Upcoming Oral Defense Dates

Below is information about the Oral Dissertation Defenses for Rackham Doctoral students. They are listed by date and time for a two week period.

For your convenience, here is a link to various campus maps.

Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Mark Andrew Ferriss

DATE:  Mon, May 12, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  GM Conf.Rm, Lurie Center

CHAIR(S):  Michael Flynn

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

FRACTIONAL-N SYNTHESIZER ARCHITECTURES WITH DIGITAL PHASE DETECTION

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Doctor of Philosophy (Chemistry)

CANDIDATE:  Josephine Saad Nakhla

DATE:  Mon, May 12, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  1706 Chem

CHAIR(S):  John P. Wolfe

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Palladium-Catalyzed Carboamination and Carboetherification Reactions for the 
Synthesis of Heterocycles

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Doctor of Philosophy (Nursing)

CANDIDATE:  Kelly D. Ackerson

DATE:  Mon, May 12, 2008

TIME:  11:00AM

PLACE:  School of Nursing

CHAIR(S):  Joanne M. Pohl

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

African American Women's Personal Influencing Factors Associated with Pap 
Smear Testing and Cervical Cancer

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (American Culture)

CANDIDATE:  Justine Magdalena Pas

DATE:  Mon, May 12, 2008

TIME:  11:15AM

PLACE:  3773 Haven Hall

CHAIR(S):  Anita Norich and Magdalena Zaborowska

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Finding Home in Babel: Transnationalism, Translation, and Languages of 
Identity

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Physics)

CANDIDATE:  Aaron Whyte Reinhard

DATE:  Mon, May 12, 2008

TIME:  12:30PM

PLACE:  335 West Hall

CHAIR(S):  Georg Raithel

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Cold Rydberg-Atom Interactions

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Doctor of Philosophy (Music:  Musicology)

CANDIDATE:  Jesse A. Johnston

DATE:  Mon, May 12, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  202 S. Thayer Bldg, #1022

CHAIR(S):  Judith O. Becker

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The Cimbalom (Cimbal) in Moravia: Cultural Organology and Interpretive 
Communities

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Oceanography:  Marine Geology and Geochemistry)

CANDIDATE:  Shih-Yu Lee

DATE:  Tue, May 13, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  1528 CC Little

CHAIR(S):  Christopher James Poulsen

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Orbital control and climate feedbacks on ice age cycles during 
Plio-Pleistocene

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Doctor of Philosophy (Education)

CANDIDATE:  Philip John Piety

DATE:  Tue, May 13, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  School of Ed., Room 2327

CHAIR(S):  Joseph  S Krajcik and Pamela Ann Moss

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Evidence of System?:  A Network Model Multi-leveled Case-study Analysis of
Seventh Grade Science Assessment Practices in a Midwest State

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Mathematics)

CANDIDATE:  Oscar Antonio Louro Felgueiras

DATE:  Tue, May 13, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  3866 East Hall

CHAIR(S):  Robert K. Lazarsfeld

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The ample cone for a morphism

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Aerospace Science)

CANDIDATE:  Andrew J. Porwitzky

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  09:30AM

PLACE:  FXB, Design Room

CHAIR(S):  Iain Boyd and Michael Keidar

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

An End-To-End Model of an Electrothermal Chemical Gun

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Economics)

CANDIDATE:  Xiaoyan Xu

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  10:00am

PLACE:  Lorch Hall  room 201

CHAIR(S):  Kai-Uwe Kuhn

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Three Essays on Corporate Governance, Managerial Incentives, and
Government Expenditures.

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Business Administration)

CANDIDATE:  Ho Fu Des Lo

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  11:00AM

PLACE:  Wyly Hall 2760

CHAIR(S):  Mrinal Ghosh and Francine Lafontaine

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The Role and Extent of Economic Rent in Distribution Contracts

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience)

CANDIDATE:  Jennifer M Plane

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  11:00AM

PLACE:  4515 BSRB

CHAIR(S):  Jack M. Parent

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The Neurogenic Niche and Injury-Induced Neurogenesis

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Doctor of Philosophy (Aerospace Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Prashant R. Patel

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  12:00PM

PLACE:  McDivitt Conference, FXB

CHAIR(S):  Daniel J. Scheeres and Thomas H. Zurbuchen

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Automating Optimal Interplanetary Trajectories and System Trade Studies

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience)

CANDIDATE:  Sean Eric Low

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  currently not confirmed

CHAIR(S):  Richard I. Hume and John Y. Kuwada

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

From genes to behavior, and back again.

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Economics)

CANDIDATE:  Taryn Lee Dinkelman

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  Lorch Hall, room 201

CHAIR(S):  David A. Lam

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Essays in Development and Labor Economics

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Dan  Shi

DATE:  Wed, May 14, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  EECS 1005

CHAIR(S):  Jack R. East and Michael Flynn

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

A Fully Integrated CMOS Receiver

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience)

CANDIDATE:  Rachel K. Tittle

DATE:  Thu, May 15, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  unknown

CHAIR(S):  Richard I. Hume

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Zinc Potentiation of the P2X2 Receptor

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Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Jun  Yang

DATE:  Thu, May 15, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  EECS 1005

CHAIR(S):  Pallab K. Bhattacharya

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

HIGH-PERFORMANCE QUANTUM DOT LASERS AND INTEGRATED GUIDED-WAVE DEVICES ON 
SILICON

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Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Jongwoo Lee

DATE:  Thu, May 15, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  1200 EECS

CHAIR(S):  Michael P. Flynn and Daryl R. Kipke

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

A CLOSED-LOOP DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION DEVICE WITH A LOGARITHMIC PIPELINE ADC

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Applied Physics)

CANDIDATE:  Kevin James Landmark

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  08:30AM

PLACE:  335 West Hall

CHAIR(S):  Mark M. Banaszak Holl and Bradford G. Orr

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Dendrimer-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticlees as Targeted MRI Contrast Agents

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Geology)

CANDIDATE:  Samuel Haines

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  09:00AM

PLACE:  Rm 2520, C.C. Little

CHAIR(S):  Ben A. Van Der Pluijm

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Transformations in clay-rich fault rocks: Constraining fault zone processes 
and the kinematic evolution of regions

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Health Services Organization and Policy and Business Admin)

CANDIDATE:  Kirk Richard Schueler

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  09:30AM

PLACE:  E0550 Executive Residence

CHAIR(S):  Richard P. Bagozzi and Dean G. Smith

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Factors Affecting Consumers' Responses to Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Mechanical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Dongkyun Lee

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  2269 GGB

CHAIR(S):  Elijah Kannatey-Asibu, Jr.

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Feasibility study on laser microwelding and laser shock peening using 
femtosecond laser pulses

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Applied Physics)

CANDIDATE:  Andrew Blaine Stickrath

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  12:00PM

PLACE:  To Be Announced

CHAIR(S):  Roseanne J. Sension

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Solvent Dependence of Small Nonpolar Radicals in Solution

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology)

CANDIDATE:  Sean Celester Friday

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  12:30PM

PLACE:  1200 Chem

CHAIR(S):  Richard I. Hume

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The role of negatively charged amino acids in channel function, pH
potentiation, and zinc modulation of the ATP-gated rat P2X2 receptor

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience)

CANDIDATE:  Mary Y-Meng Heng

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  ABC Room in BSRB

CHAIR(S):  Roger L. Albin

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Longitudinal Behavioral Evaluation of a Knock-In Mouse Model of Huntington 
Disease and Mechanisms of Pathogenesis

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology)

CANDIDATE:  Cristine H Legare

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  2234 East Hall

CHAIR(S):  Susan A. Gelman and Henry M. Wellman

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The development of causal explanatory reasoning

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Economics)

CANDIDATE:  Kyoung-Soo Yoon

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  04:30PM

PLACE:  301 Lorch

CHAIR(S):  Uday Rajan and Lones A. Smith

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Three Essays on Professional Advising

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience)

CANDIDATE:  Timothy C. Marzullo

DATE:  Fri, May 16, 2008

TIME:  11:00PM

PLACE:  2260 USB

CHAIR(S):  Daryl Kipke

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The Accessibility and Manipulation of Brain Signals for Neuroprosthetic 
Applications

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)

CANDIDATE:  Ben-Yang Liao

DATE:  Mon, May 19, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  Rackham, West Conf. Room

CHAIR(S):  Jianzhi Zhang

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Expression Evolution of Mammalian Genes

*******
Doctor of Musical Arts (Music:  Performance)

CANDIDATE:  Christina Sia Thayer

DATE:  Mon, May 19, 2008

TIME:  10:30AM

PLACE:  School of Music

CHAIR(S):  John S. Ellis and Arthur R. Greene

TITLE OF ABSTRACT:


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Doctor of Philosophy (Applied Physics)

CANDIDATE:  Rahul Ramdas Mhaskar

DATE:  Mon, May 19, 2008

TIME:  11:00AM

PLACE:  267 West Hall

CHAIR(S):  Georg Raithel

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Towards an Atom Laser: Cold, magnetically guided atoms in the ground and 
Rydberg states

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology)

CANDIDATE:  Mucahit Bilici

DATE:  Mon, May 19, 2008

TIME:  12:00PM

PLACE:  4155 LSA

CHAIR(S):  Fatma Muge Gocek

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Finding Mecca in America: American Muslims and Cultural Citizenship

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Doctor of Philosophy (Aerospace Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  David Edwin Kirtley

DATE:  Mon, May 19, 2008

TIME:  12:00AM

PLACE:  TBD

CHAIR(S):  Alec D. Gallimore

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Study of the Synchronous Operation of an Annular Field Reversed 
Configuration Plasma Device

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Biomedical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Geeta Mehta

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  09:30AM

PLACE:  1180 Duderstadt Center

CHAIR(S):  Jennifer J. Linderman and Shuichi Takayama

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Microenvironmental Control in Microfluidic Bioreactors for Long Term Culture 
of Bone Marrow Cells

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (History)

CANDIDATE:  Nathan Daniel Beau Connolly

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  10:w0am

PLACE:  1029F Tisch Hall

CHAIR(S):  Matthew D. Lassiter

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

By Eminent Domain:  Race and Capital in the Building of an American South
Florida.

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Mechanical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Seung Jun Shin

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  10:30AM

PLACE:  2269 GGB

CHAIR(S):  Arvind Atreya

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Homogeneous Combustion and Its Application to Industrial Furnaces

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Materials Science and Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Xiang Li

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  01:30PM

PLACE:  3062 H.H. Dow

CHAIR(S):  Amit K. Ghosh

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF GRAIN REFINEMENT ON 
STRENGTH AND FORMABILITY OF METALS

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Li-Jing Cheng

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  EECS

CHAIR(S):  Lingjie Guo

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Ion and Molecule Transport in Nanochannels

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Mechanical Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Won Chan Park

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  GGBL 2269

CHAIR(S):  Arvind Atreya

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

A Study of Pyrolysis of Charring Materials and its Application to Fire 
Safety and Biomass Utilization

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Composition and Music Theory)

CANDIDATE:  Timothy Raymond Sullivan

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  03:00pm

PLACE:  Moore Music Building 3213

CHAIR(S):  Andrew W. Mead and Bright Sheng

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:


*******
Doctor of Musical Arts (Music:  Performance)

CANDIDATE:  Lowell George St Luke Davis

DATE:  Tue, May 20, 2008

TIME:  3:30pm

PLACE:  School of Music 2110

CHAIR(S):  Marilyn Mason

TITLE OF ABSTRACT:


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Doctor of Philosophy (Linguistics)

CANDIDATE:  Gerardo Fernandez-Salgueiro

DATE:  Wed, May 21, 2008

TIME:  12:00PM

PLACE:  403 LORCH HALL

CHAIR(S):  Samuel D. Epstein and Acrisio M. Pires

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Aspects of the syntax of (TP-)Coordination, Across-the-Board extraction and 
Parasitic Gaps

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Economics)

CANDIDATE:  Isao Kamata

DATE:  Wed, May 21, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  3317 Weil Hall

CHAIR(S):  Alan V. Deardorff

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Essays on Patterns of International Trade

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology)

CANDIDATE:  Tanya L. Saunders

DATE:  Wed, May 21, 2008

TIME:  2:00pm

PLACE:  4154 LSA

CHAIR(S):  Sonya O. Rose and Alford A. Young Jr

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

The Cuban Remix: Rethinking Culture and Political Participation In 
Contemporary Cuba.

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Aerospace Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Jeremiah James Boerner

DATE:  Wed, May 21, 2008

TIME:  03:00PM

PLACE:  1044 FXB Building

CHAIR(S):  Iain Boyd

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Computational Simulation of Plasma Probe Measurements

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering:  Systems)

CANDIDATE:  Eran Bashan

DATE:  Thu, May 22, 2008

TIME:  08:30am

PLACE:  1200 EECS

CHAIR(S):  Jeffrey A. Fessler and Alfred O. Hero Iii

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

E±cient Resource Allocation Schemes

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Music:  Theory)

CANDIDATE:  Daniel Brian Stevens

DATE:  Thu, May 22, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  Stearns Bldg., Cady Room

CHAIR(S):  Kevin E. Korsyn

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Brahms's Song Collections: Rethinking a Genre

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Business Administration)

CANDIDATE:  Li Wang

DATE:  Thu, May 22, 2008

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  Wily Hall 0722

CHAIR(S):  Michael D. Gordon and Ji Zhu

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Efficient Regularized Solution Path Algorithms with Applications in Machine 
Learning and Data Mining

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Macromolecular Science & Engineering)

CANDIDATE:  Ernest Carl McIntyre

DATE:  Thu, May 22, 2008

TIME:  01:00PM

PLACE:  Pod Room HHDOW

CHAIR(S):  Frank E. Filisko

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Squeeze Flow and Compression of Smart Materials: Electrorheological and 
Magnetorheological Fluids

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Immunology)

CANDIDATE:  Andrew Brent Shreiner

DATE:  Thu, May 22, 2008

TIME:  02:00PM

PLACE:  2710 FSSC (MSII)

CHAIR(S):  Gary Huffnagle

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

Hypersensitivity Response to Aspergillus fumigatus Conidia:
Immunopathogenesis of Allergic Airway Disease and Pulmonary Arterial
Remodeling

*******
Doctor of Philosophy (Biostatistics)

CANDIDATE:  Sijian Wang

DATE:  Fri, May 23, 2008

TIME:  09:00AM

PLACE:  M4034, SPH II

CHAIR(S):  Bin Nan and Ji Zhu

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

High-dimensional Survival Data Analysis and Its Application to Microarray 
Data

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