Doctoral Defenses
Spring Quarter 2012-2013
Spring 2012-2013
Xia Zhou
Exploring the Impact of Negative Comparative Word-of-Mouth on Marketing Communications
Major: Marketing
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Hyokjin Kwak
Committee Members: Dr. Trina Andras, Dr. Rolph Anderson, Dr. Bert Rosenbloom and Dr. Joseph Rocereto
Location and Time: Friday, May 3, 2013, 3-5pm, Conference Room 736, 3600 Market Street
Scott B. Dust
The Motivational Effects of Work Characteristics Need–Supply Fit on Active Employee Behaviors: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective
Major: Management
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Christian J. Resick
Committee Members: Dr. Jeffrey Greenhaus, Dr. Jonathan Hegers, Dr. Vadakek Narayanan and Dr. Gary Latham
Location and Time: Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 1:30pm
Ilya Michael Waldstein
The Role of Context in Ontology Engineering and Evaluation
Major: Information Science
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Rosina Weber
Committee Members: Dr. Xia Lin, Dr. Jung-ran Park, Dr. Michael Rogers and Dr. Larry Kerschberg
Location and Time: Monday, May 20, 2013, 10am, Rush Building 014
Molly Hessan
Reservoir Optimization and Model Performance Metrics
Major: Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Mira Olsen
Committee Members: Dr. Patrick Gurian, Dr. Sabrina Spatari, Dr. Mark Maimone and Dr. Chris Crockett
Ramona Stammermann
High Resolution Numerical Models of Marshes in the Delaware Bay
Major: Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Franco Montalto
Committee Members: Dr. Michael Piasecki, Dr. Richard Weggel, Dr. Christopher Sommerfield and Dr. Jerry Mead
Location and Time: Tuesday, June 11, 2013, 9-11am, Alumni Engineering Labs 275
Ronald Smith
Spatial Ecology of Timber Rattlesnakes and Pine Snakes in the Pinelands of New Jersey
Major: Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Walter Bien
Committee Members: Dr. James Spotila, Dr. Susan Kilham, Dr. Harold Avery and Dr. Howard Reinert
Location and Time: Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 10am, PISB 103
Kimberly Nolan
Forward and Inverse Born Series for Diffuse, Scalar and Electromagnetic Waves
Major: Mathematics
Dissertation Chair: Dr. J. Douglas Wright
Committee Members: Dr. Ronald Perline, Dr. Shari Moskow, Dr. R. Andrew Hicks, Dr. David Ambrose and Dr. John Schotland
Location and Time: TBA
Sidath Gunawardena
Recommending Research Profiles for Multidisciplinary Academic Collaboration
Major: Information Studies
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Rosina Weber
Committee Members: Dr. Denise Agosto, Dr. Yuan An, Dr. Julia Stoyanovich and Dr. Donald Beaver
Location and Time: Thursday, May 23, 2013, 12-2pm, Rush Building Room 014
Wonjin Jo
Fabrication and Characterization of Nanomaterial: Biologically Inspired Silica Nanotubes Using Flagella as Bio-Templates
Major: Mechanical Engineering and Mechanica
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Min Jun Kim
Committee Members: Dr. Ying Sun, Dr. Matthew McCarthy, Dr. Ming Xiao and Dr. Christopher Li
Location and Time: Friday, May 24, 2013, 10am, MEM Seminar Rooms
Ceyhum E. Kirimli
Detection of Mutations of Transrenal DNA in Urine Without Amplification and Isolation Using an Array of Pecoelectric Plate Sensor (PEPS)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Kambiz Pourrezaei
Committee Members: Dr. Ahmet Sacon, Dr. Wan Shih, Dr. Wei-Heng Shih and Dr. Ying-Hsiu Su
Location and Time: Thursday, June 6, 2013, 12pm, Location TBA
John F. Doan
Philanthropic Motivation in the 21st Century
Major: Education Leadership and Management
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Rebecca Clothey
Committee Members: Dr. Craig Bach and Dr. Allen Grant
Location and Time: Thursday, April 11, 2013, 10am, ODP Room 141
Tu Nguyen
Essays in Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Governance
Major: Finance
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Eliezer Fich
Committee Members: Dr. Jay Cai, Dr. Naveen Davis, Dr. Todd Gormley and Dr. Ralph Walking
Location and Time: Monday, April 29, 2013 10:30am-12:00pm, Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Academic Building
Carol Larach
Utilization of Behavioral Health Services among Medicaid-Eligible Women with Pre-Existing Psychiatric Disorder during Perinatal Period
Major: Community Health and Prevention
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Randall Sell
Committee Members: Dr. Zekarias Berhane, Dr. Cathy Bolton, Dr. James Coyne and Dr. Renee Turchi
Location and Time: Wednesday, May 8, 2013, 3:30pm, Bellet Building, 1515 Race Street, 13th Floor, North Wing Conference Room
Anili Njoku
Psychosocial Predictors of Change in Colorectal Cancer Screening Decision Stage
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Major: Community Health and Prevention
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Augusta Villaneuva
Committee Members: Dr. Ann Klassen, Dr. Edward Gracely, Dr. Nicole Vaughn and Dr. Ronald Myers
Location and Time: Thursday, May 9, 2013, 2-4pm, School of Public Health, Bellet Building, 1515 Race Street, Deans Conference Room
Monique Bell
Self-Enhancement and Self-Transcendence Organizational Values’ Effects on Customer Satisfaction and Corporate Reputation
Major: Marketing
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Hyokjin Kwak
Committee Members: Dr. Pavin Nath, Dr. Trina Andras, Dr. Rolph Anderson and Dr. Charles Taylor
Location and Time: Thursday, May 16, 2013, 10:30am-12:30pm, 3600 Market Street, Conference Room 704
Marjorie A. Kiechel
Post-Processing of Electrospun Chitosan Fibers
Major: Materials Science and Engineerings
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Christopher Li
Committee Members: Dr. Caroline L. Schaner, Dr. Hao Cheng, Dr. Yossef A. Elabd and Dr. Christopher Pastore
Location and Time: Thursday, May 23, 2013 1pm, Hill Confrence Room, Bossone
Emrah Arioglu
Essays on Reverse Leveraged Buyouts
Major: Finance
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Michael Gombola
Committee Members: Dr. Jie Cai, Dr. Naveen Daniel, Dr. Eliezer Eich and Dr. Yoto Yotou
Location and Time: Monday, May 13, 2013, 11am, Academic Building Room 220
Yeetey A. Enuameh
Transforming the System of Care for Adolescents in Ghana: Preliminary Investigation of Adolescent Friendly Health Services Implementation in Two Administrative Districts of the Ghana Health Service
Major: Community Health & Prevention
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Lisa Ulmer
Committee Members: Dr. Angela Diaz, Dr. Renee Turchi, Dr. John Rich, Dr. Edmund Nii Laryea Browne and Dr. Zekarias Berhane
Location and Time: Tuesday, May 17, 2013, 10am, 6th Floor Conference Room of Bellet Building
Scott Alan Davidheiser
Identifying Areas for High School Teacher Development: A Study of Assesment Literacy in Central Bucks School District
Major: Education
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Sarah Ulrich
Committee Members: Dr. John Gould and Dr. Kenneth Voss
Location and Time: Thursday, May 16, 2013, 2pm, One Drexel Plaza, Dean’s Executive Conference Rooms
Beth Vermeer
Essays on Tax Preparer Decision making: An Examination of Controls, Motivations and Decision Outcomes
Major: Accounting
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Anthony Curtola
Committee Members: Dr. Hsihui Chang, Dr. Barabara Grein, Dr. Bernhard Reichert and Dr. George Tsakumis
Location and Time: Friday, May 17, 2013, 10am, Room 736 (Sky Room) 3600 Market Street
Paul B. Noto
Analysis of LXR Target Gene Expression Across Species
Major: Biology
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Joseph Bentz
Committee Members: Dr. Daniel Marenda, Dr. Felice Elephant, Dr. Nianli Sang, Dr. Deepak Lala and Dr. Brian McKeever
Location and Time: Friday, May 31, 2013, 3pm, PISB 103
William Trevor King
Open Source Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy
Major: Physics
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Jian-Min Yuan
Committee Members: Dr. Luis Cruz Cruz, Dr. Somdev Tyagi, Dr. Michel Ballieres and Dr. Jun Xi
Location and Time: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 2pm, Disque 109
Juilia Hagemann May
The Torture Debate in the Public Sphere: The Discussion of the Abu Gharib Revelations in Newspaper Opinion Pieces, Online Discussion Groups and Weblogs
Major: Culture and Communications
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Douglas Porpora
Committee Members: Dr. Earnest Hakanen, Dr. Alexander Nikolaev, Dr. Susan Stein and Dr. Zizi Papacharissi
Locations and Time: Wednesday, May 29, 2013, 11am, PSA Room 115
Blake N. Johnson
Piezoelectric Cantilever-like Micro-biosensors for RNA Detection in Complex Liquids
Major: Chemical Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Cameron Abrams
Committee Members: Dr. Richard Cairncross, Dr. Raj Mutharason, Dr. Ponzy Lu, Dr. Tein-Min Tan and Dr. Robert Coilmore
Location and Time: Friday, May 31, 2013, 10am, Speitel Conference Room 231
Erica Caden
Studying Neutrino Directionality With Double Chooz
Major: Physics
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Charles Lane
Committee Members: Dr. Jelena Maricic, Dr. Chris Peters, Dr. Rick Van Berg and Dr. Frank Ferrone
Location and Time: TBA
Holly Funkhouser Cucuzzella
The Efffect of a Professional Education Outreach Visit on Immediately Reportable Communicable Disease Reporting Practices, Knowledge and Attitudes Among Physicians, Physician Assistants and Nurse in Burlington Country, New Jersey
Major: Community Health and Prevention
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Randall Sell
Committee Members: Dr. Ed Gracely, Dr. Augusta Villaneuva, Dr. Stephen Gambescia and Tina Rizzo
Location and Time: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 2pm, Drexel School of Public Health, North Wing Conference Room, 13th Floor, Bellet Building, 1505 Race Street
James DeNicco
Essays on Jobless Recovery Major: Economics
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Chris Laincz
Committee Members: Dr. Maria Olivero, Dr. Mark Stehr, Dr. Bang Jeon and Dr. Scott Pressler
Location and Time: Monday, May 13, 2013, 1:00pm, Location TBA
Tanya Lewis-Walls
Relationship between Psychosocial Factors and Diabetes Testing Compliane in an Insured Population
Major: Community Health & Prevention
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Augusta Villaneuva
Committee Members: Dr. Randy Sell, Dr. Michael Yudell, Dr. Edward Gracely and Deneen Vojta
Location and Time: Thursday, May 16, 2013 12pm
Winter Quarter 2012-2013
Thomas William Mather
“An Ensemble Approach Towards Dynamic Task Assignment for Many Robot Systems”
Major: Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
Dissertation Chair: Dr. M. Ani Hsieh
Committee Members: Dr. Paul Oh, Dr. Antonios Kontsos, Dr. John Lacontora and Dr. Youngmoo Kim
Location and Time: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 MEM Seminar Room Time TBA
Eric Joseph Hagan
Adult Graduates’ Perceptions on te Value of a Bachelor’s Degree Earned Online from a Private Research University: A Qualitative Case Study
Major: Education
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Elizabeth Haslam
Committee Members: Dr. Allen Grant, Dr. William Northey, Jr. and Dr. Fred Loomis
Location and Time: Thursday, March 28, 2013, 10am, One Drexel Plaza 1st Floor Conference Room
Sanjay Shah
“Potentially Mitigating and Aggravating: The Influence of Neurological Evidence in Capital Sentencing Hearings”
Major: Psychology
Dissertation Chair: Dr. David DeMatteo
Committee Members: Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, Dr. Naomi Goldstein, Dr. Maria Schultheis and Dr. Paul Moberg
Location and Time: Thursday, March 21, 2013 2:30pm Bellet Building, Room 1035
Nicole Gidaya
The Effect of Utero Exposure to Beta-2 Adrenergic Receptor (BZAR) Agonists and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) on the Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Major: Epidemiology
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Craig Newschaffer
Committee Members: Dr. Brian Lee, Dr. Yvonne Michael, Dr. Micahel Yudell, Dr. Igor Burstyn and Dr. Dani Fallin
Location and Time: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 1PM
Dal Hyung Kim
Control of Tetrahymena Pyriformis as a Cellular Microrobot Using Various Stimuli at Low Reynolds Numbers
Major: Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
Dissertation Chair: Dr. MinJun Kim
Committee Members: Dr. Young Cho, Dr. Alan C.W. Lau, Dr. M. Ani Hsieh and Dr. Gail Rosen
Location and Time: Friday, March 8, 2013 10AM, Curtis 162
Janet Wiley Adams
A Case Study Using Lesson Study to Understand Factors That Affect Teaching Creative and Cristical Thinking in Elementary
Major: Educatopm
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Joyc Pittman
Committee Members: Dr. Aroutis Foster and Dr. Richard W. Ayers
Location and Time: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:00pm, One Drexel Plaza
Doruk Baykal
Tribological Assessment of Hydrogels for Replacing Damanges Articular Cartilage
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Adrian Shieh
Committee Members: Dr. Steve Kurtz, Dr. Michele Marcolongo, Dr. Rahamin Seliktar, Dr. Sriram Balasubramanian and Dr. Nancy Pleshko
Location and Time: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 2PM, Bossone 709
Neha Sunger
Quantitative Health Risk Assessment of Exposure to Recreational Water in the Philadelphia Area
Major: Civil, Architectural and Environment Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Charley N. Haas
Committee Members: Dr. Mira Olsen, Dr. Patrick Gurian, Dr. Franco Montalto and Dr. Timothy Barwand
Location and Time: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2pm Curtis Room 275
Matthew Yarnold
Temperature-Based Structural Identification and Health Monitoring for Long-Span Bridges
Major: Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Franklin Moon
Committee Members: Dr. Ivan Bartoli, Dr. Branko Glisic, Dr. Ahmet Emin Aktan, Dr. Jin Wen
Location and Time: Wednesday, February 6th 2013, Hill Conference Room LeBow Room 240
Michael Knauff
Kalman Filter Based State of Charge Estimation for Value Regulated Lead Acid Batteries in Wind Power Smoothing Applications
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Chika Nwamkpa
Committee Members: Dr. Dagmar Niebur, Dr. Tom Chmielewski, Dr. Pritpal Singh and Dr. Chris Dafis
Location and Time: Friday, February 15, 2013 2:30pm, Main Building Room 049
Oren Leaffer
Resonance Spectroscopy
Major: Material Science and Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Antonios Zavaliangos
Committee Members: Dr. Wei Shih, Dr. Jonathan Spanier, Dr. Steven May, Dr. Mitra Taheri and Dr. Livneh
Location and Time: Thursday, February 21, 2013, 3pm, Location TBA
Bob Gillepsie
The Relational Effects of Mindfulness Training: A Phenomenological Study
Major: Couples and Family Therapy
Dissertation Co-Chairs: Dr. Maureen Davey and Dr. Kimberly Flemke
Committee Members: Dr. Jacqueline Hudak, Dr. Erica Wilkins, Dr. Don McCown and Dr. Diane Gehart
Location and Time: February 26th, 2013 12-2pm, Bellet Building, Room 718
Fall Quarter 2012-2013
Runbo Li
Exploration of Quantitative Aspects of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry
Major: Chemistry
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Joe P. Foley
Committee Members: Dr. Anthony W. Addison, Dr. Catherine Bentzley, Dr. Jean-Claude Bradley and Dr. Peter A. Wade
Location and Time: Friday, January 4, 2013 11am-1:50pm, Stratton Hall, Room 113
Riju M. Singhal
Carbon Nanotube Based Devices for Intracellular Analysis
Major: Material Science & Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Christopher Li
Committee Members: Dr. Yury Gogotsi, Dr. Gary Friedman, Dr. Antonios Zavaliangos and Dr. Eric Borgvret
Location and Time: Friday, January 4, 2013, 11am, Hill Conference Room, LeBow Room 240
Sheila Pirooznia
An Epigenetic Role for Tip60 in APP Mediated Neuronal Processes
Major: Biology
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Aleister Saunders
Location and Time: Monday, January 14, 2013, 2-5pm at Papadakis Integrated Science Building Room 103
Committee Members: Dr. Jeff Twiss, Dr. Dan Marenda, Dr. John Zimmerman and Dr. Felice Elefant
Amalie Elizabeth Donius
Structure-Property-Processing Correlations in Chitosan-based Porous Hybrid Materials
Committee Chair: Dr. Caroline Schauer
Location and Time: November 19, 2012, 9:00am, Bossone 302
Committee: Dr. Steven May, Dr. Antonios Zavaliangos, Dr. Margaret Wheatley, Dr. Daniel Gianola, Dr. Ulrike Wegst
Hasti Majidi
Extremely Thin Absorber Solar Cells
Supervising Professor: Dr. Jason Baxter
Location and Time: Monday, November 19, 1:00pm Curtis MEM Seminar Room
Committee members: Masoud Soroush, Dr. Kenneth Lau, Dr. Jonathan Spanier and Dr. Cherie Kagan
Diane Price
A Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience of Caring for a Family Member with Cancer who Lived Longer Than Expected
Major: Nursing
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Albert Rundio
Committee Members: Dr. Kathleen Fisher, Dr. Michael Dahnke, Dr. Mary Ellen Glasgow and Dr. Melanie Kalman
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 8:30am
Fred Brako
Examining Gender Role Beliefs and Marital Satisfaction
of Ghanaian Immigrants in the U.S.
Location and Time: November 30, 2012, 2:00pm, Bellet Building, Room 209
Jack Suss
Biophysical and Physiological Ecology of Loggerhead Turtle Nests in Zakkynthos and Kyparrisia, Greece
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Michael O'Connor
Location and Time: December 5, 2012, 1:00pm, Papadakis Integrated Science Building Room 103
Committee: Dr. James Spotila, Dr. Jacob Russell, Dr. Gail Hearn, Dr. Susan Kilham and Dr. Gail Schofield
Waquar Ahmad
Essays on Corporate Governance
Major: Business Administration
Supervising Professor: Dr. Jaqueline Garner
Location and Time: Friday, December 7th 9:30am at 3600 Market Street, Room 704
Committee members: Dr. Michael Gombola, Dr. Ralph Walkling, Dr. David Beecher, Dr. Jie (Jay) Cat and Dr. Teresa Harrison
Gulay Samatli
Essays on Consumes Returns
Major: Decision Sciences
Supervising Professor: Dr. Wenjing Shen
Location and Time: December 7, 2012 2:30pm Room 712, 3600 Market Street
Committee members: Dr. Avijit Banerjee, Dr. Seung-Lae Kim, Dr. Benjamin Lev, Dr. Konstantinos Serfes
Candice Cooper
A Retrospective Study on African American Experiences of Witnessing Male to Female Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) as Low-Income Youth and the Impact on Adolescent Self-Identity and Development
Location and Time: Tuesday December 11, 2012, 10:00am, Bellet Building, Room 209
Kaloyan Popov Size Determination of Dielectric Particles Using White Light Spectroscopy
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Adam Fontecchio
Committee Members: Dr. Timothy Kurzweg, Dr. Kapil Dandekar, Dr. Gary Friedman, Dr. Cheng Cheng, Dr. Edwin Gerber
Location and Time: Tuesday, October 16, 2012