Home Navigating Your Degree Oral Defense Dates Oral Defense Dates Jiakun Guan Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Multiscale Computational Models of Antibodies and Antibody Drug Conjugates for Cancer and Infectious Disease Therapeutic Design Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: NCRC B10 ACR1 Chair: Greg Michael Thurber Brittany Ribeiro Brown Program: Social Work & Psychology Dissertation Title: "It?s Nothing to Lose but My Chains?: Intersectional Stigma, Mental Health, and Mental Healthcare Among Black Sexual Minority Emerging Adults Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/92045722939?PWD=CKRMGFEX5J1PTDRDOIO14S2VDVVABQ.1 Chair: Lucretia M Ward and Daphne C Watkins Harkirat Singh Arora Program: Biomedical Engineering Dissertation Title: Mechanism-Aware Machine Learning Models for Prioritizing Drug Candidates Based on Potency and Organ-Specific Toxicity Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10, RESEARCH AUDITORIUM (HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96206638297, PASSCODE: MEDICINE) Chair: Sriram Chandrasekaran Omkar Roy Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Experimental and Computational Analysis of Rheology – Processing Relationships in Direct Ink Writing and Meltblowing Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B32- BUILDING 32 AUDITORIUM (1501) Chair: Ronald G Larson Zach Croft Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: Phase-field Approaches for Modeling and Quantifying Microstructure Evolution in Structural Materials Date: 13 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 340 WEST HALL Chair: Elizabeth Ann Holm and Vanessa Sih Bill Chen Program: Astronomy & Astrophysics Dissertation Title: Modeling the Lifecycle of Star Clusters Date: 13 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: WEST HALL 411 Chair: Oleg Y Gnedin Nishant Shah Program: Pharmaceutical Sciences Dissertation Title: Development of Methods to Understand Post-Deposition Behavior in Inhaled Drug Delivery Date: 14 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 18 ROOM 104 Chair: Ashlee Dawn Brunaugh Joshua Lidtke-O'Callaghan Program: Nursing Dissertation Title: Barriers and Facilitators to Telemedicine Uptake by Gender-Affirming Care Providers Date: 14 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 426 N INGALLS ST., ROOM 1240 Chair: Erin Kahle and Jody Rae Lori Brianna Zichettella Program: Communication Dissertation Title: Shooting on Fifth Avenue: Investigating the Conceptualization, Measurement, and Undemocratic Consequences of Political Parasocial Relationships Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: NORTH QUAD 5450 Chair: Ariel Hasell Ester Bentley Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Miniaturizing the Hemispherical Resonant Gyroscope: Exploring Resonator Symmetry and Defects Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: EECS 1005 Chair: Peter Joseph Seiler Evan Hill Program: Toxicology Dissertation Title: Tissue Stem Cells and the Stem Cell Microenvironment: Targets for Carcinogenic Toxicants and Chemotherapeutics Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: 3755 SPH I Chair: Justin Colacino Rebecca Dawley Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Towards Next-Generation 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Electronics: Atomic Layer Deposition for Materials and Heterostructure Integration Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: CHEM 1706 Chair: Ageeth Anke Bol Madison Kelberman Program: Biomedical Engineering Dissertation Title: Improving the Dexterity and Portability of Restorative Hand Control Using Brain Computer Interfaces and Functional Electrical Stimulation Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM, ZOOM HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97880638143 Chair: Cynthia Anne Chestek Evan Litch Program: Nuc Eng & Radiol Sciences Dissertation Title: Characterizing Plasma Chemistry and Surface Interactions of Advanced Semiconductor Fabrication Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: BAER ROOM, 1906 COOLEY BUILDING; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96600860354 PW:561385 Chair: Mark Kushner Katherine Ahn Program: Statistics Dissertation Title: Statistical Methods for Interpretable Representation in Complex Data Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: WH470, ZOOM: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93034479018 (PASSCODE: 081826) Chair: Kerby A Shedden Naurin Zoha Program: Industrial & Operations Eng Dissertation Title: Optimization for Equitable Food Bank Operations Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: IOE 2717 Chair: Julie Simmons Ivy and Negash Medhin Erika Hathaway Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Saturn as a Laboratory for Rayleigh-Taylor-like Plasma Interchange Instabilities and Plasma Transport in Comparative Magnetospheres Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: 4231 LURIE ENGINEERING BUILDING Chair: Mike Liemohn Ziqi Wang Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Density Functional Theory Based Trustworthy Research Engine for Agentic Materials Simulation Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 1:30 p.m. Location: FXB-1044 Chair: Venkat Viswanathan Carissa Yim Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Photothermal Catalysis for Sustainable Fuel Generation: CO2, N2, and NH3 Transformations Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99249068055 (PASSCODE: CATALYSIS) Chair: Andrej Lenert and Johann W Schwank Noah Michels Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Switched-Capacitor Converters for AC-AC Signal Amplification Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: EECS 1311 Chair: David Wentzloff Jael Rodriguez Program: Chemical Biology Dissertation Title: Evaluation and Implementation of a Cell-Permeable Dual-Site Inhibitor of CBP/p300 KIX in KMT2Ar Acute Myeloid Leukemia Date: 19 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: EARL LEWIS ROOM, RACKHAM Chair: Anna K Mapp Alain Kadar Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Graph-Based Methods for Structure-Property Relations for Complex Materials[ Date: 19 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: RESEARCH AUDITORIUM, BUILDING 10, NCRC HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95507663912 PASSCODE: GRAPHS Chair: Sharon C Glotzer and Nicholas Kotov Bohan Chen Program: Bioinformatics Dissertation Title: In Vitro and In Silico Investigation of Human Mesoderm and Endoderm Development Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: MED SCI I, RM. 4B700 & HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/98126578917 PASSCODE:STEMCELL Chair: Idse Heemskerk Jie Liu Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: From Synthesis to LLMs: Paths to SQL Query Rewriting Beyond Rules Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: BOB AND BETTY BEYSTER BUILDING 4941; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/92223179351, PASSCODE: 100345 Chair: Barzan Mozafari Curtiss Engstrom Program: Survey and Data Science Dissertation Title: Measuring Sexual Orientation in Population-Based Survey Research: Harmonization, Estimation, and Dimensionality Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 1070 ISR & HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95231822725?PWD=UHDPHZTR1UALC6PNIZFSEJKAYCMZZ6.1 Chair: Brady Thomas West Linh Trinh Program: Asian Languages & Cultures Dissertation Title: Eating in Exile: The Loss and Reconstruction of North 54?s Moral World in the Republic of Vietnam. Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/6384252282 Chair: Miranda D Brown and Jeffrey Pilcher Hongyi Lin Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Autonomous Discovery and Optimization of Electrolytes Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: 2540 GGB, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/S/92238280058 Chair: Venkat Viswanathan Renata Starostka Program: Environmental Engineering Dissertation Title: Integrated Experimental and Modeling Approaches for Improving Anaerobic Dynamic Membrane Bioreactor Performance Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER 4231 (GM ROOM) Chair: Lutgarde M Raskin and Steven J Skerlos Amelia Burke Program: Anthropology & History Dissertation Title: Making a Living: Individual Income and the Dilemmas of Monetized Investment in Rural Morocco Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: WEST HALL 210 Chair: Jatin Dua and Melanie Schulze Tanielian Ali Turfah Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: New Computational Methods of Cluster Analysis for Modern Biomedical Data Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: SPH2 1152 Chair: Xiaoquan William Wen and Lili Zhao Erina Baci Program: Anthropology Dissertation Title: Re-examining the ?hillfort? in Balkan Prehistory: A Case Study from Western Kosova Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: ZOOM – TBD Chair: Michael Galaty Ila Castro De la Torre Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Studies of Catalytically Relevant Intermediates in First-Row Transition Metal-Catalyzed C(sp?)?H and C(sp?)?H Functionalization of Directed Substrates Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: CHEMISTRY BUILDING Chair: Melanie S Sanford Muyi Zhang Program: Physics Dissertation Title: Ultra Broadband Fluorescence-Detected Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: WEST HALL 340. HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/4762997510?OMN=95710552472. PASSWORD: 111211 Chair: Steven Thomas Cundiff and Jennifer Ogilvie Yuhao Xian Program: Environmental Engineering Dissertation Title: Innovative Methods for the Degradation and Control of Disinfection By-products: Applications in Water Treatment and Daily Disinfection Scenarios Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: ROBERT H. LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER 4231 – GENERAL MOTORS CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Alex Szczuka Olivia Stowell Program: Communication Dissertation Title: Reality Reckoning: U.S. Reality TV After 2020 Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/3440709421 Chair: Hollis Griffin Hamad Alotaibi Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Integrated Sub-Terahertz Circuits and Systems for Communication and Beamforming Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: 1303 EECS Chair: Ehsan Afshari Duncan Madden Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Wideband Phased Array Antennas: Design, Calibration, and Mutual Coupling Mitigation for Temporally and Spatially Varying Environments Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: EECS 3316 Chair: Kamal Sarabandi Daniel Rubio-Ejchel Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Microstructural Engineering of Copper-Alloyed Systems through Additive Manufacturing Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: LURIE 4231 GM CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Jerard V Gordon Celia Kelly Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Investigating Properties of Liquid Electrolytes via Molecular Dynamics Simulations Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: GGB 2636, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95157183260 Chair: Venkat Viswanathan Evelynn Henry Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Drosophila Ellipsoid Body Ring Neurons Instruct Opposing Internal States That Remodel Physiology and Slow Aging Date: 25 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: KAHN AUDITORIUM Chair: Scott Pletcher Rebecca Savelsberg Program: Political Science Dissertation Title: Shifting Legacies of Conflict? The Effects of Post-Conflict Trials and Museums on Variation in Behavior toward Out-group Members Date: 25 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: ROOM 4443, INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, 426 THOMPSON ST Chair: Ragnhild Nordaas Siyun He Program: Economics Dissertation Title: Essays in Econometrics and Banking Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/6099940569 Chair: Florian Gunsilius and Kaspar Wuthrich Lea Marlor Program: Engineering Education Research Dissertation Title: A Multi-Methods Study Examining Active Learning Instruction and Belonging in Community College STEM Classes Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 12:30 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97904826707 Chair: Cindy Finelli Stephanie Morales Program: Survey and Data Science Dissertation Title: Toward Improving Survey Data Quality: Response Styles, Consent Decisions, and Question Interpretation Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH RM 1070 Chair: Sunghee Lee Miranda Walker Program: Neuroscience Dissertation Title: Investigating the Role of PCDH19 in Human Cortical and Medial Ganglionic Eminence Development Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Models Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: MEDICAL SCIENCE 2 3699 S LECTURE HALL Chair: Jack M Parent and Michael D Uhler 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]
Jiakun Guan Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Multiscale Computational Models of Antibodies and Antibody Drug Conjugates for Cancer and Infectious Disease Therapeutic Design Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: NCRC B10 ACR1 Chair: Greg Michael Thurber
Brittany Ribeiro Brown Program: Social Work & Psychology Dissertation Title: "It?s Nothing to Lose but My Chains?: Intersectional Stigma, Mental Health, and Mental Healthcare Among Black Sexual Minority Emerging Adults Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/92045722939?PWD=CKRMGFEX5J1PTDRDOIO14S2VDVVABQ.1 Chair: Lucretia M Ward and Daphne C Watkins
Harkirat Singh Arora Program: Biomedical Engineering Dissertation Title: Mechanism-Aware Machine Learning Models for Prioritizing Drug Candidates Based on Potency and Organ-Specific Toxicity Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10, RESEARCH AUDITORIUM (HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96206638297, PASSCODE: MEDICINE) Chair: Sriram Chandrasekaran
Omkar Roy Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Experimental and Computational Analysis of Rheology – Processing Relationships in Direct Ink Writing and Meltblowing Date: 12 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B32- BUILDING 32 AUDITORIUM (1501) Chair: Ronald G Larson
Zach Croft Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: Phase-field Approaches for Modeling and Quantifying Microstructure Evolution in Structural Materials Date: 13 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 340 WEST HALL Chair: Elizabeth Ann Holm and Vanessa Sih
Bill Chen Program: Astronomy & Astrophysics Dissertation Title: Modeling the Lifecycle of Star Clusters Date: 13 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: WEST HALL 411 Chair: Oleg Y Gnedin
Nishant Shah Program: Pharmaceutical Sciences Dissertation Title: Development of Methods to Understand Post-Deposition Behavior in Inhaled Drug Delivery Date: 14 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 18 ROOM 104 Chair: Ashlee Dawn Brunaugh
Joshua Lidtke-O'Callaghan Program: Nursing Dissertation Title: Barriers and Facilitators to Telemedicine Uptake by Gender-Affirming Care Providers Date: 14 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 426 N INGALLS ST., ROOM 1240 Chair: Erin Kahle and Jody Rae Lori
Brianna Zichettella Program: Communication Dissertation Title: Shooting on Fifth Avenue: Investigating the Conceptualization, Measurement, and Undemocratic Consequences of Political Parasocial Relationships Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: NORTH QUAD 5450 Chair: Ariel Hasell
Ester Bentley Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Miniaturizing the Hemispherical Resonant Gyroscope: Exploring Resonator Symmetry and Defects Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: EECS 1005 Chair: Peter Joseph Seiler
Evan Hill Program: Toxicology Dissertation Title: Tissue Stem Cells and the Stem Cell Microenvironment: Targets for Carcinogenic Toxicants and Chemotherapeutics Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: 3755 SPH I Chair: Justin Colacino
Rebecca Dawley Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Towards Next-Generation 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Electronics: Atomic Layer Deposition for Materials and Heterostructure Integration Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: CHEM 1706 Chair: Ageeth Anke Bol
Madison Kelberman Program: Biomedical Engineering Dissertation Title: Improving the Dexterity and Portability of Restorative Hand Control Using Brain Computer Interfaces and Functional Electrical Stimulation Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM, ZOOM HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97880638143 Chair: Cynthia Anne Chestek
Evan Litch Program: Nuc Eng & Radiol Sciences Dissertation Title: Characterizing Plasma Chemistry and Surface Interactions of Advanced Semiconductor Fabrication Date: 17 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: BAER ROOM, 1906 COOLEY BUILDING; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96600860354 PW:561385 Chair: Mark Kushner
Katherine Ahn Program: Statistics Dissertation Title: Statistical Methods for Interpretable Representation in Complex Data Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: WH470, ZOOM: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93034479018 (PASSCODE: 081826) Chair: Kerby A Shedden
Naurin Zoha Program: Industrial & Operations Eng Dissertation Title: Optimization for Equitable Food Bank Operations Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: IOE 2717 Chair: Julie Simmons Ivy and Negash Medhin
Erika Hathaway Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Saturn as a Laboratory for Rayleigh-Taylor-like Plasma Interchange Instabilities and Plasma Transport in Comparative Magnetospheres Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: 4231 LURIE ENGINEERING BUILDING Chair: Mike Liemohn
Ziqi Wang Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Density Functional Theory Based Trustworthy Research Engine for Agentic Materials Simulation Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 1:30 p.m. Location: FXB-1044 Chair: Venkat Viswanathan
Carissa Yim Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Photothermal Catalysis for Sustainable Fuel Generation: CO2, N2, and NH3 Transformations Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99249068055 (PASSCODE: CATALYSIS) Chair: Andrej Lenert and Johann W Schwank
Noah Michels Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Switched-Capacitor Converters for AC-AC Signal Amplification Date: 18 Aug 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: EECS 1311 Chair: David Wentzloff
Jael Rodriguez Program: Chemical Biology Dissertation Title: Evaluation and Implementation of a Cell-Permeable Dual-Site Inhibitor of CBP/p300 KIX in KMT2Ar Acute Myeloid Leukemia Date: 19 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: EARL LEWIS ROOM, RACKHAM Chair: Anna K Mapp
Alain Kadar Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Graph-Based Methods for Structure-Property Relations for Complex Materials[ Date: 19 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: RESEARCH AUDITORIUM, BUILDING 10, NCRC HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95507663912 PASSCODE: GRAPHS Chair: Sharon C Glotzer and Nicholas Kotov
Bohan Chen Program: Bioinformatics Dissertation Title: In Vitro and In Silico Investigation of Human Mesoderm and Endoderm Development Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: MED SCI I, RM. 4B700 & HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/98126578917 PASSCODE:STEMCELL Chair: Idse Heemskerk
Jie Liu Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: From Synthesis to LLMs: Paths to SQL Query Rewriting Beyond Rules Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: BOB AND BETTY BEYSTER BUILDING 4941; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/92223179351, PASSCODE: 100345 Chair: Barzan Mozafari
Curtiss Engstrom Program: Survey and Data Science Dissertation Title: Measuring Sexual Orientation in Population-Based Survey Research: Harmonization, Estimation, and Dimensionality Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 1070 ISR & HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95231822725?PWD=UHDPHZTR1UALC6PNIZFSEJKAYCMZZ6.1 Chair: Brady Thomas West
Linh Trinh Program: Asian Languages & Cultures Dissertation Title: Eating in Exile: The Loss and Reconstruction of North 54?s Moral World in the Republic of Vietnam. Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/6384252282 Chair: Miranda D Brown and Jeffrey Pilcher
Hongyi Lin Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Autonomous Discovery and Optimization of Electrolytes Date: 20 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: 2540 GGB, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/S/92238280058 Chair: Venkat Viswanathan
Renata Starostka Program: Environmental Engineering Dissertation Title: Integrated Experimental and Modeling Approaches for Improving Anaerobic Dynamic Membrane Bioreactor Performance Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER 4231 (GM ROOM) Chair: Lutgarde M Raskin and Steven J Skerlos
Amelia Burke Program: Anthropology & History Dissertation Title: Making a Living: Individual Income and the Dilemmas of Monetized Investment in Rural Morocco Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: WEST HALL 210 Chair: Jatin Dua and Melanie Schulze Tanielian
Ali Turfah Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: New Computational Methods of Cluster Analysis for Modern Biomedical Data Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: SPH2 1152 Chair: Xiaoquan William Wen and Lili Zhao
Erina Baci Program: Anthropology Dissertation Title: Re-examining the ?hillfort? in Balkan Prehistory: A Case Study from Western Kosova Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: ZOOM – TBD Chair: Michael Galaty
Ila Castro De la Torre Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Studies of Catalytically Relevant Intermediates in First-Row Transition Metal-Catalyzed C(sp?)?H and C(sp?)?H Functionalization of Directed Substrates Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: CHEMISTRY BUILDING Chair: Melanie S Sanford
Muyi Zhang Program: Physics Dissertation Title: Ultra Broadband Fluorescence-Detected Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: WEST HALL 340. HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/4762997510?OMN=95710552472. PASSWORD: 111211 Chair: Steven Thomas Cundiff and Jennifer Ogilvie
Yuhao Xian Program: Environmental Engineering Dissertation Title: Innovative Methods for the Degradation and Control of Disinfection By-products: Applications in Water Treatment and Daily Disinfection Scenarios Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: ROBERT H. LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER 4231 – GENERAL MOTORS CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Alex Szczuka
Olivia Stowell Program: Communication Dissertation Title: Reality Reckoning: U.S. Reality TV After 2020 Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/3440709421 Chair: Hollis Griffin
Hamad Alotaibi Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Integrated Sub-Terahertz Circuits and Systems for Communication and Beamforming Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: 1303 EECS Chair: Ehsan Afshari
Duncan Madden Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Wideband Phased Array Antennas: Design, Calibration, and Mutual Coupling Mitigation for Temporally and Spatially Varying Environments Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: EECS 3316 Chair: Kamal Sarabandi
Daniel Rubio-Ejchel Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Microstructural Engineering of Copper-Alloyed Systems through Additive Manufacturing Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: LURIE 4231 GM CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Jerard V Gordon
Celia Kelly Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Investigating Properties of Liquid Electrolytes via Molecular Dynamics Simulations Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: GGB 2636, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95157183260 Chair: Venkat Viswanathan
Evelynn Henry Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Drosophila Ellipsoid Body Ring Neurons Instruct Opposing Internal States That Remodel Physiology and Slow Aging Date: 25 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: KAHN AUDITORIUM Chair: Scott Pletcher
Rebecca Savelsberg Program: Political Science Dissertation Title: Shifting Legacies of Conflict? The Effects of Post-Conflict Trials and Museums on Variation in Behavior toward Out-group Members Date: 25 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: ROOM 4443, INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, 426 THOMPSON ST Chair: Ragnhild Nordaas
Siyun He Program: Economics Dissertation Title: Essays in Econometrics and Banking Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/6099940569 Chair: Florian Gunsilius and Kaspar Wuthrich
Lea Marlor Program: Engineering Education Research Dissertation Title: A Multi-Methods Study Examining Active Learning Instruction and Belonging in Community College STEM Classes Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 12:30 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97904826707 Chair: Cindy Finelli
Stephanie Morales Program: Survey and Data Science Dissertation Title: Toward Improving Survey Data Quality: Response Styles, Consent Decisions, and Question Interpretation Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH RM 1070 Chair: Sunghee Lee
Miranda Walker Program: Neuroscience Dissertation Title: Investigating the Role of PCDH19 in Human Cortical and Medial Ganglionic Eminence Development Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Models Date: 26 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: MEDICAL SCIENCE 2 3699 S LECTURE HALL Chair: Jack M Parent and Michael D Uhler
