The graduate dean invites all graduate faculty to attend the final oral examinations for the doctoral candidates scheduled as follows:

Weiyue Xin, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Monday, Dec. 11, 1 p.m., Lederle 201 and via Zoom. Dissertation: “Elastic Controlled Positioning of Solid Colloidal Micro-Plates on Curves 2D Fluid Phospholipid Membrane.” Maria Santore, chair. 

Lakmani Tharaka Galaniha, Ph.D., Food Science, Monday, Dec. 11, 2 p.m., via Zoom. Dissertation: “Taste Dysfunction and Cancer: Clinicians and Patient Perspectives and Experiences.” Alissa Nolden, chair. 

Tian Zhou, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Monday, Dec. 11, 10:20 a.m., Knowles 1st Floor Conference Room. Dissertation: “Efficient Privacy-Preserving Video Analytics using Deep Neural Networks.” Lixin Gao, chair. 

Michael Lu-Diaz, Ph.D., Chemistry, Monday, Dec. 11, 1 p.m., Geossmann 153. Dissertation: “Chemically Doped Conjugated Polymers: Elucidating Factors that Impact Charge Transport.” D. Venkataraman, chair. 

Jacob Barnett, Ph.D., Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 10:30 a.m., Morrill 222. Dissertation: “The Wild Tomato Clade Offers Insights into Fleshy Fruit Trait Evolution at the Phenotypic and Molecular Levels.” Ana L. Caicedo, chair. 

Nirupama Ravi, Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 10 a.m., via Zoom. Dissertation: “Privacy Enhancing Techniques for Connected Autonomous Vehicles in the Intelligent Transportation System.” C. Mani Krishna, chair.

Ramiro Eduardo Rea Reyes, Ph.D., Psychological and Brain Sciences, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 9 a.m., via Zoom. Dissertation: “Development of Decision Strategies Under Risk and Uncertainty.” Youngbin Kwak, chair. 

Yumeng Zhang, Ph.D., Chemistry, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 10 a.m., Life Science Lab 610. Dissertation: “Multi-Scale Simulations of Dynamic Protein Structures and Interactions.” Jianhan Chen, chair. 

Demi Moed, Ph.D., Polymer Science, Thursday, Dec. 14, 3 p.m., Conte Polymer Research Building A110/111. Dissertation: “Untangling the Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Flexible, Filamentous Mesoscale Polymer Ribbon Arrays.” Alfred J. Crosby, chair. 

Julio Aparicio, Ph.D., Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Thursday, Dec. 14, 3 p.m., Life Science Lab N410. Dissertation: “Soft Magnetic Sensing for Soft Support Surface Applications and Hertzian Contact Approximations for Interface Pressures.” Frank C. Sup IV, chair. 

Emrah Pektas, Ph.D., Education, Friday, Dec. 15, 10 a.m., via Zoom. Dissertation: “Second Grade Student Engagement in a Computational Thinking-Integrated Science and Engineering Curriculum.” Darrell Earnest, chair.

Jordanna Barley, Ph.D., Environmental Conservation, Friday, Dec. 15, 10 a.m., Holdsworth 105. Dissertation: “Climate Change Effects on Marine Species Physiology and Biogeography.” Brian Cheng and Renae Brodie, chairs.

Andrew Allyn, Ph.D., Environmental Conservation, Friday, Dec. 15, 1 p.m., Holdsworth 105. Dissertation: “Assessing the Capacity of Species Distribution Models to Support Forward-Looking Decision-Making Processes.” Curtice Griffin, chair.