Dissertation Defense

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Theodore Anyika, Electrical and Computer Engineering *under the supervision of Justus Ndukaife “Multiphysics Nanotweezers for Manipulation and Characterization of Individual Nanoparticles: From Nanoplastics to Extracellular Vesicles” 9.29.26 | 10:00 am | 308 Featheringill Hall | Zoom Devices that enable single-particle trapping, manipulation, and characterization have become… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Matthew Vasuta, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Kane Jennings “Multicomponent Thin Films and Membranes by Combined Spin Coating and Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization” 9.21.26 | 1:00 pm | 209 Furman Hall Thermally driven separations such as distillation necessitate large energy demands, motivating the development of selective… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Tao Hong, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Jason Valentine “Metasurface-on-chip Flow Cytometer for Fluorescence Quantification” 5.13.26 | 9:30 am | 306 FGH | Zoom Fluorescence flow cytometry (FFC) is a fundamental technique to cellular and molecular analysis, yet conventional instruments rely on bulky free-space… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Brayden Terry, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Al Strauss “Friction Stir Welding of Thin Sheet Nitinol: Dissimilar Materials and Heat Treatment” 3.25.26 | 9:00 am | 132 Olin Hall| Zoom Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining method that sees use in the… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Sajal Islam, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Ron Schrimpf and Josh Caldwell “Enhancing Reliability in Ga₂O₃, GaN and SiC Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor Devices through Structural Design Improvement and Radiation Effects Analysis” 12.16.25 | 11:00 am | ISDE Conference Room | Zoom Wide bandgap semiconductor technologies,… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Abigail Fabiano, Biomedical Engineering *under the supervision of Michael R. King “Enabling Tools and Approaches for the Study of Mechanoadaptation and Apoptosis in Metastatic Cancer” 12.04.25 | 1:00 pm | Sarratt 189  | Zoom Although fewer than 1% of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that enter the… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Aditha Senarath, Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program *under the supervision of Josh Caldwell and Ron Schrimpf “GaN for Space and Power Electronics: Radiation Effects Study and Development of a Nano-Optical Probe for Characterization” 07.11.25 | 9:00 am | FGH 132  | Zoom For decades, the semiconductor… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Bradly Baer, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Greg Walker “Calculating Interfacial Thermal Transport Using Atomistic Simulation Methods” 06.13.25 | 11:00am | ESB 044 At the nanoscale, many materials have properties different than they do in the bulk. Nanomaterials can exhibit interesting and useful optical,… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Alexandra C. Koziel, Chemistry *under the direction of Janet Macdonald “Think Smaller: Understanding Selenium Pathways in Metal Chalcogenide Nanocrystal Synthesis” 03.07.24  |  2:00PM CST  |  512 Light Hall As nanochemistry grows as a field and the applications of nanomaterials emerge, the importance of understanding what happens in the reaction… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Simon J. Ward, Electrical and Computer Engineering *under the direction of Sharon Weiss “Improving Biosensor Performance using Machine Learning and Signal Processing” 02.15.24  |  1:00PM CST  |  308 Featheringill Hall | Zoom ID: 935 9293 1256 The field of biosensing, encompassing the detection of harmful biological molecules in medical… Read More