Doctoral Exam Schedule
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.
Emma Schoeppner, Entomology, “Monitoring and managing wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in North Carolina sweetpotato agroecosystems,” May 30, 2025 9:00 a.m., 4125 PSB. Major Professor: Dr. Anders Huseth.
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.
Vendela Haag, MEAS, “The Behavior of Basaltic Magma and Lava: Investigations using Fractal and Rheological Methods across Multiple Scales,” June 3, 2025, 12 p.m., JH 1132. Major Professor: Dr. Arianna Soldati.
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.
Khalid Alwuhaib, Economics, “Assessing Consumer Welfare Impacts of Public Housing Policies, Residential District Cooling, and VRF in Kuwait”, June 6, 2025, 11:00 a.m., Nelson Hall Room 4302, Major Professors: Dr. Zachary Brown and Dr. Harrison Fell.
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.
Michael Norman, Physics, “Connectivity and Contraction in Cytoskeletal Networks,” June 12, 2025, 2 p.m., Riddick 106. Major Professor: Dr. Julio Monte Belmonte.
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.
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.
Erin Crites, Physics, Impacts on Polymer Composites from the Photothermal Heating of Metallic, Organic, and Carbonaceous Nanoparticles,” June 17, 2025, 10 a.m., Riddick 106. Major Professors: Dr. Laura Clarke and Dr. Jason Bochinski.
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.
Zachary T. Hilliard, Applied Mathematics, “Improving Nonlinear PDE-Based Forecasts: Leveraging Conserved Quantities, Observational Data, and Machine Learning,” June 20, 2025, 11 a.m., SAS 4201. Major Professor: Dr. Mohammad Farazmand.
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.
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 30, 2025, 9:00 a.m., Jordan Hall Addition Room 1214, Major Professors: Dr. Robert Jetton and Dr. Kelly Oten.
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.
Allie Guerra, Chemistry, “Progress Towards the Total Synthesis of Abyssomicin C,” October 13, 2025, 10 a.m., DAB 210. Major Professor: Dr. Joshua Pierce.