Bridge PhD Theses
Below is a chronological list of the PhD Theses successfully defended by students affiliated with the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-PhD Bridge Program (66 PhDs and counting!):
Steven Babalola (2009) Surface And Bulk Defects in Cadmium Zinc Telluride and Cadmium Manganese Telluride Crystals
John Lucien Rigueur (2012) Optimization of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Photon Absorbers for Mid- and Far-Infrared Stray Light Suppression in Space Instrumentation
Ebonee Alexis Walker (2012) Influence of Phonon Modes on the Thermal Conductivity of Single-Wall, Double-Wall, and Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes
Thompson LeBlanc (2012) The Role of Disks in the Angular Momentum Evolution of Young, Low-Mass Stars
Melissa A. Harrison (2012) Heterogeneously Alloyed Semiconductor Nanocrystals with Induced Chemical Composition Gradients
Julia G. Bodnarik (2013) Using In Situ Neutron and Gamma Ray Spectroscopy to Characterize and Differentiate Asteroids
Deatrick Foster (2013) Examining Very-Long-Term Variability in X-Ray Binaries: Are Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources Intermediate Mass Black Holes?
Jedidah Isler (2013, Yale University) In Like A Lamb, Out Like A Lion: Probing the Disk-Jet Connection in Fermi Bright Blazars
Fabienne Bastien (2014) Empirically Interrelating Stellar Chromospheric Activity, Photometric Variability and Radial Velocity Variations to Enhance Planet Discovery
Helen Jackson (2014, AFIT) Effect of the Variation of Si3N4 Passivation on 1 MeV Electron Irradiated AlGaN/GaN Heterostructure Field Effect Transistors (HEMTS)
Enrique Jackson (2014) Development and Thermal Properties of Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composites
Bernadette Cogswell (2014) Symmetry, Hierarchy and a New Paradigm for Analyzing Neutrino Oscillations
Claude “Trey” Mack, III (2015) Large Radial Velocity Searches and Chemical Abundance Studies of Exoplanet-Hosting Stars
Desmond Campbell (2015) A High-Purity Germanium Imaging System for Limited-Angle Nuclear Breast Tomography
Lauren Campbell (2015) Towards the Unbound Stellar Population in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Jennifer Jones (2015) Non-Linear Optical Investigation of Multilayer Ferroelectric Polymer Films
Reinaldo Santos-Ortiz (2015, University of North Texas) Thin Films as a Platform for Understanding the Conversion Mechanism of FEF2 cathodes in Lithium-Ion Microbatteries
Shawn Eastmond (2015, Howard University) Off-Shell Supersymmetric World-Sheet Models With Interactive UA(1)×UB(1) Gauge Symmetry
Joseph Enrique Rodriguez (2016) Probing Planetary Formation and Evolution: Transiting Planets and Occulting Disks
Leolene Jean Carrington (2016) The Rho Family GEF Asef2 Regulates Cancer Cell Migration by Modulating Rac Activation and Actomyosin Contractility
Victor Garcia (2016) Astrophysical Laboratories and Advanced Imaging Techniques for Testing Stellar Models: Eclipsing Binaries, High Contrast Imaging, and Optical Interferometry
Brenden Wiggins (2016) Investigations of the Semi-Insulating Liln_(1-x)Ga_(x)Se_(2) Solid Solution for Neutron Detection
Brittany Kamai (2016) Hunting for MHz Gravitational Waves with the Fermilab Holometer
Stacey Lawrence (2016, Yale University) A Novel Role for Arabidopsis G-proteins in the Quality Control of Immune Receptors
Matthew Richardson (2016) Constraining Microwave Emission from Extensive Air Showers via the MIDAS Experiment
Susan Ramos-Hunter (2016) Development of Molecular Tools for the Investigation of G Protein-Gated Inwardly Rectifying Potassium(GIRK) Channels
David Caudel (2017) Manipulating Nonproportionality of Strontium Iodide Crystals with High-Flux Irradiation by 137Cs Gamma Rays
Michael Williams (2018, Delaware State University) Investigations of Linear, Nonlinear, and Fluorescent Optical Properties of Nanodiamonds for Photonic Applications
Adrian Parker (2018, Tennessee State University) Comparative Analysis of Polyvinylidene Fluoride in the Development of Embedded Sensors and Smart Separators for Lithium Ion Batteries
Teresa Monsue (2019) Solar Flare Induced Power Variation of Oscillations Around an Active Region
Kemar Reid (2019) Unraveling the Interplay between Structure and Photophysics in Colloidal Quantum Dot Nanostructures
Esther Epum (2019) Understanding the regulation of telomere healing in S. cerevisiae: a Rad51 perspective
Rose Perea (2019) Improving Position Estimation in Double-Sided Strip (DSS) High-Purity Germanium HPGe Detectors for Gamma-ray Imaging
Charee Peters (2019, University of Wisconsin) The Radio Transient and Variable Universe
James Poland (2020) Method Development towards Probing the Gut Metabolome using Reverse Phase Liquid Chromatography - Ion Mobility - Mass Spectrometry
Savannah Jacklin (2020) Analyzing Exoplanet Survey Methods Using Massive Datasets: Transit and Microlensing Light Curves
Ardelia Clarke (2020) Development of a scintillation-based CMOS Quantitative Autoradiography imager for Safeguard Applications
Bobby Jones (2021, Meharry Medical College) Activation of Proline Biosynthesis is Critical to Maintain Glutamate Homeostasis During Acute Methampthetamine Exposure
Melanie Brady (2021, Yale University) Early SHH-Dependent Telencephalic Patterning Disruptions in Tourette Syndrome
Joseph Bell (2021) Investigations of Hot-Pressed 6LilnSe2 as a Ceramic Scintillato
Andrew Cook (2021) Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy-Based Sensor for Portable, Multiplexed Detection of Toxic Metals in Urine B
Jonathan Florez (2021, University of Texas, Austin) Exploring the Interplay Between Star Formation and Active Galactic Nuclei and the Role of Environment in Galaxy Evolution
Erica Tross (2022) Transcription Factor RFX3 Stabilizes Mammary Basal Cell Identity
Carcia Carson (2022) Engineering Nanotechnologies to Improve Immune Responses to Cancer Vaccines
Joni Marie Clark Cunningham (2022) Multiplicity Systems as Metrics for Stellar Evolution Theory: Spectroscopic Eclipsing, Eclipsing, and Unresolved Binaries
George Vejar (2022) Planets and Planetary Nebulae: Different Evolutionary Pathways
Gabriella Alvarez (2022) Clusters on the Edge: The Interface Between Galaxy Cluster Outskirts and Large-Scale Intercluster Filaments
Dax Feliz (2022) In Search of Small Planets Around Small Stars: Conducting Photometric Transit Surveys of Nearby M-dwarfs
Isom Kelly, III (2022) Developing Endosomolytic Polymer Porous Silicon Nanocomposites For Delivery of Diverse Gene Therapies
John Hood (2022) CMB-S4 Detector Development & SPT AGN Monitoring System
Nicole Sanchez (2022, University of Washington) The Physical Connection between Cosmic Gas Flows, Supermassive Black Holes Growth, and Galaxy Evolution
Jennifer Quinde-Zlibut (2022) Characterizing Empathy in Autism: Explicit and Implicit Perspectives
Jazette Johnson (2023, University of California, Irvine) Social Support for Young Caregivers on Social Media
Emanuel Zlibut (2023)
Corey Roach (2023, Duke University) Investigating the Origin and Role of Catecholamines in the Visual Cortex of the Macaque Monkey
Antonio Porras (2023) Understanding the Role of Angular Momentum and Supermassive Black Holes in Shaping Present-Day Galaxies
Brandon Soubasis (2023) A Search for Heavy Neutrinos via Electroweak Vector Boson Fusion Processes in Proton-Proton Collisions at The Large Hadron Collider
Kai Bracey (2023) Functional and mechanistic analysis of microtubule network architecture in pancreatic beta cells
LaNell Williams (2023, Harvard University) What goes right and wrong during virus self-assembly?
Karl Jaehnig (2023) Characterizing Open Clusters and Spectroscopic Eclipsing Binaries with Machine Learning Frameworks
Amber Young (2023, Northern Arizona University) Examining the Detectability of Chemical Disequilibrium Biosignatures and Optimizing Observing Strategies for Future Exoplanet Characterization Missions
Jenna Moore (2023, Arizona State University)
Kadisha Culpepper (2023, Florida A&M University) Synthesis And Characterization of Xylitol-Based Polyesters for Targeted Drug Delivery
Ryan Gray (2023, Virginia Polytechnic Institute)
Samuel Dunham (2024) thornado-Hydro, XCFC: A Discontinuous Galerkin Hydrodynamics Solver for General Relativistic Core-Collapse Supernova Simulations