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 2023/Spring 2024/Summer 2024
- Swapnil Sharma, Ph.D.First PlaceAdvisor Dr. Vemuri BalakotaiahDepartment Chemical EngineeringDissertation Title Analysis of Natural Convection Effects in Insulation Layers of Cryogenic Storage Tanks
- Theophilus Kaaya, Ph.D.Second PlaceAdvisor Dr. Zheng ChenDepartment Mechanical EngineeringDissertation Title Dielectric Elastomer Tubular Actuators: Modeling, Control, and Biomedical Applications
Past Winners
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
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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