June 2024
Candidate: Katherine A. Sluiter
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: English
Title: Methods and Metacognition: Teaching an Historically and Culturally Responsive Holocaust Unit
Committee: Dr. Jonathan Bush, Chair, Dr. Meghann Meeusen, Dr. Gretchen Rumohr, Dr. Jennifer Lemberg
Time/Place: Monday, June 3, 2024, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., 3037 Brown Hall
Candidate: Jessica J. Helen Detrick
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Psychology
Title: Evaluation of Prerequisite Discrimination Skills for Obtaining Assent from Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: A Translational Study
Committee: Dr. Stephanie Peterson, Co-Chair, Dr. Scott Gaynor, Co-Chair, Dr. Amy Naugle, Dr. Cody Morris
Time/Place: Monday, June 3, 2024, 10 a.m. to noon, 2734 Wood Hall
Candidate: Kumadebis Tamiru Gemechu
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Economics
Title: Three Essays in Financial Economics and Monetary Policy
Committee: Dr. Matthew Higgins, Chair, Dr. Eskander Alvi, Dr. Kevin Corder
Time/Place: Monday, June 3, 2024, 2 to 4 p.m., Virtual Meeting
Candidate: Sandra Wagner
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Psychology
Title: A Comparison of Training Approaches on Skill Acquisition Among Direct Care Staff at an Adult Day Program
Committee: Dr. Jonathan Baker, Chair, Dr. Heather McGee, Dr. Sacha Pence, Dr. Andrea Pere
Time/Place: Monday, June 10, 2024, 9 to 11 a.m., 3715 Wood Hall
Candidate: Dynetta Clark
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology
Title: Counselor Education Doctoral Student Supervisors’ Preparedness to Address Indirect Trauma: Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Vicarious Traum
Committee: Dr. Jennifer Foster, Chair, Dr. Glinda Rawls, Dr. Wanda Hadley
Time/Place: Monday, June 10, 2024, 9 to 11 a.m., Virtual Meeting
Candidate: Trad Alblawi
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Industrial Engineering
Title: A Decision Framework to Select Manufacturing Method Based on Part Complexity (Additive or Subtractive)
Committee: Dr. James Burns, Chair, Dr. Azim Houshyar, Dr. Bob White, Dr. Pavel Ikonomov
Time/Place: Wednesday, June 19, 2024, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., B-211 Floyd Hall
Candidate: Obaidullah Hakimi
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Civil and Construction Engineering
Title: Digital Twin-Enabled Smart Infrastructure Management: A Multi-Level Data Fusion Approach for Decision Making in Predictive Maintenance
Committee: Dr. Osama Abudayyeh, Co-Chair, Dr. Hexu Liu, Co-Chair, Dr. Azim Houshyar
Time/Place: Thursday, June 20, 2024, 10 a.m. to noon, G-209 Floyd Hall
Candidate: Zari Koelbel Carpenter
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology
Title: White counseling psychology doctoral trainees’ experiences broaching whiteness with white clients: An interpretative phenomenological study
Committee: Dr. Tangela Roberts, Chair, Dr. Samuel Beasley, Dr. Susan Piazza
Time/Place: Thursday, June 27, 2024, 10 a.m. to noon, Virtual Meeting
JULY 2024
Candidate: Aaron Christian Wenger
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Mallinson Institute for Science Education
Title: Beyond Average Effects in Education Research Synthesis: Explaining Heterogeneity of Concept Mapping Research in Science Education through Meta-regression Modeling
Committee: Dr. William Cobern, Chair, Dr. Betty Adams, Dr. Ya Zhang
Time/Place: Monday, July 1, 2024, 1 to 3 p.m., 1408 Wood Hall
Candidate: Fadwa Hamad
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Mallinson Institute for Science Education
Title: Breaking Boundaries: A Qualitative Exploration of Scientific Motivations and Persistence from the Perspective of Arab Women Undergraduate Students in STEM in the U
Committee: Dr. Brandy Pleasants, Chair, Dr. Charles Henderson, Dr. Heather Petcovic
Time/Place: Tuesday, July 2, 2024, 10 a.m. to noon, 1408 Wood Brown Hall
Candidate: Baraah Sami Qawasmeh
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Civil and Construction Engineering
Title: Safety Assessment for Vulnerable Road Users Using Automated Data Extraction with Machine-learning Techniques
Committee: Dr. Jun-Seok Oh, Chair, Dr. Valerian Kwigizile, Dr. Ron Van Houten, Dr. Osama Abudayyeh
Time/Place: Tuesday, July 2, 2024, noon to 2 p.m., G-2-9 Floyd Hall
Candidate: Laura Urdapilleta
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Educational Leadership, Research and Technology
Title: Integrating Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and Sentiment Analysis for an Enhanced Understanding of Emotions in Human Experience
Committee: Dr. Brooks Applegate, Chair, Dr. Regina Garza Mitchell, Dr. June Gothberg, Dr. Kevin Lee
Time/Place: Wednesday, July 3, 2024, 9 to 11 a.m., Virtual Meeting
Candidate: Bingyao Zhou
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Chemical and Paper Engineering
Title: Enzyme-enhanced ECF Bleaching: Improving Pulp Bleachability and Reducing Its Environmental Footprint
Committee: Dr. Kecheng Li, Chair, Dr. Mert Atilhan, Dr. Zhihua Jiang
Time/Place: Wednesday, July 3, 2024, 10 a.m. to noon, A213 Floyd Hall
Candidate: Keshab Kauchha
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Physics
Title: Single-shot meV-Resolution Hard X-ray Spectrograph for Cavity-Based X-ray Free Electron Laser
Committee: Dr. Clement Burns, Chair, Dr. Lisa Paulius, Dr. Zbigniew Chajecki, Dr. Yuri Shvyd’ko
Time/Place: Wednesday, July 17, 2024, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 2202 Everett Tower
Candidate: Benedicta Calderon
For the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Educational Leadership, Research and Technology
Title: Private School Principals’ Leadership Roles in Times of Change within the Dominican Republic
Committee: Dr. Louann Bierlein Palmer, Chair, Dr. Patricia Reeves, Dr. Alina Fortenberry
Time/Place: Monday, July 29, 2024, 2 to 4 p.m., Virtual Meeting
Previous dissertation defenses have been digitized and archived by the Western Michigan University Libraries ScholarWorks Dissertations page. Use the advance search located on the left side of the page to get dissertations sorted by author, subject, department, year published, and more.