[{"id":8717,"date":"2026-04-22T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8717"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:06:07","slug":"committee-chair-dr-lijun-qian-title-a-game-theoretical-analysis-of-multi-tiered-semantic-communications-abstract-semantic-communication-shifts-the-6g-paradigm-from-transmitting-bits-to-delivering-2-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/committee-chair-dr-lijun-qian-title-a-game-theoretical-analysis-of-multi-tiered-semantic-communications-abstract-semantic-communication-shifts-the-6g-paradigm-from-transmitting-bits-to-delivering-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oluwagbenga Orimoogunje Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Friday, May 1, 2026 @ 3:30 pm Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Daniel Doe<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: OPTIMIZING ETHEREUM BLOCK PROPAGATION: A STACKELBERG GAME-THEORETIC APPROACH IN MIXED REALITY ENVIRONMENTS<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Scalability is a persistent bottleneck in Ethereum-based blockchain networks, particularly for mixed reality applications like augmented and virtual reality that require low latency and consistent real-time performance. Peer-to-peer gossip protocols, the standard mechanism for block propagation, introduce measurable delays and redundant transmissions that break the realtime synchronization these environments depend on. When propagation takes seconds, user experience degrades and interactive responsiveness collapses; conventional blockchain infrastructure simply was not designed for latency-sensitive mixed reality workloads. This thesis presents a Stackelberg game-theoretic incentive mechanism for optimizing Ethereum block propagation in mixed reality environments. The blockchain protocol acts as a Stackelberg leader, announcing a unit reward price, while heterogeneous edge relayers act as strategic followers that independently set their forwarding participation levels based on their own operational costs, latency factors, and capacity constraints. Aligning economic rewards with latency aware forwarding behavior encourages rational relayer participation and coordinated block dissemination without centralized control. A closed-form characterization of the Stackelberg equilibrium is derived, and a computationally efficient iterative algorithm computes the equilibrium price and participation profile. The framework accounts for relayer heterogeneity in bandwidth, processing capability, and communication delay, which allows selective activation of the most efficient relayers under varying network conditions. Monte Carlo simulations under realistic heterogeneous relayer conditions and varying network sizes show that the proposed mechanism achieves consistently low transaction latency, stable propagation success rates that exceed unstructured gossip dissemination, competitive protocol utility, and fast equilibrium convergence. Comparative evaluations against cost-based relaying, latency-greedy selection, random gossip, and sharding-based propagation confirm that the Stackelberg Incentive Mechanism delivers a balanced and scalable trade-off between reliability, responsiveness, and economic efficiency. Incentive-driven propagation strategies, these results show, can support scalable and responsive blockchain infrastructure for immersive mixed reality applications.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Ethereum, blockchain scalability, stackelberg game, block propagation, mixed reality<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>Electrical Engineering Conference Room 315D<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8717","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8717\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8692,"date":"2026-04-17T12:31:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8692"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:31:12","slug":"laronda-washington-dissertation-defense-thursday-april-23-2026-1000-am-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/dissertation-defense-announcements-2\/spring-2026-final-doctoral-defense\/laronda-washington-dissertation-defense-thursday-april-23-2026-1000-am-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"LaRonda Washington Dissertation Defense, Thursday, April 23, 2026 @ 10:00 am Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Pamela Freeman<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: FEAR OF FACING OUR WORST SELF: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY ON TEACHERS\u2019 IDENTITIES, IDEOLOGIES, AND RESPONSE TO INCREASED DIVERSITY IN A MAJOR<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Purpose: Suburban school districts have experienced apparent demographic changes over the past 10 years. However, there is limited research exploring how suburban teachers are responding to such changes or examining how teacher identities and ideologies impact teacher responses. The qualitative research method will address the extent of engaging in reflective practices to examine cultural assumptions. Research Method\/Approach: The researcher will take a qualitative approach and conduct a narrative inquiry of a large suburban district in the Houston Metropolitan area that has experienced a significant change in demographics. To gather data, the researcher will conduct interviews with four to six participants representing various grade levels, years of experience, and ethnicity. The researcher will transcribe and analyze the data. This qualitative method will enable the researcher to learn directly from teachers and will look only at the use of one to one personal interviewing thus, the use of focus groups will not be included in the analysis. From the study, the expected find is there are unintentional factors such as identity and ideologies that affect teachers’ response to demographic change. The findings from the research may result in developing curricula that nurture the development of culturally competent teachers who confidently engage in practices specific to the needs of their students.<\/p>\n

Keywords<\/strong>: Teachers’ identities, ideologies and response to diversity<\/p>\n

Location Online:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zoom Link<\/strong>: https:\/\/pvpanther.zoom.us\/j\/99521628771?pwd=hk5bp5gZcENGarR5DAgaJJcjIW4WGm.1<\/a><\/p>\n

Meeting ID<\/strong>:995 2162 8771,<\/p>\n

Passcode<\/strong>: 410345<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Pamela Freeman TITLE: FEAR OF FACING OUR WORST SELF: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY ON TEACHERS\u2019 IDENTITIES, IDEOLOGIES, AND RESPONSE TO INCREASED DIVERSITY IN A MAJOR ABSTRACT: Purpose: Suburban school districts have experienced apparent demographic changes over the past 10 years. However, there is limited research exploring how suburban teachers are responding to such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8149,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8692","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8692\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8687,"date":"2026-04-17T12:22:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8687"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:24:18","slug":"committee-chair-dr-pamela-freeman-title-how-far-have-we-come-analyzing-the-social-justice-orientation-of-hbcu-doctoral-candidates-graduates-post-trump-and-george-floyd-abstract-the-george-f","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/dissertation-defense-announcements-2\/spring-2026-final-doctoral-defense\/committee-chair-dr-pamela-freeman-title-how-far-have-we-come-analyzing-the-social-justice-orientation-of-hbcu-doctoral-candidates-graduates-post-trump-and-george-floyd-abstract-the-george-f\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Price Dissertation Defense, Thursday, April 23, 2026 @ 1:00 pm Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Pamela Freeman<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: HOW FAR HAVE WE COME? ANALYZING THE SOCIAL JUSTICE ORIENTATION OF HBCU DOCTORAL CANDIDATES & GRADUATES POST-TRUMP AND GEORGE FLOYD
\nABSTRACT: <\/strong>The George Floyd murder and the ongoing saga of Trump presidencies have cemented social and ideological divisions within American culture, creating reverberations throughout the realms of academic discourse and debate. Casualties of this sociopolitical war include the elimination of federal support for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, the eroding of protections for LGBTQ citizens, and the proposed elimination of the Department of Education. Meanwhile, P-16 educational leaders must reverse the course of failing schools and work through the cultural and political shifts of current events. Historically Black Institutions serve as the intellectual production centers of educational professionals that will ultimately lead within some of the most challenging P-16 environments. However, those challenges now include battling against the unjust policy suppositions and racist agendas of the far right. This conundrum has created a research opportunity concerning social consciousness and justice in the wake of the reverberations of the Trump presidency and the Floyd Murder. This study intended to gauge how the participants of the Williams et al. study (2019) and current HBCU doctoral candidates made sense of the experience of living through the sociopolitical aftermath of the Trump presidencies and the Floyd murder. Since both events occurred after the Williams et al study, the researcher employed a phenomenological methodology to see if that experience represented a transformation into conscious action. The purpose of a phenomenological study is to describe the common meaning of the lived experiences of several individuals in the attempt to discover the essence of the experiences (Creswell & Poth, 2018). Therefore, the phenomenological method was seemingly the most prudent for this study. The results of the data analyses will inform HBCU-trained institutional leaders that are directly involved in the creation and implementation of local policies that impact curriculum offerings, intervention processes, discipline management, etc. Furthermore, the results of the study can serve as a litmus test for HBCU educational leadership coordinators to see if their program content offerings are intentionally preparing their students to recognize and expose institutional injustices in an era where truth is routinely discredited by those who construct alternate truths to serve their agendas (Wells & Scott, 2019).<\/p>\n

Keywords<\/strong>: Post pandemic, doctoral students, social justice<\/p>\n

Location Online:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zoom Link<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/pvpanther.zoom.us\/j\/99274102767?pwd=SFGAMwOeAbbqsDzKLW2ugUYKriLB5n.1<\/a><\/p>\n

Meeting ID<\/strong>: 992 7410 2767, Passcode<\/strong>: 052868<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Pamela Freeman TITLE: HOW FAR HAVE WE COME? ANALYZING THE SOCIAL JUSTICE ORIENTATION OF HBCU DOCTORAL CANDIDATES & GRADUATES POST-TRUMP AND GEORGE FLOYD ABSTRACT: The George Floyd murder and the ongoing saga of Trump presidencies have cemented social and ideological divisions within American culture, creating reverberations throughout the realms of academic discourse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8149,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8687","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8687\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8682,"date":"2026-04-17T12:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8682"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:07:19","slug":"robi-sonkor-mozumder-masters-thesis-defense-wednesday-april-29-2026-1100-am-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/robi-sonkor-mozumder-masters-thesis-defense-wednesday-april-29-2026-1100-am-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Robi Sonkor Mozumder Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Wednesday, April 29, 2026 @ 11:00 am Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Md. Jobair Bin Alam
\n
\nTITLE<\/strong>: HYDROLOGIC PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF GEOGRID-GEOTEXTILES INTEGRATED EXPANSIVE CLAYEY SLOPES<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Expansive clay embankment slopes are highly vulnerable to climate-driven wetting-drying cycles, which reduce matric suction and shear strength, leading to surficial failures. While conventional stabilization often focuses on mechanical reinforcement, a significant research gap exists regarding the dual hydraulic-mechanical performance of geosynthetics, particularly geogrid-integrated geotextiles, under field-scale climatic conditions and transient soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) responses. This study addresses this gap through a quantitative evaluation of geocomposite-reinforced slopes in high-plasticity clay (CH, PI = 47.7-51.2) under natural seasonal exposure. Two field-scale test slopes (1.83 m \u00d7 1.07 m \u00d7 1.22 m) with 1H:1V geometry were constructed at Prairie View A&M University. One slope featured three horizontal layers of geogrid-embedded geotextile geocomposite, while the other served as an unreinforced control. Using TEROS 11 and 21 sensors, volumetric moisture content (VMC) and matric suction were monitored at depths of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 ft at 15-minute intervals from June 2025 to February 2026. The resulting dataset was analyzed using descriptive statistics, ECDF, KDE, rank-based Empirical Copula analysis (Kendall\u2019s Tau), and depth-wise Van Genuchten SWCC fitting. The results demonstrate that the geocomposite-reinforced slope effectively moderated moisture dynamics, significantly narrowing the moisture envelope compared to the control. During the summer, mean VMC at the 1.5 ft depth increased from 0.285 to 0.332, while the coefficient of variation (CV) decreased from 0.046 to 0.028, indicating enhanced hydraulic stability. Similar buffering effects were observed during winter. ECDF and KDE analyses confirmed tighter moisture distributions in the reinforced slope, while Copula analysis revealed stronger depth-integrated hydraulic connectivity. Furthermore, SWCC fitting showed modified suction-moisture behavior, particularly at intermediate depths. These findings confirm that geogrid-integrated geotextiles function as both hydraulic buffers and mechanical reinforcement. This probabilistic framework provides a robust basis for reliability-oriented assessments of expansive soil embankments subjected to seasonal moisture uncertainty and extreme weather.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Geocomposite-reinforced Slopes; Expansive Soils; Climate-resilient Infrastructure; Hydro-geotechnical Stability; Soil Moisture Dynamics; Probabilistic Analysis; Unsaturated Soil Mechanic<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>Wilson Building, Room 203<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Md. Jobair Bin Alam TITLE: HYDROLOGIC PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF GEOGRID-GEOTEXTILES INTEGRATED EXPANSIVE CLAYEY SLOPES ABSTRACT: Expansive clay embankment slopes are highly vulnerable to climate-driven wetting-drying cycles, which reduce matric suction and shear strength, leading to surficial failures. While conventional stabilization often focuses on mechanical reinforcement, a significant research gap exists regarding the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":17,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8682","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8682\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8678,"date":"2026-04-17T10:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8678"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:06:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:06:49","slug":"soroosh-saghebi-masters-thesis-defense-thursday-april-30-2026-1200-pm-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/soroosh-saghebi-masters-thesis-defense-thursday-april-30-2026-1200-pm-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Soroosh Saghebi Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Thursday, April 30, 2026 @ 12:00 pm Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Matthew Minus<\/p>\n


\nTITLE<\/strong>: THE TWO TALES OF ONE STUDENT: BORON-SILICON-FLUORINE EXCHANGE, AND THE QUEST FOR RECYCLABLE VITIRIMERS<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Vitrimers are a class of dynamic covalent polymer networks that combine the mechanical robustness of thermosets with the reprocessability, and self-healing capabilities enabled by associative bond exchange. Here, we report a new vitrimer system based on dynamic acyl hydrazone linkages formed through condensation of readily accessible aldehyde and hydrazide building blocks. The resulting materials exhibit tunable mechanical properties, self-healing behavior, and thermal responsiveness, while maintaining structural integrity characteristic of crosslinked networks. The system is synthesized under mild conditions without the need for external catalysts and utilizes inexpensive, commercially available components, enabling straightforward and scalable preparation. The influence of processing parameters on network formation, homogeneity, and material performance is examined, establishing key structure\u2013property relationships. This work introduces an accessible platform for acyl hydrazone-based vitrimer materials and highlights their potential for sustainable, reprocessable polymer applications. As the most abundant metalloids on earth boron and silicon play important roles in chemistry, allowing for the synthesis of a wide array of useful small molecules and materials. Fluoride is known to react with boron and silicon atoms. Fluoride etching of silicates is a common reaction with glass materials. Fluorides readily react with aryl boronic acids to yield aryltrifluoroborates that are commonly used in aromatic cross-coupling reactions. Herein, we explore fluoride exchange between potassium aryltrifluoroborates and triethoxyphenylsilane. We further explore the fluorine exchange between different phenyl boronic acids and trifluorophenylsilane. NMR analysis allows us to conclude that fluoride favors the formation of bonds to boron while silicon preferentially bonds to oxides over fluoride. Finally, we demonstrate that this fluorine exchange can be used as a molecular template to cross-couple aromatic rings in air at room temperature.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Vitirmer, recycling, fluoride, boron, silicon, cross coupling<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>\u00a0EE O’Banion Science Building, RM 203.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Matthew Minus TITLE: THE TWO TALES OF ONE STUDENT: BORON-SILICON-FLUORINE EXCHANGE, AND THE QUEST FOR RECYCLABLE VITIRIMERS ABSTRACT: Vitrimers are a class of dynamic covalent polymer networks that combine the mechanical robustness of thermosets with the reprocessability, and self-healing capabilities enabled by associative bond exchange. Here, we report a new vitrimer system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":18,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8678","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8678\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8674,"date":"2026-04-17T09:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8674"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:06:39","slug":"edesiri-albert-ukusajuya-masters-thesis-defense-friday-may-1-2026-1000-am-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/edesiri-albert-ukusajuya-masters-thesis-defense-friday-may-1-2026-1000-am-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Edesiri Albert Ukusajuya Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Friday, May 1, 2026 @ 10:00 am Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

OMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Kazeem Olanrewaju<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPARTMENTAL METABOLISM RATE MODEL FOR DIGESTIVE OLIGOSACCHARIDES TRANSFORMATION TO GLUCOSE IN THE HUMAN PROXIMAL SMALL INTESTINE (PSI)<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT:<\/strong> Excess postprandial glucose remains a significant metabolic concern, particularly for individuals with impaired glucose regulation. In the proximal small intestine (PSI), dietary oligosaccharides are enzymatically hydrolyzed to glucose, which is subsequently absorbed into the bloodstream. However, direct measurement of these coupled digestion\u2013absorption processes in vivo is limited, making in silico mechanistic modeling a practical approach for analyzing system behavior under controlled conditions. In this work, a time-dependent compartmental model is developed to describe oligosaccharide\/starch hydrolysis and glucose absorption in the PSI. The intestine is represented as a series of continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) segments, where each segment captures temporal concentration changes, and inter-segment flow represents forward transport. As opposed to past works, the formulation does not assume tubular or plug-flow behavior; instead, spatial trends emerge implicitly through the sequence of compartments. Three complementary models are proposed. With kinetic parameters from literature data, Model 1 assumes steady continuous inflow and provides an idealized baseline for evaluating how species concentrations evolve from one segment to the next. Although Model 1 is not strictly physiological, it offers a valid reference and foundational case for isolating the effect of flow dynamics on digestion behavior. Model 2 introduces pulsatile inflow to represent intermittent gastric emptying, producing transient concentration spikes. Model 3 serves as the primary framework and incorporates Michaelis-Menten kinetics for glucose formation and absorption, with intermittent gastric emptying representing average physiological inflow. A sub-model (Model 3A) further resolves the pathway from oligosaccharides to maltose and ultimately glucose, allowing intermediate species to be examined. Together, the models complement each other by separating kinetic effects from inflow dynamics, providing a structured framework for analyzing digestion behavior. Simulation results show that oligosaccharides are rapidly hydrolyzed in proximal segments, with intermediates appearing transiently before conversion to glucose. Glucose accumulation is limited due to efficient absorption, resulting in low concentrations in distal segments. A key finding is that gastric emptying patterns strongly influence glucose profiles: pulsatile inflow leads to sharp concentration peaks, whereas continuous inflow produces smoother distributions. Across all models, hydrolysis occurs predominantly in early segments, while absorption dominates glucose removal. Overall, the developed modeling framework provides a mechanistic and interpretable approach for analyzing carbohydrate digestion in the proximal small intestine. Rather than replacing experimental studies, it serves as a structured and practical alternative for studying system behavior under controlled conditions, testing hypotheses, and identifying dominant mechanisms that are otherwise difficult to isolate experimentally. The findings from this work demonstrate that oligosaccharide hydrolysis occurs predominantly in proximal regions, that glucose absorption rapidly limits its accumulation, and that gastric emptying patterns play a critical role in shaping glucose concentration profiles. This also serves as a platform that can potentially support efforts to optimize glucose in the human body and ultimately proffer better treatment solutions for diabetes and liver-related diseases.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Carbohydrate digestion, compartmental modeling, gastric emptying dynamics, glucose absorption kinetics, proximal small intestine.<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>Chemical Engineering Conference Room (ROOM 200 C. L. Wilson Engineering Building)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Kazeem Olanrewaju TITLE: DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPARTMENTAL METABOLISM RATE MODEL FOR DIGESTIVE OLIGOSACCHARIDES TRANSFORMATION TO GLUCOSE IN THE HUMAN PROXIMAL SMALL INTESTINE (PSI) ABSTRACT: Excess postprandial glucose remains a significant metabolic concern, particularly for individuals with impaired glucose regulation. In the proximal small intestine (PSI), dietary oligosaccharides are enzymatically hydrolyzed to glucose, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":15,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8674","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8674\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8668,"date":"2026-04-17T09:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8668"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:06:15","slug":"committee-chair-dr-lijun-qian-title-a-game-theoretical-analysis-of-multi-tiered-semantic-communications-abstract-semantic-communication-shifts-the-6g-paradigm-from-transmitting-bits-to-delivering","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/committee-chair-dr-lijun-qian-title-a-game-theoretical-analysis-of-multi-tiered-semantic-communications-abstract-semantic-communication-shifts-the-6g-paradigm-from-transmitting-bits-to-delivering\/","title":{"rendered":"Abdulqudus Olatunji Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Friday, May 1, 2026 @ 12:00 pm Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Daniel Doe<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: OPTIMIZING ETHEREUM BLOCK PROPAGATION: A STACKELBERG GAME-THEORETIC APPROACH IN MIXED REALITY ENVIRONMENTS<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Scalability is a persistent bottleneck in Ethereum-based blockchain networks, particularly for mixed reality applications like augmented and virtual reality that require low latency and consistent real-time performance. Peer-to-peer gossip protocols, the standard mechanism for block propagation, introduce measurable delays and redundant transmissions that break the realtime synchronization these environments depend on. When propagation takes seconds, user experience degrades and interactive responsiveness collapses; conventional blockchain infrastructure simply was not designed for latency-sensitive mixed reality workloads. This thesis presents a Stackelberg game-theoretic incentive mechanism for optimizing Ethereum block propagation in mixed reality environments. The blockchain protocol acts as a Stackelberg leader, announcing a unit reward price, while heterogeneous edge relayers act as strategic followers that independently set their forwarding participation levels based on their own operational costs, latency factors, and capacity constraints. Aligning economic rewards with latency aware forwarding behavior encourages rational relayer participation and coordinated block dissemination without centralized control. A closed-form characterization of the Stackelberg equilibrium is derived, and a computationally efficient iterative algorithm computes the equilibrium price and participation profile. The framework accounts for relayer heterogeneity in bandwidth, processing capability, and communication delay, which allows selective activation of the most efficient relayers under varying network conditions. Monte Carlo simulations under realistic heterogeneous relayer conditions and varying network sizes show that the proposed mechanism achieves consistently low transaction latency, stable propagation success rates that exceed unstructured gossip dissemination, competitive protocol utility, and fast equilibrium convergence. Comparative evaluations against cost-based relaying, latency-greedy selection, random gossip, and sharding-based propagation confirm that the Stackelberg Incentive Mechanism delivers a balanced and scalable trade-off between reliability, responsiveness, and economic efficiency. Incentive-driven propagation strategies, these results show, can support scalable and responsive blockchain infrastructure for immersive mixed reality applications.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Ethereum, blockchain scalability, stackelberg game, block propagation, mixed reality<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>Electrical Engineering Conference Room 315D<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Daniel Doe TITLE: OPTIMIZING ETHEREUM BLOCK PROPAGATION: A STACKELBERG GAME-THEORETIC APPROACH IN MIXED REALITY ENVIRONMENTS ABSTRACT: Scalability is a persistent bottleneck in Ethereum-based blockchain networks, particularly for mixed reality applications like augmented and virtual reality that require low latency and consistent real-time performance. Peer-to-peer gossip protocols, the standard mechanism for block propagation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8668","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8668\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8666,"date":"2026-04-17T09:29:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8666"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:06:32","slug":"olamide-peter-oshinuga-masters-thesis-defense-friday-may-1-2026-1030-am-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/olamide-peter-oshinuga-masters-thesis-defense-friday-may-1-2026-1030-am-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Olamide Peter Oshinuga Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Friday, May 1, 2026 @ 10:30 am Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Lijun Qian<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: A GAME THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF MULTI TIERED SEMANTIC COMMUNICATIONS<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Semantic communication shifts the 6G paradigm from transmitting bits to delivering meaning. However, the economic feasibility of deploying such compute-intensive systems remains a critical open challenge. This thesis presents a game-theoretic framework for pricing and service differentiation in a tiered semantic communication market. It first considers a monopolistic provider offering three service tiers\u2014Basic, Standard, and Premium\u2014implemented through terrestrial base stations, satellite links, and UAV-assisted edge systems, respectively, each with distinct tradeoffs in semantic fidelity, latency, and price. The tiered design is motivated by congested scenarios in which terrestrial infrastructure may become overloaded, making non-terrestrial links essential for maintaining connectivity. The provider strategically posts tier-specific prices, while heterogeneous users select the option that maximizes their utility, or opt out, based on their preferences for semantic quality, latency, and price. To address the intractability of closed-form demand expressions, Monte Carlo-based numerical optimization is employed to estimate user demand and provider profit, while coordinate-wise search is used to determine optimal prices. The framework is further extended to a duopoly market under Bertrand price competition and Cournot-style capacity competition, enabling analysis of provider interaction, market segmentation, profit, user payoff, social welfare, and participation across market structures. Numerical results show clear user segmentation across providers and tiers, confirm the existence of profit-maximizing strategies, and highlight the impact of competition on provider incentives and market efficiency. These findings provide practical insights for the sustainable deployment of tiered semantic communication services in future 6G systems.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Semantic communication, game theory, 6G<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>Electrical Engineering Conference Room 315D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Lijun Qian TITLE: A GAME THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF MULTI TIERED SEMANTIC COMMUNICATIONS ABSTRACT: Semantic communication shifts the 6G paradigm from transmitting bits to delivering meaning. However, the economic feasibility of deploying such compute-intensive systems remains a critical open challenge. This thesis presents a game-theoretic framework for pricing and service differentiation in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8666","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8666\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8662,"date":"2026-04-17T09:19:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8662"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:07:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:07:01","slug":"john-olamofe-masters-thesis-defense-monday-april-27-2026-1200-pm-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/final-master-defense-announcements\/spring-2026-masters-final-defense\/john-olamofe-masters-thesis-defense-monday-april-27-2026-1200-pm-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"John Olamofe Master\u2019s Thesis Defense, Monday, April 27, 2026 @ 12:00 pm Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Lijun Qian<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: UNIFIED DEEP LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR SPATIAL DETECTION AND TEMPORAL FORECASTING ACROSS VISUAL DOMAINS<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>This dissertation proposes a unified deep learning framework for spatial detection and temporal forecasting across visual domains, designed to address limited supervision, class imbalance, and scale variability. The framework is structured around four complementary principles: Domain-Aware Input Rebalancing, Representation-Centric Learning, Diversity-Driven Robustness, and Transfer Across Scale and Modality, which together enable robust visual representation learning across heterogeneous data sources. Domain-Aware Input Rebalancing mitigates non-uniform and sparse data distributions by actively reshaping inputs prior to learning through class-aware augmentation, sampling, resolution manipulation, and super-resolution. This principle underpins object detection in overhead satellite imagery (xView), dense urban aerial scenes (CADOT), temporally sparse NDVI signals, and low-contrast microscopy images, where sensitivity to small or rare structures is critical. Representation-Centric Learning emphasizes shared feature encoders as the primary mechanism for generalization. YOLO-based spatial encoders serve as the backbone for object detection across satellite, aerial, and microscopy domains, while sequence encoders and pretrained transformers are employed for NDVI forecasting. By prioritizing transferable representations over task-specific heuristics, the framework supports both spatial localization and temporal sequence modeling within a unified learning paradigm. To enhance generalization without increasing annotation cost, Diversity-Driven Robustness introduces architectural and representational diversity. For NDVI forecasting, model-family comparisons under few-shot settings further demonstrate the stabilizing role of diversity. Finally, Transfer Across Scale and Modality enables the framework to generalize learned principles beyond individual tasks. Spatial learning strategies inform temporal NDVI forecasting, pretrained sequence models adapt to environmental time series, and super-resolution enhances cavity detection in microscopy, confirming scale-invariant behavior across modalities. Collectively, this dissertation demonstrates that spatial detection and temporal forecasting can be unified as data-efficient representation learning problems, providing a principled framework for robust visual intelligence in data-constrained environment.<\/p>\n

Keywords: <\/strong>Deep learning, computer vision, object detection, time-series data, NDVI forecasting<\/p>\n

Room Location: <\/strong>Electrical Engineering Conference Room 315D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Lijun Qian TITLE: UNIFIED DEEP LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR SPATIAL DETECTION AND TEMPORAL FORECASTING ACROSS VISUAL DOMAINS ABSTRACT: This dissertation proposes a unified deep learning framework for spatial detection and temporal forecasting across visual domains, designed to address limited supervision, class imbalance, and scale variability. The framework is structured around four complementary principles: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8136,"menu_order":20,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8662","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8662\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":8648,"date":"2026-04-16T15:38:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/?page_id=8648"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:07:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:07:39","slug":"lasonya-dunham-dissertation-defense-wednesday-april-22-2026-100-pm-central-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/news-events-announcements\/dissertation-defense-announcements-2\/spring-2026-final-doctoral-defense\/lasonya-dunham-dissertation-defense-wednesday-april-22-2026-100-pm-central-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Lasonya Dunham Dissertation Defense, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 @ 1:00 pm Central Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR<\/strong>: Dr. Patricia Miller<\/p>\n

TITLE<\/strong>: WHITE PRINCIPALS AS ANTI-RACIST ALLIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOLS<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT: <\/strong>Racism and education in American schools are more complex and misunderstood now more than ever. Even as Black and Brown populations expand, their educational conditions are rapidly deteriorating due to societal racial injustices. A large majority of African American schools in the United States are overwhelmingly led by White administrators. Many of them enter school systems without ever having had experience with or knowledge of diverse cultures. These leaders find themselves facing communication and collaboration barriers with students and staff at their schools. However, there are White school leaders who have sought to understand the implications of systemic racism and cultural disconnect, thus using it as a catalyst to create positive change within schools. The critical discourse that results from this level of sociopolitical awareness can yield highly successful outcomes, as reflected in students’ academic performance and leadership practices. White school leaders at African American schools can provide leadership insight and framework for change as they strive to address social inequities in their schools while consistently embedding anti-racist practices. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of White principals by deconstructing their identities as manifested in their leadership behaviors at African American schools. The research focused on six White principals leading successful predominantly Black schools. The sample includes associate and assistant principals in elementary, middle, or high schools located in southeast Texas. Creating fertile environments for White principals to have critical conversations about race and school leadership can open doors to eliminating conscious and unconscious racist behaviors, resulting in increased achievement. This qualitative research, conducted through a critical phenomenological study, obtained personal stories and lived experiences of White leaders in thriving African American schools. Emerging themes were multifarious experiences with People of Color, construction of racial identity, cultural competency, and anti-racist White consciousness. This study can provide a blueprint for creating dynamic educational leadership development training and programs that examine and address racism in school systems, thereby promoting higher achievement among economically marginalized student populations.<\/p>\n

Keywords<\/strong>: Anti-racist, social inequity, cultural competence, racial identity<\/p>\n

Location Online:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zoom Link<\/strong>: https:\/\/pvpanther.zoom.us\/j\/96240267337?pwd=lUaMvTvAwIqf82cEnQaGBFaD9Qb3zw.1<\/p>\n

Meeting ID<\/strong>: 962 4026 7337<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Patricia Miller TITLE: WHITE PRINCIPALS AS ANTI-RACIST ALLIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOLS ABSTRACT: Racism and education in American schools are more complex and misunderstood now more than ever. Even as Black and Brown populations expand, their educational conditions are rapidly deteriorating due to societal racial injustices. A large majority of African American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"parent":8149,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8648","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:55:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8648\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pvamu.edu\/graduateschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]