Graduate Dissertations

Yijia Gao (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Economics, University of Connecticut) will defend her doctoral dissertation titled, "Competitive Incentives and Environmental Regulation: Three Essays in Environmental Economics" on Wednesday, July 23, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. EDT on WebEx.

Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_M2ZlODdlMDktYjkyZC00ODAyLWJlMTAtYjhiZTA1YTIzZTlm%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2217f1a87e-2a25-4eaa-b9df-9d439034b080%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22c5f0ddeb-2f39-4b47-b6da-1231299c5b0a%22%7d

Hemp Hurd Fiber: A Viable Substitute for Peat Moss in Container Production of Horticultural Crops   Growers are interested in alternative, sustainable substrates to replace peat moss due to rising costs and awareness of the environmental damage caused by peat mining. Cultivation of hemp (Cannabis sativa) in the United States for the textile industry is expanding. A significant byproduct of hemp stem manufacturing is hurd, which consists of fibers that are too short for textile use. The feasibility of using hurd as a substitute for peat in the production of a range of crops, including potted flowering plants, vegetables, and ornamental shrubs and herbaceous perennials, was explored.

Dissertation Title: More Than Trauma-Bonded: Shared Strengths and Its Cognitive, Behavioral, and Affective Benefits for Intraminority Solidarity. Field of Study: Social Psychology

Samuel Haiden is a student in Dr. Gerald Berkowitz' lab. Since the Farm Bill of 2018, hemp-cannabis has been eligible for research in the US. Since, the Berkowitz lab has been a leader in the molecular genetics of trichome development and cannabinoid synthesis. This presentation is the culmination of Sam's research on photoperiodism and minor cannabinoid production in this novel field of research.

Field of Study: Systems Genomics Dissertation Title: Generation of TCR-mimic Antibody Libraries Targeted Towards NRAS Mutant Q61R

Dissertation Title: Multi-compartment proteomic signatures of sex-specific responses to exercise-heat stress and acclimation. Department of Kinesiology, CAHNR.

Exploring Transformation and Regeneration Strategies for Hemp (Cannabis sativa)   Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a valuable crop with popular applications in textiles, food, and pharmaceuticals. However, its recalcitrance to tissue culture and genetic transformation has restricted the development of transgenic and genome-edited lines. Existing protocols are highly genotype-dependent and lack broad applicability. To address these challenges, this study explored two approaches: needle injection of Agrobacterium for transformation and a root-to-shoot conversion strategy for regeneration.

A primary goal in the design of resonant substructures is to introduce auxiliary dynamics to existing materials and systems, thereby facilitating passive regulation and tunable control of vibratory oscillations. To implement this control, metastructures may be engineered with spatially localized couplings, which transfer energy between the vibrating host and peripheral subsystems to modulate elastodynamic properties and responses. The traditional approach often builds upon a fixed design architecture, which may successfully unlock unconventional behaviors, but remains static in nature and thus difficult to adapt in variable or uncertain conditions. In addressing this challenge, this dissertation explores design, synthesis, and realization across a suite of passively operated, tunable electroelastic metastructures to tailor the dispersive characteristics of elastic wave propagation and suppress vibrations. The research focuses on passively tuned local resonance, integrated within the elastic host material via piezoelectric and electromagnetic coupling mechanisms. Emphasis is placed on preserving the practicality and scalability of each implementation, while quantifying sensitivities to parametric uncertainty, parasitic effects, and other functional dependencies. Each is designed to maintain compatibility and relevance under practical constraints, without relying on active control or geometric alterations of the host media. Dynamic features are first characterized using Lagrangian-based analytical models and numerical simulations, followed by experimental validation to demonstrate their effectiveness and explore practical enhancements for improve sensing and performance. In this doctoral thesis, three complementary strategies for electrically tunable, elastodynamic control are investigated and developed. The first approach utilizes traditional piezoelectric LC-resonators arranged with spatial gradings to engineer dispersive properties and steer elastic wavefronts. A comprehensive modeling framework based on the transformation matrix method predicts unit cell behavior and informs waveguiding calibration through the Generalized Snell's Law. Advancing the state of the art, a signal-correlation filtering technique is developed to achieve robust phase-modulation sensing near the locally resonant bandgap, where low-transmission levels have traditionally obscured measurements in noise. Building on this, uncertainty quantification is carried out to investigate experimentally observed discrepancies in waveguiding performance, highlighting the role of spatially distributed parametric uncertainty on measurable outcomes. The second strategy employs temporal modulation of piezoelectric shunt circuitry, forming multiple sideband resonances and corresponding transmission bandgaps. Implemented via a unique analog architecture, this approach offers smooth modulation across a broad frequency range, offering a compact, scalable, and reliable solution for multi-band wave filtering. The third approach extends the concept of piezoelectric LC-resonators to a fully non-contact electromagnetic coupling mechanism based on eddy-currents. With appropriate tuning and impedance compensation, this configuration implements—for the first time—a passively controlled wireless modulation of elastic waves, eliminating the need for physical connections to the host material. A lumped-parameter model captures the magneto-mechanical dynamics, supporting the design of wave-blocking metasurfaces and tuned beam dampers. Together, these three approaches contribute scalable, adaptable solutions for elastic wave modulation and suppression in diverse environments. This dissertation provides a comprehensive investigation into adaptive resonant metamaterials, contributing analytical models, robust measurement techniques, uncertainty quantification, and innovative tunable mechatronic syntheses. The findings not only advance capabilities in wavefield manipulation and vibration suppression but also offer fundamental insights into considerations and challenges relevant for future progress in smart, reconfigurable metastructures.

Tools for Establishing the ECCP in Connecticut Soils   Decades of manure application have raised phosphorus (P) in most Connecticut (CT) soils to excessive levels. While essential for crop growth, excessive soil P can pose a water quality risk as it may be lost due to leaching or runoff. The environmental critical concentration of P (ECCP) is the soil test P above which the risk of phosphorus leaching or runoff is high. An ECCP for CT soils has not been established. The ECCP of a soil can be estimated through soil extraction methods. In this presentation, selected extraction methods are compared across farm-scale management strategies and P-source histories. Alternative approaches and future recommendations for establishing an ECCP are discussed.

"Wild years revisited": Berliner Nachtclubs der 1990er Jahre in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur als Orte von Begegnungen und Räume für soziale Interaktion. Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages; German Studies

Committee: Kristine Nowak, Ph.D., Department of Communication, Major Advisor Jiyoun Suk, Ph.D., Department of Communication, Associate Advisor Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch, Ph.D., Department of Communication, Associate AdvisorAbstract The rise of social media has presented a fundamental shift in the agenda setting process, which refers to the role of traditional news media in selecting key stories and language to shape the information narrative. According to agenda setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972), journalists set the political agenda for a given day by choosing which stories to share and how to share them. But the use of social media has fundamentally changed this process, as an increasingly dominant group of sources like politicians, media personalities, influencers, and celebrities are now afforded the same ability to promote stories as traditional news media sources. These sources, deemed 'political news influencers', are an emerging population to explore given their increasing influence on the state of public discourse. This dissertation argues that the agenda setting process is no longer controlled by traditional news media alone, but instead by multiple, competing agendas shaped by different types of sources. In this work, I compare the agenda setting power of traditional news media sources to political news influencers. Using Meta Content Library and API, I compare Instagram and Facebook posts from traditional news media sources and political news influencers during the 2024 U.S. election to understand differences across both framing and issue selection. Ideological (conservative/liberal) and cross-platform (Instagram/Facebook) differences are also explored. STM topic modeling and lexical analysis are used to explore differences in issues discussed and language used. Findings reveal that the media agenda is no longer unified, but fragmented across platforms, ideologies, and source types.

Dissertation Title: Sensitivity to Cues of Ostracism and Responses to Exclusion - Psychopathy Dimensions Study (SCORE - PDS) Field of Study: Clinical Psychology

This event will be in person, but there will also be an online viewing option. Email Jessica Bourget at jessica.bourget@uconn.edu for the zoom link.

Artificial Intelligence-Based Electricity Demand Forecasting Under Climate Change Projections for Electric Grid Resilience and Adaptation

Artificial Intelligence-Based Electricity Demand Forecasting Under Climate Change for Electric Grid Resilience and Adaptation

Promoting Civic Mindedness and Sense of Belonging to a Glocal Community Through Italian and Italophone Literature With a Migratory Background: A Case Study in the Italian Upper Secondary School Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies Languages, Cultures, and Literatures Department