Best Dissertation Award Winners
The committee selected three Best Dissertations for the Fall 2022/Spring 2023/Summer 2023 competition. The Best Dissertation Award went to the following students:
Fall 2022/Spring 2023/Summer 2023
- Feng Fang, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Yingchun ZhangDepartment Biomedical EngineeringDissertation Title Brain Controllability Analysis
- Adam Mallette, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Jeffrey RimerDepartment Chemical & Biomolecular EngineeringDissertation Title Regulating Zeolite Nucleation using Alkali Cations and Higher Valence Elements
- Kosar Mozaffari, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Pradeep SharmaDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title The Interaction of Nonlinear Deformation and Electrostatics with Applications for Designing New Materials and Explaining Natural Phenomena
Past Winners
Fall 2021/Spring 2022/Summer 2022
- Jacklyn Hall, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Praveen BolliniDepartment Chemical and Biomolecular EngineeringDissertation Title Biomimetic Active Sites in Metal-Organic Framework Catalysts for Hydrocarbon Transformations
- Nam-In Kim, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Jae-Hyun RyouDepartment Materials Science and EngineeringDissertation Title Flexible Piezoelectric Sensors Based on Single-Crystalline III-N Thin Films for Personal-Healthcare and Extreme-Environment Applications
Fall 2020/Spring 2021/Summer 2021
- Thuy T.D. Le, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Jeffrey RimerDepartment Chemical and Biomolecular EngineeringDissertation Title Modulation of Zeolite Composition and its Catalytic Effect on Methanol-to-Hydrocarbon Reaction
- Furui Wang, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Gangbing SongDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title Intelligent Detection of Bolt Looseness using Structural Health Monitoring Methods and Percussion Approach
Spring 2020
- Aseem Chawla, Ph.D.Advisor Dr. Jeffrey RimerDepartment Chemical EngineeringDissertation Title Controlling Microporous and Mesoporous Domains in Zeolite Crystallization
- Musa Ozturk, Ph.D.Advisor Dr. Nuri InceDepartment Biomedical EngineeringDissertation Title Pharmacological and Electroceutical Modulations of Local Field Potentials in Parkinson’s Disease
Summer/Fall 2019
- Jie Chen, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Jae-Hyun RyouDepartment Materials Science and EngineeringDissertation Title Flexible Piezoelectric Generators and Pulse Sensors Using Single-Crystalline III-N Thin Films
- Fang Hao, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Yan YaoDepartment Electrical EngineeringDissertation Title Materials and Interfacial Engineering for High-Performance All Solid-State Batteries
- Donghwan Kim, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Hyongki LeeDepartment Geosensing Systems EngineeringDissertation Title Ensemble Learning Regression for Estimating River Discharge Using Remotely Sensed Data and Hydrological Model
Spring 2019
- Chih-Hao Liu, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Kirill V. LarinDepartment Biomedical EngineeringDissertation Title Translational Optical Coherence Elastography
- Wenbo Luo, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Venkat SelvamanickamDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title Fabrication and Electromechanical Study of Symmetric Tape Round (STAR) ReBCO Wires
Summer/Fall 2018
- Kyoseung Sim, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Cunjiang YuDepartment Materials Science and EngineeringDissertation Title Materials and Manufacture of Soft and Curvilinear Electronics
Spring 2018
- Manmohan Singh, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Kirill V. LarinDepartment Biomedical EngineeringDissertation Title Quantifying Tissue Biomechanical Properties with Noncontact Dynamic Optical Coherence Elastography
- Jun Mao, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Kenneth White and Dr. Zhifeng RenDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title Defect Engineering in Thermoelectric Materials
- Chong Dai, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Yandi HuDepartment Civil and Environmental EngineeringDissertation Title Heterogeneous Nucleation, Growth, and Recrystallization of Nanoparticles under Environmentally Relevant Conditions
Summer/Fall 2017
- Rui Li, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Jeffrey D. RimerDepartment Chemical and Biomolecular EngineeringDissertation Title Multifaceted Approaches to Tailor Zeolite Properties and Elucidate the Role of Precursors in Nonclassical Crystallization
- Meysam Heydari Gharahcheshmeh, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Venkat SelvamanickamDepartment Materials Science and EngineeringDissertation Title Structural and Electromagnetic Study of Heavily Doped ZR-Added Rebco Coated Conductors Fabricated by Reel-to-Reel MOCVD
Spring 2017
- Katy N. Olafson, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Peter G. Vekilov and Dr. Jeffrey D. RimerDepartment Chemical EngineeringDissertation Title Deciphering the Molecular Interactions between Antimalarials and Hematin Crystal Surfaces
Summer/Fall 2016
- Fatemeh Ahmadpoor, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Pradeep SharmaDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title Statistical Mechanics of 2D Materials: From Biological Membranes to Graphene
Summer/Fall 2015
- Maruti K. Mudunuru, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Kalayana B. NakshatralaDepartment Civil and Environmental EngineeringDissertation Title On Enforcing Maximum Principles and Element-wise Species Balance for Advective-Diffusive-Reactive Systems
- Nikhil Walani, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Ashutosh AgrawalDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title Mechanics of Cellular Transport
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