Home Navigating Your Degree Oral Defense Dates Oral Defense Dates 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 Baharan Meghdadi Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Multiomics Digital Twins to Decode Tumor Metabolism and Precision Vulnerabilities in Patients with Brain Cancer Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10, RESEARCH AUDITORIUM / HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97757206103 PW: 1234 Chair: Deepak Nagrath 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 Alissa Tsai Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Towards a Secure and Sustainable U.S. Aluminum Supply Chain: System Optimizations for Increasing Domestic Recycling of Post-Consumer Scrap Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93446682564 Chair: Daniel Ross Cooper 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: SOUTH LECTURE HALL (MEDSCI II) 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 Josey Hanish Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Ultrafast Charge Carrier Separation in InGaN Photocatalytic Nanostructures Date: 27 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: LEC4231, LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER, 1221 BEAL AVE, ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 Chair: Theodore B Norris Malcolm Risk Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: Federated Statistical Inference for Heterogeneous Time-to-Event Data Date: 27 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: SPH1 G850 Chair: Xu Shi and Lili Zhao David Grace Program: Environment and Sustainability Dissertation Title: The Role of Religion in Sustainable Forest Management Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95449197002 Chair: Derek Brent Van Berkel Hannah Baez Program: Robotics Dissertation Title: Human-Robot Shared Planning and Control Through Two-Way Haptic Communication Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: FORD ROBOTICS BUILDING ROOM 2300 Chair: Brent Gillespie and Nadine Barbara Sarter Rebecca Herbst Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: Advancing Hard X-ray Diagnostics for Ultrahigh Intensity Laser-Plasma Interactions Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: ROBERT H. LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER 4231 – GENERAL MOTORS CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Yong Ma and Alexander George Roy Thomas Connor DiMarco Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Magnetospheric Sawtooth Events: Observational Characterization, Substorm Comparison, and Global MHD Investigation Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: CSRB 2246; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95955378309 PW: 2026 Chair: Tuija Pulkkinen Nicholas Tomalia Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Design of Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks for On-Demand Energetic Nanocomposites and Catalytic Oxidizer Decomposition Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: CHEMISTRY BUILDING, CHEM 1706; ZOOM HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/94982368354 PW:ENERGETICS Chair: Adam J Matzger Kunal Kalpesh Velinkar Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Mechanistic Insights into Interfacial Electrochemical Processes in Oxygen-based Energy Systems Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B18, ROOM 122 Chair: Eranda Nikolla Ester Bentley Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Miniaturizing the Hemispherical Resonant Gyroscope: Exploring Resonator Symmetry and Defects Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: EECS 3316 Chair: Peter Joseph Seiler Fatimah Alkaabi Program: Biomedical Engineering Dissertation Title: Functional Characterization of the Interoception Network Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: NCRC10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM Chair: Zhongming Liu Christopher Weston Program: Aerospace Engineering Dissertation Title: Towards a Mixed-Order, Global-Local Modeling Framework for High-Speed Aerothermoelastic Flight Problems Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: FXB 1044 (HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/98959665756, PASSCODE: ICARUS) Chair: Carlos E S Cesnik Can Carlak Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Intelligent Mobility: Edge-Centric Support in Connected Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystems Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91338774880 Chair: Z Morley Mao Eric Yeu-Jer Lee Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Software-Hardware Co-Design of Event-based Vision Neuromorphic Computing Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: EECS 3316 Chair: Wei Lu Andrea Londono Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: State-Insensitive Trapping of Rydberg Atom Arrays for Quantum Information Science Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: WEST HALL 411 Chair: Alexander Kuzmich Timothy Borel Program: Medicinal Chemistry Dissertation Title: SAR-Guided Development and Optimization of Selective Triazine Nitrile TgCPL Inhibitors for Treatment of Latent Toxoplasmosis Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: RACKHAM GRADUATE SCHOOL 4TH FLOOR EAST CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Martin C Clasby Yutong Xie Program: Information Dissertation Title: Towards AI Behavioral Science: Measurement, Modeling, and Objectives Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: THE DOW ROOM, LEINWEBER BUILDING, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/94509469980?JST=2 Chair: Qiaozhu Mei 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 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 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: 3316 EECS 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 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]
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
Baharan Meghdadi Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Multiomics Digital Twins to Decode Tumor Metabolism and Precision Vulnerabilities in Patients with Brain Cancer Date: 21 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: NCRC BUILDING 10, RESEARCH AUDITORIUM / HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/97757206103 PW: 1234 Chair: Deepak Nagrath
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
Alissa Tsai Program: Mechanical Engineering Dissertation Title: Towards a Secure and Sustainable U.S. Aluminum Supply Chain: System Optimizations for Increasing Domestic Recycling of Post-Consumer Scrap Date: 24 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/93446682564 Chair: Daniel Ross Cooper
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: SOUTH LECTURE HALL (MEDSCI II) 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
Josey Hanish Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Ultrafast Charge Carrier Separation in InGaN Photocatalytic Nanostructures Date: 27 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: LEC4231, LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER, 1221 BEAL AVE, ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 Chair: Theodore B Norris
Malcolm Risk Program: Biostatistics Dissertation Title: Federated Statistical Inference for Heterogeneous Time-to-Event Data Date: 27 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: SPH1 G850 Chair: Xu Shi and Lili Zhao
David Grace Program: Environment and Sustainability Dissertation Title: The Role of Religion in Sustainable Forest Management Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 9:00 a.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95449197002 Chair: Derek Brent Van Berkel
Hannah Baez Program: Robotics Dissertation Title: Human-Robot Shared Planning and Control Through Two-Way Haptic Communication Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: FORD ROBOTICS BUILDING ROOM 2300 Chair: Brent Gillespie and Nadine Barbara Sarter
Rebecca Herbst Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: Advancing Hard X-ray Diagnostics for Ultrahigh Intensity Laser-Plasma Interactions Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: ROBERT H. LURIE ENGINEERING CENTER 4231 – GENERAL MOTORS CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Yong Ma and Alexander George Roy Thomas
Connor DiMarco Program: Climate & Sp Sciences & Engin Dissertation Title: Magnetospheric Sawtooth Events: Observational Characterization, Substorm Comparison, and Global MHD Investigation Date: 28 Aug 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Location: CSRB 2246; HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/95955378309 PW: 2026 Chair: Tuija Pulkkinen
Nicholas Tomalia Program: Chemistry Dissertation Title: Design of Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks for On-Demand Energetic Nanocomposites and Catalytic Oxidizer Decomposition Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: CHEMISTRY BUILDING, CHEM 1706; ZOOM HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/94982368354 PW:ENERGETICS Chair: Adam J Matzger
Kunal Kalpesh Velinkar Program: Chemical Engineering Dissertation Title: Mechanistic Insights into Interfacial Electrochemical Processes in Oxygen-based Energy Systems Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: NCRC B18, ROOM 122 Chair: Eranda Nikolla
Ester Bentley Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Miniaturizing the Hemispherical Resonant Gyroscope: Exploring Resonator Symmetry and Defects Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: EECS 3316 Chair: Peter Joseph Seiler
Fatimah Alkaabi Program: Biomedical Engineering Dissertation Title: Functional Characterization of the Interoception Network Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: NCRC10 RESEARCH AUDITORIUM Chair: Zhongming Liu
Christopher Weston Program: Aerospace Engineering Dissertation Title: Towards a Mixed-Order, Global-Local Modeling Framework for High-Speed Aerothermoelastic Flight Problems Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: FXB 1044 (HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/98959665756, PASSCODE: ICARUS) Chair: Carlos E S Cesnik
Can Carlak Program: Computer Science & Eng Dissertation Title: Intelligent Mobility: Edge-Centric Support in Connected Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystems Date: 31 Aug 2026 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/91338774880 Chair: Z Morley Mao
Eric Yeu-Jer Lee Program: Electrical & Computer Engineer Dissertation Title: Software-Hardware Co-Design of Event-based Vision Neuromorphic Computing Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 10:00 a.m. Location: EECS 3316 Chair: Wei Lu
Andrea Londono Program: Applied Physics Dissertation Title: State-Insensitive Trapping of Rydberg Atom Arrays for Quantum Information Science Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: WEST HALL 411 Chair: Alexander Kuzmich
Timothy Borel Program: Medicinal Chemistry Dissertation Title: SAR-Guided Development and Optimization of Selective Triazine Nitrile TgCPL Inhibitors for Treatment of Latent Toxoplasmosis Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: RACKHAM GRADUATE SCHOOL 4TH FLOOR EAST CONFERENCE ROOM Chair: Martin C Clasby
Yutong Xie Program: Information Dissertation Title: Towards AI Behavioral Science: Measurement, Modeling, and Objectives Date: 1 Sep 2026 Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: THE DOW ROOM, LEINWEBER BUILDING, HTTPS://UMICH.ZOOM.US/J/94509469980?JST=2 Chair: Qiaozhu Mei
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 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
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: 3316 EECS 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
