Graduate School

O'Dowd Hall, Room 520
586 Pioneer Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4482
(location map)
(248) 370-2700
gradinfo@oakland.edu

Office Hours:
Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Student wearing a blue suit presenting his project to a professor

Defense Announcements

There are three phases to a dissertation defense:

Public Presentation of the Dissertation and Defense

In the public lecture or presentation, the candidate is expected to share the results of his or her dissertation research with the dissertation committee and audience. This presentation may vary in length depending on the circumstances and discipline. At the end of this public presentation, members of the dissertation committee, as well as members of the audience are encouraged to direct questions to the candidate pertaining to the research.

The Dissertation Committee's Meeting with the Candidate

At the conclusion of the public presentation and defense, the dissertation committee members will meet privately with the candidate to pose further questions about the candidate's research or to address issues related to the dissertation manuscript. The dissertation committee can ask the candidate to address these additional questions or changes to the manuscript. The dissertation committee chair presides at this meeting.

Evaluation of the Candidate's Performance

Upon completion of the public presentation and defense and the private meeting, the dissertation committee members, in the absence of the candidate and the audience, discuss the candidate's performance and decide whether or not she or he has passed the defense. The committee chair or one of the co-chairs leads the discussion and communicates the result to the candidate.

Defense information

Defense date, time and room number:

  • 3/14/23 
    • Mohammad Yahya at 12 PM in 523 EC
      • PhD in Computer Science and Informatics 
      • Improve existing methods to detect cross-language source code clones
      • Doctoral committee chair: Dae-Kyoo Kim

  • 3/13/23
    • Sarah Moussaddy at 9 AM in 347 EC
      • PhD in Mechanical Engineering 
      • Introduction of new concept for energy and water recovery.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Jonathan Maisonneuve
    • Maen Hammod at 1 PM in 347 EC
      • PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering 
      • A strategy developed for identifying a subset of objects (SRO) that the perception system for autonomous vehicles must perform exceptionally well on.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Osamah A.Rawashdeh
    • Syeda Saira Batool at 1:30 PM in 372 MSC
      • PhD in Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physics
      • This dissertation contains both experimental and computational studies of articular cartilage at microscopic resolutions, which aim to better understand the degradation of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Yang Xia 
    • Svetle Matovski at 3 PM in 347 EC or Zoom
      • PhD in Systems Engineering 
      • Research brings four different pieces to show the risk value at each node within a supply chain network.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Nasim Nezamoddini

  • 3/10/23
    • Cody Scott Howe at 12 PM via Zoom 
      • PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences
      • The project investigates the function of Phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten) in the intestine to uncover the molecular mechanism by which loss of Pten gene causes inflammatory diseases in the intestine. 
      • Doctoral committee chair: Sang H. Rhee, Ph.D. 
    • Mario Barnard at 2 PM in 347 EC
      • PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering
      • Applying Model Predictive Control (MPC) to the automotive industry
      • Doctoral committee chair: Mohamed Zohdy

  • 3/8/23
    • Hannah Mantebea at 9 AM in 372 MSC
      • PhD in Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physics
      • This dissertation confirms the ability of µMRI and PLM to examine the cartilage structure in both healthy and diseased states. The study contributes to the treatment and early diagnosis of arthritis.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Yang Xia

  • 3/7/23
    • Samar Madi at 12 PM in 372 MSC
      • PhD in Applied Mathematical Sciences 
      • This research develops statistical methodology for diagnostic tests from single and multiple diagnostic variables, using NHANES complex survey data. ROC curves, logistic regression and kriging-based optimization will be used to construct the diagnostic tests.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Dorin Drignei

  • 2/24/23
    • Johnnie Romon Blunt at 11 AM via Zoom
      • PhD in Literacy, Culture, and Language
      • This dissertation examines the roles of literacy and literacy education in early 19th-century autobiographies of fugitive slaves in the US. Literacy and literacy education enabled these authors to establish their humanity through their engagement with the debates about slavery.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Linda M. Pavonetti

  • 2/16/23
    • Sweta Joshi at 2 PM via Zoom
      • PhD in Education: Early Childhood Education
      • This study explored teachers’ perceptions of developing leadership in children and the strategies they use to instill leadership. Eleven teachers participated. Findings indicated teachers were well aware of the leaders in their classroom.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Darlene A. Groomes, PhD, LPC, CRC

  • 2/7/23
    • Khaled Salhein at 12 PM via Zoom or 347 EC
      • PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering
      • A new method to describe the heat transfer behavior of the vertical ground heat exchanger.
      • Doctoral committee chair: Mohamed Zohdy, Ph.D.

  • 1/13/23
    • Kwaku Twum at 9 AM via Zoom 
      • PhD in Biomedical Sciences: Health and Environmental Chemistry
      • Resorcinarenes are three-dimensional oligomers obtained by acid condensation between resorcinol and an aldehyde. This doctoral research presents biomedical applications of the macrocycle achieved with synthetic functionalization techniques.
      • Doctoral committee chair:Dr. Ngong Kodiah Beyeh