Home Navigating Your Degree Oral Defense Dates Oral Defense Dates Leesi George-Komi Program: Movement Science Dissertation Title: Exploring the Role of Youth Sports in Mitigating the Impact of Stressors on Mental Distress: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Protective Mechanisms Date: 27 Oct 2026 Time: 8:30 a.m. Location: ROOM: SKB 2200; ZOOM URL: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91274248204 PC: 506925 Chair: Leah Elizabeth Robinson Tanner Nutting Program: Nuc Eng & Radiol Sciences Dissertation Title: Structured Laser Drivers for Laser Wakefield Acceleration and Radiation Generation Date: 28 Oct 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: PML 2000 Chair: Karl Michael Krushelnick Bailey Mitchell Program: Genetics and Genomics Dissertation Title: Human Stem Cell Modeling and Antisense Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Development for Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 15/16 Date: 29 Oct 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: WEST LECTURE HALL, MED SCI II (HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/98183577367) Chair: Hayley McLoughlin Sujin Cha Program: Political Science Dissertation Title: National Interests, Global Firms: The Politics of Industrial Subsidies Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96431204955 Chair: Iain Guthrie Osgood Mohamad Ismail Program: Clin Pharm Translational Sci Dissertation Title: Developing a Culturally Relevant Intervention Targets to Optimize Oral Anticancer Agent Self-Management among Arab American Individuals with Cancer: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Study Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: U-M COP, FIRST FLOOR, ROOM 1300-1500; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99078059227?JST=2 PW:103026 Chair: Antoinette Bartolotta Coe and Karen Bell Farris Namir Khalasawi Program: Pharmaceutical Sciences Dissertation Title: Engineered Antibodies for Therapeutic Immune Modulation Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM Chair: Peter Tessier Jiayue Huang Program: Macromolecular Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Design of Ice-Shedding Surfaces through Tailored Morphology Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: G065, BUILIDING10, NCRC Chair: Anish Tuteja Barbara Caballero Program: Romance Language & Lit Spanish Dissertation Title: El museo portatil cortazariano: coleccionar, montar y recorrer en La vuelta al dia en ochenta mundos, Ultimo Round y Territorios Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: MODERN LANGUAGE BUILDING – COMMONS ROOM Chair: Kate Jenckes Weihao Liu Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Understanding Energetic Particle Acceleration and Transport from the Solar Corona to Interplanetary Space Through the Eye of Simulation Date: 2 Nov 2026 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER, ROOM 3213 (JOHNSON ROOM) Chair: Lulu Zhao Trang Hoang Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Engineering Baker's Yeast for an Affordable Influenza Virus-like Particles (VLPs) Vaccine Date: 2 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96091114919 Chair: Fei Wen Yue Xin Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Advances in High-Throughput Chemical Reaction Screening, Rapid Chromatography, and Quantification for Pharmaceutical Development Date: 2 Nov 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: RACKHAM WEST CONFERENCE ROOMHTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91558857486 PASSCODE: 110226 Chair: Robert T Kennedy Anati Azhar Program: Molecular, Cell & Dev Biology Dissertation Title: The Regulation and Interactome of an H4K20-Specific Demethylase in Dosage Compensation of C. elegans Date: 3 Nov 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES BUILDING (BSB) IN CONFERENCE ROOM BSB 1010 Chair: Gyorgyi Csankovszki Stephen Gonzalez Program: Biological Chemistry Dissertation Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Nucleosome Recognition and Methylation by Legionella pneumophila Histone Lysine Methyltransferases Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 2903 TAUBMAN HEALTH SCIENCE LIBRARY Chair: Raymond C Trievel Liam Yourston Program: Biophysics Dissertation Title: Exploratory Investigation Into an Energy-Precision Tradeoff in Cell-Cycle Signaling: Novel Method Developments and Results Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: WEST CONFERENCE ROOM (FOURTH FLOOR) – RACKHAM BUILDING ; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/3421871207 Chair: Qiong Yang Ruoyao Shi Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: Statistical Methods for Causal Inference and Representation Learning with High-Dimensional Genetic and Phenotypic Data Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: 1750 SPH I Chair: Jean Morrison Teresa Sauer Program: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Dissertation Title: Patterns, Causes, and Consequences of Epidemics in Natural Aquatic Communities Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: RACKHAM WEST CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Meghan A Duffy Sahil Kumar Program: Romance Language & Lit Spanish Dissertation Title: Unusual Suspects: Argentine Detective Fiction?s Recommencement of Marxism and Psychoanalysis Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 2:30 p.m. Location: RLL COMMONS (ROOM 4314), MLB Chair: Gavin Michael Arnall Emrullah Ildiz Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Theoretical Perspectives on Learning and Reasoning in Language Models Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 2:30 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/92622233074 Chair: Samet Oymak Dan Ciotlos Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: Jackknife Assessment of Differentially Expressed Gene Overlap Across Traits, Cell Types, and Datasets with Application to Human Skeletal Muscle Date: 5 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: SPH2 1170 Chair: Laura Scott Adele Correia Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Defining Pathology and Therapeutic Opportunities in Niemann?Pick Disease Using Translational Models Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: THSL 2903 Chair: Andrew P Lieberman Christen Snyder Program: Neuroscience Dissertation Title: Mechanistic Insights into the Glucocorticoid Withdrawal Syndrome Based on Novel Mouse Models Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: MEDICAL SCIENCE 2 – 3699 S LECTURE HALL Chair: Audrey F Seasholtz and Joanna Louise Spencer-Segal Hersh Desai Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Innovative Ferroelectric Acoustic Radio Frequency Circuits Spanning Switches, Couplers, Modulators, and Millimeter-Wave Resonators Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: 3316 EECS Chair: Amir Mortazawi Mohammad Asadi Tokmedash Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Engineering Nano-Bio Interfaces for Functional Materials and Devices Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: NCRC B10 AUDITORIUM Chair: Jouha Min Noah Curran Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Expert-Guided Guardrails for Assuring Trustworthiness and Safety in Semi-Autonomous Systems Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: DOW EVENT SPACE IN LEINWEBER BUILDING Chair: Kang Geun Shin Guanjin Yan Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Physics- and Data-Driven Modeling of Macro- and Microstructures in Automotive Laser Welding Date: 9 Nov 2026 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: 1100 DOW Chair: Wenda Tan Swaraj Bose Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: From Individual Treatment Effects to Policy Gradients: Conformal Inference for Sequential Decision-Making Date: 9 Nov 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: 2690 SPH I Chair: Walter Dempsey Hongfan Chen Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: A Physics-Data Hybrid Approach for Probabilistic Sun-to-Earth Space Weather Forecasting in Data-Sparse Settings Date: 10 Nov 2026 Time: 10:30 a.m. Location: ROOM 1642, G.G. BROWN BUILDING (GGBA) Chair: Yang Chen and Xun Huan 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]
Leesi George-Komi Program: Movement Science Dissertation Title: Exploring the Role of Youth Sports in Mitigating the Impact of Stressors on Mental Distress: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Protective Mechanisms Date: 27 Oct 2026 Time: 8:30 a.m. Location: ROOM: SKB 2200; ZOOM URL: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91274248204 PC: 506925 Chair: Leah Elizabeth Robinson
Tanner Nutting Program: Nuc Eng & Radiol Sciences Dissertation Title: Structured Laser Drivers for Laser Wakefield Acceleration and Radiation Generation Date: 28 Oct 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: PML 2000 Chair: Karl Michael Krushelnick
Bailey Mitchell Program: Genetics and Genomics Dissertation Title: Human Stem Cell Modeling and Antisense Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Development for Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 15/16 Date: 29 Oct 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: WEST LECTURE HALL, MED SCI II (HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/98183577367) Chair: Hayley McLoughlin
Sujin Cha Program: Political Science Dissertation Title: National Interests, Global Firms: The Politics of Industrial Subsidies Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96431204955 Chair: Iain Guthrie Osgood
Mohamad Ismail Program: Clin Pharm Translational Sci Dissertation Title: Developing a Culturally Relevant Intervention Targets to Optimize Oral Anticancer Agent Self-Management among Arab American Individuals with Cancer: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Study Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: U-M COP, FIRST FLOOR, ROOM 1300-1500; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/99078059227?JST=2 PW:103026 Chair: Antoinette Bartolotta Coe and Karen Bell Farris
Namir Khalasawi Program: Pharmaceutical Sciences Dissertation Title: Engineered Antibodies for Therapeutic Immune Modulation Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM Chair: Peter Tessier
Jiayue Huang Program: Macromolecular Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Design of Ice-Shedding Surfaces through Tailored Morphology Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: G065, BUILIDING10, NCRC Chair: Anish Tuteja
Barbara Caballero Program: Romance Language & Lit Spanish Dissertation Title: El museo portatil cortazariano: coleccionar, montar y recorrer en La vuelta al dia en ochenta mundos, Ultimo Round y Territorios Date: 30 Oct 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: MODERN LANGUAGE BUILDING – COMMONS ROOM Chair: Kate Jenckes
Weihao Liu Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Understanding Energetic Particle Acceleration and Transport from the Solar Corona to Interplanetary Space Through the Eye of Simulation Date: 2 Nov 2026 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER, ROOM 3213 (JOHNSON ROOM) Chair: Lulu Zhao
Trang Hoang Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Engineering Baker's Yeast for an Affordable Influenza Virus-like Particles (VLPs) Vaccine Date: 2 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/96091114919 Chair: Fei Wen
Yue Xin Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Advances in High-Throughput Chemical Reaction Screening, Rapid Chromatography, and Quantification for Pharmaceutical Development Date: 2 Nov 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: RACKHAM WEST CONFERENCE ROOMHTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91558857486 PASSCODE: 110226 Chair: Robert T Kennedy
Anati Azhar Program: Molecular, Cell & Dev Biology Dissertation Title: The Regulation and Interactome of an H4K20-Specific Demethylase in Dosage Compensation of C. elegans Date: 3 Nov 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES BUILDING (BSB) IN CONFERENCE ROOM BSB 1010 Chair: Gyorgyi Csankovszki
Stephen Gonzalez Program: Biological Chemistry Dissertation Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Nucleosome Recognition and Methylation by Legionella pneumophila Histone Lysine Methyltransferases Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: 2903 TAUBMAN HEALTH SCIENCE LIBRARY Chair: Raymond C Trievel
Liam Yourston Program: Biophysics Dissertation Title: Exploratory Investigation Into an Energy-Precision Tradeoff in Cell-Cycle Signaling: Novel Method Developments and Results Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: WEST CONFERENCE ROOM (FOURTH FLOOR) – RACKHAM BUILDING ; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/3421871207 Chair: Qiong Yang
Ruoyao Shi Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: Statistical Methods for Causal Inference and Representation Learning with High-Dimensional Genetic and Phenotypic Data Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: 1750 SPH I Chair: Jean Morrison
Teresa Sauer Program: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Dissertation Title: Patterns, Causes, and Consequences of Epidemics in Natural Aquatic Communities Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: RACKHAM WEST CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Meghan A Duffy
Sahil Kumar Program: Romance Language & Lit Spanish Dissertation Title: Unusual Suspects: Argentine Detective Fiction?s Recommencement of Marxism and Psychoanalysis Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 2:30 p.m. Location: RLL COMMONS (ROOM 4314), MLB Chair: Gavin Michael Arnall
Emrullah Ildiz Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Theoretical Perspectives on Learning and Reasoning in Language Models Date: 4 Nov 2026 Time: 2:30 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/92622233074 Chair: Samet Oymak
Dan Ciotlos Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: Jackknife Assessment of Differentially Expressed Gene Overlap Across Traits, Cell Types, and Datasets with Application to Human Skeletal Muscle Date: 5 Nov 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: SPH2 1170 Chair: Laura Scott
Adele Correia Program: Cellular & Molecular Biol Dissertation Title: Defining Pathology and Therapeutic Opportunities in Niemann?Pick Disease Using Translational Models Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: THSL 2903 Chair: Andrew P Lieberman
Christen Snyder Program: Neuroscience Dissertation Title: Mechanistic Insights into the Glucocorticoid Withdrawal Syndrome Based on Novel Mouse Models Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: MEDICAL SCIENCE 2 – 3699 S LECTURE HALL Chair: Audrey F Seasholtz and Joanna Louise Spencer-Segal
Hersh Desai Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Innovative Ferroelectric Acoustic Radio Frequency Circuits Spanning Switches, Couplers, Modulators, and Millimeter-Wave Resonators Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: 3316 EECS Chair: Amir Mortazawi
Mohammad Asadi Tokmedash Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Engineering Nano-Bio Interfaces for Functional Materials and Devices Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 3:30 p.m. Location: NCRC B10 AUDITORIUM Chair: Jouha Min
Noah Curran Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Expert-Guided Guardrails for Assuring Trustworthiness and Safety in Semi-Autonomous Systems Date: 6 Nov 2026 Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: DOW EVENT SPACE IN LEINWEBER BUILDING Chair: Kang Geun Shin
Guanjin Yan Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Physics- and Data-Driven Modeling of Macro- and Microstructures in Automotive Laser Welding Date: 9 Nov 2026 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: 1100 DOW Chair: Wenda Tan
Swaraj Bose Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: From Individual Treatment Effects to Policy Gradients: Conformal Inference for Sequential Decision-Making Date: 9 Nov 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: 2690 SPH I Chair: Walter Dempsey
Hongfan Chen Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: A Physics-Data Hybrid Approach for Probabilistic Sun-to-Earth Space Weather Forecasting in Data-Sparse Settings Date: 10 Nov 2026 Time: 10:30 a.m. Location: ROOM 1642, G.G. BROWN BUILDING (GGBA) Chair: Yang Chen and Xun Huan
