Alexandra McMahon
Date: March 6, 2026, 12:00 p.m.
Virtual Defense, Medical Campus. Please contact axm8143@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Metabolomic and Inflammatory Biomarker Profiling of Radiotherapy-Related Outcomes in Breast Cancer
Judith Bohnenkamp
Date: March 6, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
Virtual Defense, Coral Gables Campus. Please contact jbohnenkamp@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Essays in Household Finance
Chloe Moulin
Date: March 10, 2026, 1:00 p.m.
Location: Medical Campus, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Jose Berrocal Auditorium.
Dissertation Title: Dynamics of Optic Nerve Injury Response and Functional Recovery in Regeneration-Competent and Incompetent Species
LaShae Rolle
Date: March 11, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Medical Campus. In-Person: Don Soffer Clinical Research Bldg., Room 1080A. Virtual: Please contact lashaerolle@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Lifestyle Interventions in Women's Cancer Treatment: Quality of Life and Clinical Outcomes
Lovelyn Isiani
Date: March 13, 2026, 12:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Merrick Bldg. Conference, Room 122-A. Virtual: Please contact lai38@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Thesis Title: Fundamental Cause Theory and Public Health Interventions: Urban–Rural Variations in ITN Use Among Women of Reproductive Age in Nigeria
Lacey Despres
Date: March 16, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Hybrid Defense, Medical Campus. In-Person: Don Soffer Clinical Research Bldg., Room 1080. Virtual: Please contact llxc1301@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Exploring Acceptability of Game-Based and Social Network Strategies for Improving Biomedical HIV Prevention Engagement among Latino Sexual Minority Men
Matthew Tolerico
Date: March 16, 2026, 10:30 a.m.
Hybrid Defense, Medical Campus. In-Person: Sylvester Support Bldg., Room 110. Virtual: Please contact mxt1001@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Targeting the APOM/S1P/S1PR4 Axis in a Mouse Model of Glomerular Disease
Duygu Aktas
Date: March 16, 2026, 2:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Ashe Administration Bldg., Conference Room. Virtual: Please contact duyguaktas@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Consciousness in Functionally and Spatially Distributed Systems
Christopher Duarte
Date: March 16, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Ungar Bldg. Room 305. Virtual: Please contact cduarte@cs.miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Thesis Title: Particle Filter for Indoor Robot Self-Localization on the Toyota HSR
Kyra Stahr
Date: March 16, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Virtual Defense, Coral Gables Campus. Please contact kxs3553@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Doctoral Essay Title: A Conductor’s Guide to The Song of Love, Op. 8, by Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Supitcha Kansirisin
Date: March 17, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: PLF, Room 129. Virtual: Please contact kansiris.sk@gmail.com to request virtual access via Zoom.
Doctoral Essay Title: Bridging The Gap: A Conductor’s Guide to Thai Choral Music of Kaiwan Kulavadhanothai
Suwon Choi
Date: March 18, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Stubblefield Bldg., Room 302.
Dissertation Title: Beyond Buying New: Exploring Alternative Forms of Product Acquisition
Hanting Zhang
Date: March 18, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: PLF 320 South, Room 320. Virtual: Please contact hxz695@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Doctoral Essay Title: One Thought, Flowing Mind: Compositional Explorations of Zen Buddhism and Meditation
Zedan Liu
Date: March 18, 2026, 1:30 p.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, Ungar Bldg., Room 506.
Dissertation Title: Multivariable Link Signatures as Casson-Type Invariants
Elliott Fus
Date: March 19, 2026, 9:00 a.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, Frost Music Studios North, Room 317.
Doctoral Essay Title: The French Horn in Popular Music from the 1950s to 1980s
Sehong Park
Date: March 19, 2026, 1:30 p.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, Ungar Bldg., Room 406.
Dissertation Title: On Geometric Problems Involving Capacity, Horizon, and Quasi-Local Mass
Jennifer Grover
Date: March 19, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, PLF, Room 129.
Doctoral Essay Title: Brigham Young University: An American Choral School. A Study on the Historical Progression and Principles of the Development of the Choral Institution
Samuel Sherman
Date: March 20, 2026, 9:00 a.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, Patricia Louise Frost North, Room 129.
Doctoral Essay Title: A Conductor's Analysis: An Ecomusicological Perspective on Christopher Tin’s "The Lost Birds"
Yaxin Liu
Date: March 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Frost South Studio, Charles Mason's Office.
Doctoral Essay Title: From Brushstrokes to Soundwaves: Reinterpreting Chinese Calligraphic Aesthetics in Contemporary Music
Lydia Gargano
Date: March 20, 2026, 1:45 p.m.
Location: Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science Campus, SLAB, Room 120.
Thesis Title: Mapping the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Ties to Higher Education: A Comprehensive Typology and Meta-Analysis
Antonio Mateus Barreto Gondim
Date: March 23, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Ungar Bldg., Room 406. Virtual: Please contact axb2303@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Deterministic, Stochastic and Bayesian Mechanistic Models for the Transmission Dynamics of Chikungunya
Alyssa Viggiano
Date: March 23, 2026, 11:00 a.m.
Virtual Defense, Coral Gables Campus. Please contact aviggiano@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Thesis Title: Associations between Fundamental Frequency and ASD Symptoms in Preschoolers: Stability and Change over Time
Nohhyeon Kwak
Date: March 24, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, McArthur Engineering Bldg., Room 215.
Dissertation Title: Characterization of Bioaerosols from Agriculture and Marine Environment
Quanquan Yan
Date: March 24, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, PLF-S, Room 320.
Doctoral Essay Title: Guixu for Orchestra: Shanhaijing Imagery with Cantonese Opera Elements
Hayden Stacki
Date: March 24, 2026, 1:00 p.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, PLF South, Room 321.
Doctoral Essay Title: Burnout Cycle
Jahn Jaramillo
Date: March 24, 2026, 3:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: Schwartz Nursing, HS 202.
Dissertation Title: Understanding and Addressing Multilevel Determinants of HIV Prevention and Behavioral Health Engagement Among Latino Men Who Have Sex With Men in Miami, Florida: Knowledge, Peer Support, and Employment
Leonardo Schultz Araujo
Date: March 25, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, Ungar Bldg., Room 406.
Dissertation Title: Multi-Patch Models for Vector-Borne Disease Transmission: Heterogeneity, Mobility, and Hybrid Lagrangian–Eulerian Dynamics
Ji Su Oh
Date: March 25, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, PLF, Room 129.
Doctoral Essay Title: A Conductor’s Guide to Selected Choral Compositions Based on Korean Traditional Folk Music by Byung-Hee Oh
Cristina Fayad Martinez
Date: March 25, 2026, 4:30 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Coral Gables Campus. In-Person: McArthur Engineering Bldg., Room 289. Virtual: Please contact cxf590@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: Factors that Influence Non-Dietary Ingestion of Household Dust
Jorge Vega
Date: March 26, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Virtual Defense, Medical Campus. Please contact amc911@med.miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Dissertation Title: A Preclinical Framework for Combining Low-Intensity Electric and Magnetic
Field Therapy with Photon Radiotherapy: Device Development, Field Modeling, and Validation
Betsy Mullins
Date: March 26, 2026, 3:00 p.m.
Location: Coral Gables Campus, Merrick Bldg., Room 122-A.
Thesis Title: Walking Each Other Home: Impacts of Peer Mentorship in Reentry on Peer Mentors
Veronica Paul
Date: March 26, 2026, 3:00 p.m.
Hybrid Defense, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science Campus. In-Person: MTLSS 128. Virtual: Please contact vap110@miami.edu to request virtual access via Zoom.
Thesis Title: Utilizing Alkalinity Enhancement to Increase Coral Growth Rates in Ex-Situ Nurseries
Noah Levi
Date: March 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Location: Medical Campus, Lois Pope, 7th Floor Auditorium.
Dissertation Title: The Role of Kv7.2 in the Pancreas
Christian McDonald
Date: April 8, 2026, 12:00 p.m.
Location: Medical Campus, Rosenstiel Medical Science Bldg., Room 3161 (Applebaum Auditorium).
Dissertation Title: Adaptive Remodeling of the Translational Landscape During Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Virus (KSHV) Infection
Aidan Mahoney
Date: April 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Location: Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science Campus, SLAB, Room 103.
Dissertation Title: The Influence of the Large-Scale Environment on Tropical Cyclones
Marisleydi Ramos Borrego
Date: May 7, 2026, 12:30 p.m.
Virtual Defense, Coral Gables Campus.
Dissertation Title: The Sociolinguistics of Spanish-Language Theater: Variability and Enregisterment on Stage in Miami and New York
