Home Navigating Your Degree Oral Defense Dates Oral Defense Dates Liang Chen Program: Molecular, Cell & Dev Biology Dissertation Title: Ether Lipids Regulate Lysosomal Homeostasis Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: BSB 1010 Chair: Ming Li Andre Antoine Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: Two Color X-Ray Pump X-Ray Probe Ultrafast Diffraction of MgO and NaCl Approaching Warm Dense Matter Conditions Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: GM ROOM – LURIE ENGINEERING BUILDING HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99930733636 PASSCODE: LASER Chair: Alexander George Roy Thomas Jeffrey Carr Program: Sport Management Dissertation Title: Public Sector Partnerships with Professional Sports Teams: Analytics and the Strategic Information Public Sector Leaders Need Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: SKB 1030, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/94144885354 PW:687123 Chair: Mark Steven Rosentraub Liliang Wang Program: Aerospace Engineering Dissertation Title: General Theory and Variational Methods for Sequential Bayesian Learning Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: LOCATION: FXB-1044. ZOOM LINK: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99468970842 PASSCODE: 827185 Chair: Alex Arkady Gorodetsky Nishant Kheterpal Program: Robotics Dissertation Title: Lowering Barriers to Formal Proof via Automation, Certification, and Interfaces Date: 3 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99005667039?PWD=UBNI6FHT0LYFREB1HDMRRYYLPMFNRN.1 Chair: Jean-Baptiste Jeannin Lily Wang Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Fault Tolerance: From Graph Structures to Quantum Computing Date: 3 Sep 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93494234497 Chair: Euiwoong Lee Jiun-Yeu Chang Program: Materials Science & Engin Dissertation Title: Structure-Dynamics-Property Relationships in Covalent Adaptable Networks: Interplay of Network Architecture, Dynamic Bonding, and Relaxation Dynamics Date: 3 Sep 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: 2000 PHOENIX MEMORIAL LABORATORY (PML) Chair: John Kieffer Jiawei Chen Program: Robotics Dissertation Title: Verifying Robotics with Synchronous Refinement Types and Quantitative Semantics Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: FMCRB 4000; UMICH.ZOOM.US/MY/CHENJW Chair: Jean-Baptiste Jeannin Andy Yen Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Macroscopic Joint Elements for Snap-Fit Fasteners Based on Artificial Neural Networks Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 1100 DOW, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93286821669 Chair: Kazuhiro Saitou Talha Akyildiz Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Learning-Aided Inference and Optimization for Wireless Communication Systems Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96622350947 PW:WIRELESS Chair: Hessam Mahdavifar and S Sandeep Pradhan Samuel Collie Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Nuclear Envelope Budding and the Nuclear Pore Complex in Activated Neutrophils Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: KAHN AUDITORIUM, BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH BUILDING Chair: Carole Parent Yifu An Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Data-Driven Sun-to-Earth Simulation of Coronal Mass Ejections and GPU Acceleration of a Block-Adaptive Magnetohydrodynamic Solver Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: LEC423, 1221 BEAL AVENUE ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 Chair: Gabor Toth and Lulu Zhao Meng-Hsun Lee Program: Macromolecular Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Rational Crosslinking Strategies Development for Robust Polyphenol-Based Coatings: From Molecular Design to Functional Applications Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: NORTH CAMPUS RESEARCH COMPLEX (NCRC), BUILDING 10, ROOM G063 Chair: Jinsang Kim Tianchen Qiu Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Maintenance Policy for Resilience and Throughput Improvement in Manufacturing Systems Date: 7 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91738328459 Chair: Jun Ni Ashleigh Simonis Program: Naval Architect & Marine Eng Dissertation Title: Wave Turbulence and Coherent Structures in Dispersive Wave Models Date: 8 Sep 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: WEST HALL ROOM 146 (MHL CONFERENCE ROOM) Chair: Yulin Pan Kendall Dean Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Understanding the Effects of ANK3 Variation in Bipolar Disorder Patient-Derived Neurons Date: 9 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: KAHN AUDITORIUM Chair: Lori L Isom and Paul Michael Jenkins Elisa Bravo Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Making the Makers: A Quantitative Examination of Participation Determinants and Longitudinal Outcomes Date: 9 Sep 2026 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91032215223?JST=2 Chair: Jesse Laurent Austin-Breneman and Shanna Daly Michael Veksler Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Engineering and Functional Coating of Complex Microparticles for Chiral Photonics Date: 9 Sep 2026 Time: 2:30 p.m. Location: SOUTH ATRIUM, B10, NCRC Chair: Nicholas Kotov Alan Tseng Program: Naval Architect & Marine Eng Dissertation Title: Microplastic Transport in the Global Ocean: the Effects of Particle Size, Biofouling, and Fragmentation Date: 11 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: CONFERENCE ROOM; NA&ME BUILDING Chair: Yulin Pan Baharan Meghdadi Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Multiomics Digital Twins to Decode Tumor Metabolism and Precision Vulnerabilities in Patients with Brain Cancer Date: 15 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10, RESEARCH AUDITORIUM / HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97757206103 PW: 1234 Chair: Deepak Nagrath Contact Academic Records and Dissertations Hours: Academic Records and Dissertations is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The office is closed Saturdays and Sundays and on the following holidays: Thanksgiving (Thursday and the following Friday), Christmas through New Year’s, Memorial Day, Independence Day (July 4), and Labor Day. Location 0120 Rackham Building 915 East Washington Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070 Contact Phone: 734.763.0171 Fax: 734.936.3335 Email: [email protected]
Liang Chen Program: Molecular, Cell & Dev Biology Dissertation Title: Ether Lipids Regulate Lysosomal Homeostasis Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: BSB 1010 Chair: Ming Li
Andre Antoine Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: Two Color X-Ray Pump X-Ray Probe Ultrafast Diffraction of MgO and NaCl Approaching Warm Dense Matter Conditions Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: GM ROOM – LURIE ENGINEERING BUILDING HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99930733636 PASSCODE: LASER Chair: Alexander George Roy Thomas
Jeffrey Carr Program: Sport Management Dissertation Title: Public Sector Partnerships with Professional Sports Teams: Analytics and the Strategic Information Public Sector Leaders Need Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: SKB 1030, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/94144885354 PW:687123 Chair: Mark Steven Rosentraub
Liliang Wang Program: Aerospace Engineering Dissertation Title: General Theory and Variational Methods for Sequential Bayesian Learning Date: 2 Sep 2026 Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: LOCATION: FXB-1044. ZOOM LINK: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99468970842 PASSCODE: 827185 Chair: Alex Arkady Gorodetsky
Nishant Kheterpal Program: Robotics Dissertation Title: Lowering Barriers to Formal Proof via Automation, Certification, and Interfaces Date: 3 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99005667039?PWD=UBNI6FHT0LYFREB1HDMRRYYLPMFNRN.1 Chair: Jean-Baptiste Jeannin
Lily Wang Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Fault Tolerance: From Graph Structures to Quantum Computing Date: 3 Sep 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93494234497 Chair: Euiwoong Lee
Jiun-Yeu Chang Program: Materials Science & Engin Dissertation Title: Structure-Dynamics-Property Relationships in Covalent Adaptable Networks: Interplay of Network Architecture, Dynamic Bonding, and Relaxation Dynamics Date: 3 Sep 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: 2000 PHOENIX MEMORIAL LABORATORY (PML) Chair: John Kieffer
Jiawei Chen Program: Robotics Dissertation Title: Verifying Robotics with Synchronous Refinement Types and Quantitative Semantics Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: FMCRB 4000; UMICH.ZOOM.US/MY/CHENJW Chair: Jean-Baptiste Jeannin
Andy Yen Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Macroscopic Joint Elements for Snap-Fit Fasteners Based on Artificial Neural Networks Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 1100 DOW, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93286821669 Chair: Kazuhiro Saitou
Talha Akyildiz Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Learning-Aided Inference and Optimization for Wireless Communication Systems Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96622350947 PW:WIRELESS Chair: Hessam Mahdavifar and S Sandeep Pradhan
Samuel Collie Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Nuclear Envelope Budding and the Nuclear Pore Complex in Activated Neutrophils Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: KAHN AUDITORIUM, BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH BUILDING Chair: Carole Parent
Yifu An Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Data-Driven Sun-to-Earth Simulation of Coronal Mass Ejections and GPU Acceleration of a Block-Adaptive Magnetohydrodynamic Solver Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: LEC423, 1221 BEAL AVENUE ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 Chair: Gabor Toth and Lulu Zhao
Meng-Hsun Lee Program: Macromolecular Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Rational Crosslinking Strategies Development for Robust Polyphenol-Based Coatings: From Molecular Design to Functional Applications Date: 4 Sep 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: NORTH CAMPUS RESEARCH COMPLEX (NCRC), BUILDING 10, ROOM G063 Chair: Jinsang Kim
Tianchen Qiu Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Maintenance Policy for Resilience and Throughput Improvement in Manufacturing Systems Date: 7 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91738328459 Chair: Jun Ni
Ashleigh Simonis Program: Naval Architect & Marine Eng Dissertation Title: Wave Turbulence and Coherent Structures in Dispersive Wave Models Date: 8 Sep 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: WEST HALL ROOM 146 (MHL CONFERENCE ROOM) Chair: Yulin Pan
Kendall Dean Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Understanding the Effects of ANK3 Variation in Bipolar Disorder Patient-Derived Neurons Date: 9 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: KAHN AUDITORIUM Chair: Lori L Isom and Paul Michael Jenkins
Elisa Bravo Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Making the Makers: A Quantitative Examination of Participation Determinants and Longitudinal Outcomes Date: 9 Sep 2026 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91032215223?JST=2 Chair: Jesse Laurent Austin-Breneman and Shanna Daly
Michael Veksler Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Engineering and Functional Coating of Complex Microparticles for Chiral Photonics Date: 9 Sep 2026 Time: 2:30 p.m. Location: SOUTH ATRIUM, B10, NCRC Chair: Nicholas Kotov
Alan Tseng Program: Naval Architect & Marine Eng Dissertation Title: Microplastic Transport in the Global Ocean: the Effects of Particle Size, Biofouling, and Fragmentation Date: 11 Sep 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: CONFERENCE ROOM; NA&ME BUILDING Chair: Yulin Pan
Baharan Meghdadi Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Multiomics Digital Twins to Decode Tumor Metabolism and Precision Vulnerabilities in Patients with Brain Cancer Date: 15 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10, RESEARCH AUDITORIUM / HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97757206103 PW: 1234 Chair: Deepak Nagrath
