soil Science, “Elucidating the Fate of Siderophores in Soil Systems,” December 8th, 3:00 p.m., WMS 2223. Major Professor: Dr. Owen Duckworth.
Debpratim Adak, Computer Engineering, “Secure Microarchitecture Design with Minimal Performance Overhead,” December 9, 2025, 9:30 a.m., EBII-III West 3110. Major Professors: Dr. Eric Rotenberg/Dr. Amro Awad.
Catherine Odhiambo, Chemistry, “Overcoming Bottlenecks to Oxidized Terpenes Via Biosensor Guided
Engineering,” December 9, 2025, 11 a.m., DAB 210. Major Professor: Dr. Gavin Williams.
Nixon Igunza, Learning and Teaching in STEM, “Investigating Technology Use and Integration: Experiences Among Community College Transfer Students in Mathematics Education Teacher Preparation Program”, December 10, 2025, 12:00 p.m., CTI Building room 317, Major Professor: Dr. Robin Anderson.
Sanaz Mirtalebi, Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, “Sequential Application of Alkaline and Acidic Electrolyzed Water for Microbial Reduction in Food Matrices and In Vitro Models,” December 10, 2025, 10:00 a.m., G40 Schaub Hall. Major Professors: Dr. Alexander Chouljenko and Dr. Lynette Johnston.
Mary Frances Wang, Chemistry, “Investigating and Expanding the Metabolomic and Lipidomic Landscapes
of Neurological Disorders by IR-MALDESI MSI,” December 10, 2025, 1 p.m., COX Hall, 400. Major Professor: Dr. David. C. Muddiman.
Qingyu Geng, Electrical Engineering, “Smart Wheelchair Control Based on Transformer Architecture and Reinforcement Learning, ” December 10, 2025, 1:00 p.m., EBII-2077. Major Professors: Dr. Enward Grant/Dr. Frederick Livingston.
Nicholas Carroll, Chemical Engineering, “Experimental and Computational Investigation of Lateral Growth Mechanisms, Material Properties, and Feature Shape Evolution during Area-Selective Deposition of Polymeric and Metal Oxide Thin Films,” December 11, 2025, 10:00 a.m., EBI-1011. Major Professor: Dr. Gregory Parsons.
Austin Gragson, ELPHD, “Racial Segregation in Early Care and Education Providers: A Nationally Representative Analysis”, December 11, 2025, 12:00 p.m., CTI Building Room 325, Major Professor: Dr. Michael Little.
Louis Goodall, Geospatial Analytics, “What’s all this then?: Managing Piedmont forests for balanced ecosystem service delivery”, December 11, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Room 5103, Major Professor: Dr. Robert Scheller.
Shaikat Chandra Dey, Forest Biomaterials, “Biocrude Derived Carbon Anode Materials for Battery Applications”, December 12, 2025, 8:30 a.m., Pulp and Paper Labs Room 2221, Major Professor: Dr. Sunkyu Park.
Edgar Carrejo, Forest Biomaterials, “Building Decarbonization Methods in the Pulp and Paper Industry”, December 12, 2025, 11:00 a.m., Pulp and Paper Labs Room 2221, Major Professors: Dr. Sunkyu Park and Dr. Joe Sagues.
Aakriti Khadka, Civil Engineering, “Crack Kinematics and Assessment of Shear Critical Reinforced Concrete Slender Beams,” December 15, 2025, 10:00 a.m., FWH 3280. Major Professor: Dr. Giorgio Proestos.
Amanda Solliday, Horticultural Sciences, “Assessing Sustainability Through Environmental Practices, Carbon Emissions, and Plastic Material Flows in U.S. Floriculture,” December 16, 2025, 9:00 a.m., 121 Kilgore Hall. Major Professors: Dr. Melinda Knuth and Dr. Brian Jackson.
Man Hou Vong, Chemical Engineering, “Vapor Deposition of Silicon-Based Low Dielectric Constant Materials and Omniphobic Coatings, and Dewetting-Induced Metal Oxide Printing via Liquid Metals,” December 16, 2025, 9:30 a.m., EBI-2018. Major Professors: Dr. Michael Dickey/Dr. Gregory Parsons.
Md Ahsanuzzaman, Civil Engineering, “Assessment of Micropile Foundation Systems for Anchoring Ocean Renewable Energy, Marine Hydrokinetics (MHK) Devices,” December 16, 2025, 1:00 p.m., FWH 4280. Major Professors: Dr. Mo Gabr/Dr. Roy Borden.
Austin Heine, Forestry and Environmental Resources, “Impact of the mass Production of Controlled Pollinated Seed in Loblolly Pine and Ways to Improve Seed Yields Using New Pollen Testing and Collection Methods”, December 17, 2025, 1:00 p.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1220, Major Professors: Dr. Steve McKeand and Dr. John King.
David Calvert, Physics, “Effects of Stellar Modeling and Magnetohydrodynamics on Core-Collapse Supernovae,” December 18, 2025, 10 a.m., Riddick 400P. Major Professors: Dr. Carla Frohlich and Dr. James Kneller.
Patrick Hartwell, Nuclear Engineering, “Development of Metal Oxide Infused Conformal Coating for Space Electronics,” December 22, 2025, 4:00 p.m., Remote. Major Professor: Dr. Rob Hayes.
Thomas Thelen, Civil Engineering, “Characterizing Chronic Coastal Flooding Drivers, Impacts, and Adaptation Pathways,” January 5, 2026, 10:00 a.m., FWH. Major Professor: Dr. Katherine Anarde.
Joseph Lannan, Physics, “Novel Mechanism of Biological Contraction and Building Cyborg Cells,” January 5, 2026, 1 p.m., Riddick 202. Major Professor: Dr. Mary Elting.
Kyle Vogt-Lowell, Chemical Engineering, “Molten-carbonate-mediated Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane: A Multiphase Reactive Carbon Capture and Utilization Scheme for Sustainable Ethylene Production,” January 6, 2026, 1:30 p.m., EBI 1005. Major Professor: Dr. Fanxing Li.
Margaret Lawrimore, Geospatial Analytics, “From Zoning Maps to Urban Futures: A New Approach to Modeling Development Across Time”, February 27, 2026, 12:30 p.m., Jordan Hall Room 5103, Major Professors: Dr. Ross Meentemeyer and Dr. Georgina Sanchez.
Brenden Heinichen, Prestage Department of Poultry Science, “Advancing Predictive Nutrition in Commercial Turkeys: From Mechanistic Model Validation to Machine Learning Applications,” March 2, 2026, 9:00 a.m., Scott Hall 216. Major Professors: Dr. Peter Ferket and Dr. Ramon Malheiros.
Meghan Moore, Psychology, “Comparing Stress Mindset Intervention Approaches,” March 5, 2026, 11 a.m., D.H. Hill Library, Rm. 2310. Major Professor: Dr. Jennifer Burnette.
Mohamed Abdul Hameed, Nuclear Engineering, “From Electrons to Bubbles and Grains: Mechanistic Modeling of Uranium Nitride,” March 11, 2026, 10:30 a.m., BU-1121-Duke. Major Professor: Dr. Benjamin Beeler.