May 15, 2023

Jesse Mark, Pratusha Reddy, Dharmateja Varapula, and Chao Wang, all PhD candidates, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, each received the 2023 School of Biomed Outstanding Dissertation Award. Jesse’s thesis is titled, "Neuroadaptive Training Approaches to Enhance Skill Acquisition in Flight Simulators” (Advisor: H. Ayaz); Pratusha’s thesis is titled, "Investigation of Cerebrovascular Reactivity Using Hypercapnia and Optical Brain Imaging” (Advisor: K. Izzetoglu); Dharma’s thesis is titled, "A Single-Molecule DNA Analysis Device for Optical Mapping and Sequencing” (Advisor: M. Xiao); and Chao’s thesis is titled, "Regulatory Roles of Fibril-Forming Collagens in Cartilaginous Tissue Biomechanics and Mechanobiology” (Advisor: L. Han).

The Outstanding Dissertation Award is presented to PhD/doctoral-level students who have written an original, innovative dissertation that reflects excellent research and has or is likely to be disseminated widely and have a significant impact on the field and society.