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Thesis Defenses

Graduate Student Diamond Jones Defends Thesis

Diamond Jones (Mason group) successfully defended her doctoral thesis, “First principles and thermodynamics approach to understanding metal release from complex metal oxides” on November 23, 2021. Congratulations, Dr. Jones!

Graduate Student Rebeca Rodriguez Defends Thesis

Rebeca Rodriguez (Haynes group) successfully defended her doctoral thesis, titled “Leveraging Linear Polymer Affinity Agents and Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering for the Detection of Food Contaminants” on November 5, 2021. Becky will be here at UMN for a bit longer before departing for a position as an analyst at a government agency. Congratulations, Dr. Rodriguez!

Graduate Student Dongyue Liang Defends Thesis

Dongyue Liang (Cui group) successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis,entitled “Computational Studies at Nanomaterial-Biological Interfaces” onAugust 12th, 2021. He’s now a postdoc at the University of Chicago in the lab of Juan de Pablo. Congratulations, Dr. Liang!

Graduate Student Irene Metz Defends Thesis

Irene K. Metz (Mason group) successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis on July 23, 2021. Irene is a chemistry instructor at Hawkeye Community College. For her thesis, they carried out some traditional DFT projects and alsodeveloped/implemented/assessed activities using open-source comp chemistry in first year classes at HCC. She also used Sustainable Nano blog posts to build class activities during covid to keep their students engaged with real-world applications of chemistry. Congratulations, Dr. Metz!

Graduate Student Zachary Jones Defends Thesis

Zachary Jones successfully defended his thesis on June 28th, 2021. He is a part of the Hamers group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of his thesis is “Optical Characterization of Fluorescent Diamond Nanoparticles in Complex Environments.” Zack’s  defense was followed by traditional Hamers group “themed snacks” such as Laser Diode Rice Krispie treats that shoot out 532 nm Gummi Strips. Congratulations, Dr. Jones!

Graduate Student Jaya Borgatta Defends Thesis

Jaya Borgatta successfully defended her thesis on June 22nd, 2021. She is a part of the Hamers group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of her thesis is “Understanding the influence of Cu-based nanoparticle properties on interactions with plant systems and disease suppression.” Jaya has accepted a postdoc position in Jason White’s group at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Congratulations, Dr. Borgatta!

Graduate Student Austin Henke Defends Thesis

Austin Henke successfully defended his thesis on May 13th, 2021. He is a part of the Hamers group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of his thesis is “Redox Reactions at Solid-Liquid Interfaces and Implications for Sustainability”. Congratulations, Dr. Henke!

Graduate Student Izzy Foreman-Ortiz Defends Thesis

Izzy Foreman Ortiz defended her thesis on May 10th, 2021. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student and a part of the Pedersen group. Her thesis is titled “Nanoparticle impact on membrane properties and embedded ion channels”.  Congratulations, Dr. Foreman-Ortiz!