Graduate Student Dissertation and Thesis Defense Notices

Understanding First-Generation Support Services at Nesu: A Merger Case Study

Defense: July 22, 2026, 1:30 p.m., 110 James M. Jeffords Hall and Teams

Advisor: Rebecca Callahan, Ph.D.

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Enclosure, Exposure, and Exclusion: An Exploratory Analysis of Digital Equity and Climate Adaptation in Vermont Correctional Facilities

Defense: July 17, 2026, 11:00 a.m., Aiken 311 and Teams

Advisor: Bindu Panikkar, Ph.D.

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Natural Resources

Impacts of Input Cost Inflation on Farm Viability, Livelihoods and Food Security:  Evidence from Nigeria and Vermont

Defense: July 15, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Dean’s Conference Room 104, Morill Hall

Advisor: Dr. Travis Reynolds

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Community Development and Applied Economics

Effects of Local and Landscape Habitat Conditions on Occupancy of Early Successional Wildlife Species

Defense: July 14, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Aiken 311 and Teams

Advisor: Dr. Therese Donovan

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Natural Resources

Dynamical Complexity Through Graphs, Persistence, and Spectral Structure

Defense: July 14, 2026, 11:00 a.m., Innovation E425 and Teams

Advisor: Alice Patania

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Mathematical Sciences

Membrane Trafficking, Stress Signaling, and Polarized Growth: Functional Roles of Patellin1 and Vti13 In Arabidopsis Thaliana

Defense: July 14, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Jeffords 326 and Teams

Advisor: Dr. Mary Tierney

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Plant Biology

Bladder Dysfunction Induced by Chronic Activation of Hypothalamic BDNF Signaling Without Extrinsic Stress Application

Defense: July 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m., HSRF 400

Advisor: Benedek Erdos, M.D., Ph.D. 

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Neuroscience Graduate Science

Fear and Trust in Community Forest Conservation 

Defense: July 13, 2026, 1:30 p.m., Aiken 311

Advisor: Dr. Kimberly Coleman

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Natural Resources

Isogeny-Based Cryptography For A World With Quantum Computers

Defense: July 8, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Innovation E425 and Teams

Advisors: Joseph Near and Christelle Vincent 

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Computer Science

Microstructure and Macrobehavior in the Modern U.S. Equity Market

Defense: July 8, 2026, 11:00 a.m., Innovation Hall E100 and Teams

Advisors: Brian Tivnan, Ph.D. and Christopher Danforth, Ph.D.

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Complex Systems and Data Science

The Effect of Dietary Phosphorus Concentration on a Fully Acidogenic Prepartum Nutritional Strategy on Peripartum Mineral Metabolism and Subsequent Lactation Performance in Holstein Cows

Defense: July 7, 2026, 9:00 a.m., Kalkin Building, Room 007 and Teams

Advisor: Dr. Heather Dann

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Animal Biosciences

Interaction Phenomena in 2D Dirac and Semi-Dirac Systems

Defense: July 7, 2026, 3:00 p.m., Innovation E102

Advisor: Valeri N. Kotov

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Physics

Rural Vehicle Electrification: Plug-in Electric Vehicle Choice and Use

Defense: July 2, 2026, 12:00 p.m., Innovation E325 and Teams

Advisor: Dana Rowangould

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Beyond Mass Univariate Analyses in Neuroimaging: Multivariate and Multifaceted Approaches to Connecting Brain and Behavior in Adolescence

Defense: June 30, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Innovation E325 Conference Room and Teams

Advisor: Nicholas Allgaier, Ph.D.

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Complex Systems and Data Science

A Stochastic Time-Series Analysis of Evolving Extreme Weather Events In Burlington, Vermont

Defense: June 30, 2026, 10:00 a.m., Votey 207 and Teams

Advisor: Dr. Arne Bomblies

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Mind-Wandering During Naturalistic Reading: Multimodal Tracking, Decoding, and Disrupted Brain-Language Alignment

Defense: June 29, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Innovation E325 Conference Room and Teams

Advisor: David C. Jangraw, Ph.D.

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Electrical and Biomedical Engineering

Timing and Specificity in the Immune Transcriptome: Modeling Splicing Dynamics with Computational Regulatory Genomics

Defense: June 25, 2026, 11:00 a.m., MedEd 100

Advisor: Dev Majumdar, Ph.D.

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences

Toward Community-Engaged Quantitative Data Analysis: A Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping Framework and Lessons Learned from a Case Study

Defense: June 25, 2026, 12:00 p.m., Innovation E425

Advisor: Abigail Crocker, Ph.D.

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Statistics

Quantifying Chronic Stress: A Reproducible Method for Measuring Allostatic Load with Wearable Sensors

Defense: June 22, 2026, 10:30 a.m., Innovation E425 and Teams

Advisor: Juniper Lovato

Degree: Master of Science

Department: Computer Science

Advancing Pediatric Mental Health Intervention Through Multimodal Digital Phenotyping: From Behavioral Insights to Family-Facing Tools

Defense: June 17, 2026, 11:00 p.m., Innovation E210 and Zoom (Meeting ID: 259 099 3701, Passcode: 12142)

Brynn Loftness Defense Website

Advisor: Nicholas Cheney, Ph.D.

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Complex Systems and Data Science