Graduate Dissertations

A Cell-Based Approach for the Functional Analysis of Germline Variants in the Mismatch Repair Genes MSH2 and MSH6. Doctoral Dissertation Oral Defense. Biomedical Sciences.

Doctoral Defense Title: Modeling the impact of baryonic physics on the cosmic matter distribution in CAMELS Field of Study: Astronomy Department: Physics

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Pathobiology with concentration in Virology.

AbstractThis study examined how message framing and information source impact risky investment decision making across two experimental studies with undergraduates as participants. A novel risk measurement known as the Risk Index Factor was developed in order to assess risk levels in participants investment portfolios. Participants allocated fake money into their portfolios based on message condition and information source. Results showed that across both studies, the investment source of financial influencers produced the riskiest portfolios. Additionally, in Study 2, gain framed messages consistently generated higher portfolio risk scores. Lastly, financial well-being was found to moderate the relationship between FOMO condition and portfolio risk scores. These findings challenge FOMO's impact on risk, display message framing's influence, and highlights impacts of different information sources. Implications for Prospect Theory and financial literacy are discussed."  Use the following link to join the Webex meeting: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/ndc11002 (https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fuconn-cmr.webex.com%2Fmeet%2Fndc11002&data=05%7C02%7Cmichael.melnik%40uconn.edu%7Cebe937318832476f7c4e08dd79141c6c%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C638799849460293585%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=CQxojVI6w1eziU0vWVf5H4Y0fcb5XzngsAZY43ODFHI%3D&reserved=0) or arrive in ARJ 225 at 1pm on April 29th.

The Department of Communication's Nathan Chase will defend his Dissertation titled: "How Do FOMO and Framed Messages Impact the Relationship Between Investing Information Source and Risky Financial Decision-Making?". This research investigates how information sources impact financial decision-making through message framing. Additionally, a new investment behavioral assessment was developed to measure financial risk. This is the final milestone to complete in Nathan's PhD career.

This defense shares findings from a qualitative study on gender equity in secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, with a focus on the experiences of girls, particularly girls of color, in male-dominated trade classrooms. Drawing from classroom observations and teacher interviews, the study examines how instructor beliefs, expectations, and lived experiences influence learning environments and shape student success. The presentation offers insights into the challenges and opportunities for advancing inclusion in skilled trades and highlights how teacher mindset can serve as a critical lever for equity in education.

Expanding the scope of scrambling

Understanding Electrical Treeing in Aerospace Operating Environments

Doctoral Field of Study: Educational Psychology Dissertation Title: The Effects of a Brief Professional Development & Ongoing Self-Monitoring Intervention on Special Educators' Use of Prompts & Specific Praise in a Special Education School Setting

We Still Exist: The Influence of Educational Experiences on the Catawba Nation. Educational Psychology: Gifted, Creativity, and Talent Development. Abstract: Native American students are often neglected in educational research. Where such research does exist, a homogenized viewpoint of Indigenous students has resulted in generic recommendations for culturally responsive teaching. The Catawba tribe, like many others, has a complicated history with schooling, beginning with boarding schools designed to erase Indigenous culture. Some of this history remains unrecorded, particularly during the era of school integration in the United States (1954–1970). The purpose of this study is to capture stories from the school integration era and educational experiences across generations of the Catawba tribe. Four research questions guided this work: (1) How do members of multiple generations of the Catawba Tribe describe their school experiences? (2) How do members who were students during the period of school integration describe their experiences with racial integration, and what do these reveal about evolving perspectives on education? (3) How do educational experiences relate to tribal heritage? (4) How do members describe talent recognition and school opportunities? This interview study draws on Cultural Discontinuity Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Tribal Critical Race Theory. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to explore storylines and patterns, and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling was applied to identify broader or overlooked themes across generations. The findings highlight patterns of invisibility, opportunity and gatekeeping, cultural ambassadorship, and community support. This work contributes to broader conversations about equity by honoring the voices and educational experiences of the Catawba Nation.

Kiah DeVona will defend her doctoral dissertation, "Are Female-Serving Summer Camps Feminist Spaces? A Comparative Analysis of Gender Stereotypes and Women's Leadership in All-Girls and Coed Day Camps," via Zoom on Monday, May 5 from 2:00-4:00pm.

Field of study: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Title: Physics-informed and Data-driven Modeling for Tool Condition Monitoring in Manufacturing

El Instituto's MA Student, Melissa Pérez Peña, is presenting her thesis and everyone is welcome to join! We have limited space in conference room 240. To attend in person, RSVP to save your spot. —— More details coming soon....

El Instituto's MA Student, Apoliana da Conceição dos Santos, is presenting her thesis and everyone is welcome to join!  We have limited space in conference room 240. To attend in person, RSVP for your spot. ———"Translating Blackness in 19th-Century Afro-Brazilian Literature: Unsilencing the Archive," by Apoliana da Conceição dos Santos.Brief description:This study examines how Maria Firmina dos Reis, a free Afro-Brazilian woman, used her groundbreaking 1859 novel "Úrsula" to challenge racial hierarchies in 19th-century Brazil. Firmina strategically employed the Romantic novel form to "translate Blackness"; she humanized enslaved people and critiqued the institution of slavery using moral and religious arguments, countering the predominant economic concerns of her time. This analysis applies Lorgia García Peña's concepts to understand how Firmina navigated her position as a free mixed-race woman to assert Afro-Brazilian voices in a literary tradition that typically excluded them. The research connects the novel to its contemporary newspaper discourses and positions Firmina's work as an important early example of literary resistance against colonial narratives in Brazil.

El Instituto's MA Student, Menglu Chen, is presenting her thesis and everyone is welcome to join! We have limited space in conference room 240. To attend in person, RSVP to save your spot. ———- "Echoes of the Rubber Forest: Polyphonic Narratives from Amazonia to Malaysia," by Menglu Chen. Brief introduction: This thesis is a cross-textual comparative study of the Colombian novel La Vorágine (1924) and Malaysian Chinese writer Ng Kim Chew's short story "Deep in the Rubber Forest" (1994). The research traces a historical route from the Amazon rainforest to the rubber plantations of Malaysia, focusing on how the experiences of rubber workers are narrated and transformed across different times and places. By comparing these two texts across geographical, linguistic, and colonial contexts, this thesis analyzes how subaltern voices are presented and how narrative desire and intellectual projection shape these representations. This study also examines how the rubber forest functions as a shared imaginative space—one that is continually invoked and reshaped in literary texts. Yet, for readers, approaching the rubber forest and the lived experiences of rubber tappers remains fraught with difficulty. Under the layers of mediation imposed by language, media, and power, how can we access the voices of the oppressed, knowing that such efforts may never fully succeed but remain necessary precisely because these voices continue to reverberate through the literary archive?

Microbiome-derived lipids regulate systemic monocyte TLR responses and modulate TREM2 expression on myeloid cells. Doctoral Field of Study: Immunology/Biomedical Sciences

This event is the oral defense of "Conceptual Blending Gone Wrong: The Hostile Blend in Text and Performance," submitted for the degree of PhD in English. All are welcome to attend.

Kangkang Zhang from the Accounting Department of the Business School will hold the dissertation defense on May 28 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM in the Boardroom of the Business Building. The paper is titled "SEC Investigations of Public Pensions" and examines the effects of SEC scrutiny on public pension functioning.