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Last Updated: Apr 22, 2026, 12:40 PM
Joseph Michael Krienert – Ph.D. Dissertation in Environmental Resources and Policy
Title: Nitrogen Dynamics in Riverine Wetlands of the Leveed Middle Mississippi River Floodplain
Major Professor: Jonathan Remo
Committee Members: Marjorie Brooks, Steven Esling, Scott Hamilton-Brehm
Date: May 8, 2026
Location: Parkinson Laboratory Room 104
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Abstract: Excess dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) exported from agricultural landscapes within the Mississippi River basin degrades aquatic ecosystems and drinking water quality. Riverine wetlands can mitigate these impacts by providing hydrologic and geochemical conditions that support sediment microbial processes such as nitrification and denitrification, which convert reactive nitrogen to inert atmospheric gases. Wetlands associated with higher order rivers receive large DIN loads and therefore have high potential value for nutrient processing. This dissertation evaluates the capacity of wetland microecosystems to remove DIN within riverine wetlands along the middle Mississippi River (MMR), with a focus on the role of hydrologic connectivity. The MMR floodplain historically supported extensive wetlands, but levee construction and drainage reduced floodplain inundation and disconnected much of the valley from direct river flooding. Using an integrative, two-year field study, this research quantified water exchange, nitrogen dynamics, redox conditions, carbon availability, and microbial community composition within representative river connected and river disconnected wetlands. Methods included hydraulic measurements, calibrated surface water and groundwater models, stable isotopes, nutrient monitoring, sediment incubations, and 16S rRNA microbial sequencing. Results show that only river connected wetlands consistently support DIN removal. Episodic river flooding creates alternating oxidizing and reducing conditions that promote coupled nitrification and denitrification, resulting in nitrate reductions exceeding 87% within hyporheic splay sediments during spring and summer. River disconnected wetlands lack this hydrologic sequencing and instead function as net nitrate sources due to partial nitrification of groundwater derived DIN. Microbial analyses corroborate these findings, revealing greater diversity and functional potential for complete denitrification in connected wetlands. Collectively, these results demonstrate that hydrologic connectivity is a necessary condition for sustained DIN removal in MMR floodplain wetlands and highlight the importance of preserving or restoring river–floodplain interactions for basin scale nitrogen mitigation.
Ellen Audia – Ph.D. Dissertation in Agriculture Sciences
Title: Habitat Selection and Movement of Bobcats in a Fragmented Landscape
Major Professor: Clay Nielsen
Committee Members: Brent Pease, Eric Holzmueller, Jennifer Weber
Date: May 8, 2026
Virtual Link: Join Ellen Audia's Thesis Defense via Zoom
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Abstract: Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are a mesocarnivore capable of functioning as apex predators across many parts of North America. Despite their adaptability and generalist ecology, bobcats remain sensitive to habitat loss and fragmentation. In Illinois, bobcats were extirpated in the 1960s due to habitat loss and fragmentation as well as overexploitation but began recolonizing many areas in the late 1990s after receiving statewide protection. I investigated how a recolonized population of bobcats in the highly fragmented, agriculturally dominated landscape of north-central Illinois responds spatially to habitat loss and fragmentation by examining drivers of home range size, approaches for characterizing second order resource selection, and fine-scale habitat selection and movement behavior. Bobcats maintained substantially larger home ranges in north-central Illinois than populations in southern Illinois and other parts of their North American range, with larger home ranges containing less forest cover. Increased daily and monthly movement were the mechanisms behind larger home ranges. Despite challenges and tradeoffs associated with characterizing second order resource selection, I found that bobcats selected home ranges with greater forest cover that were generally concentrated along the Illinois River. Forests as well was their edges were also important at finer scales, with sex- and age- specific responses to them. Adult females and juvenile males generally exhibited different selection of forest edge types within bi-annual periods, whereas adult male selection was more consistent in direction across forest edge types. In contrast, adult males showed greater avoidance behavior of roads while juvenile males and adult females did not, however, all were generally more likely to move across roads in areas of greater forest cover. Overall, my research identifies mechanisms and patterns underlying bobcat spatial behavior in fragmented landscapes and provides insights relevant to bobcat and other mesocarnivore conservation and management in Illinois and similar Midwestern ecosystems.
Wesley James Petty – Ph.D. Dissertation in Environmental Resources and Policy
Title: Listening to Fire - Using Passive Acoustic Monitoring to Detect and Explain Prescribed Fire Effects on Avian Communities in Oak-Hickory Forest of the Central Hardwood Region
Major Professor: Logan Park
Committee Members: Jay Needham, Clayton Niesien, Jonathan Remo, Charles Ruffner
Date: April 30, 2026
Location: Agriculture Building, Room 209
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Abstract:This dissertation demonstrates that acoustic indices derived from passive acoustic monitoring can reliably detect prescribed fire effects on terrestrial soundscapes, while also showing that interpretation of these changes requires complementary species level approaches. Although acoustic indices effectively identify shifts in soundscape structure, they do not alone reveal the ecological processes driving those changes. To address this limitation, a detection weighted analytical framework is developed to isolate the species contributing most strongly to observed soundscape change, enabling comparisons at ecologically meaningful scales. Application of this framework reveals that prescribed fire can simultaneously increase total vocal activity while reducing acoustic complexity, illustrating how species level dynamics can underline counterintuitive soundscape patterns. For land managers, this approach provides a scalable and efficient pathway for linking rapid acoustic pattern detection to ecological interpretation within adaptive management contexts. The results caution against interpreting acoustic indices as direct proxies for biodiversity without species level validation but highlight their value for monitoring when integrated with automated biodiversity assessment tools. As acoustic data volume expands and automated identification systems continue to improve, frameworks that explicitly connect soundscape patterns to ecological mechanisms will be increasingly essential for applied monitoring and management.
Julianna Mariano – Master’s Thesis for M.S. in Forestry
Title: Nutrient Leaching and Yield Dynamics from Varying Fertilizer Treatments and Winter Wheat, Cereal Rye, and Fallow Rotations within a Corn-Soybean System
Major Professor: Karl Willard
Committee Members: Jon Schoonover, Amir Sadeghpour
Date: April 29, 2026
Location: Agriculture Building, Room 209
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Abstract: Recent declines in waterbody health globally have been attributed to excess nutrient loads from non-point sources such as urban and agricultural land uses. In 2015, the state of Illinois produced the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NRLS) to specifically reduce nitrogen and phosphorus entering local waterbodies. Sustainable agricultural techniques suggested by the Illinois NLRS include using cover crops, which are planted during traditionally fallow seasons to provide environmental benefits such as nutrient management and erosion control. Cereal rye is the most common cover crop planted within the Mississippi River Basin, and it is best known for its ability to scavenge for nitrate. Double crops are also planted during winter seasons, and their primary benefit is through the financial incentive of harvest. Unlike cover crops, there is limited knowledge as to whether double crops, like winter wheat, can provide environmental benefits. This randomized complete block design study in Carbondale, IL incorporated winter wheat and cereal rye into a traditional two-year, corn-soybean rotation on a non-tile drained field. There were three varying fertilization intensities across plots that include winter wheat. Pan, suction cup, and ion exchange resin (IER) lysimeter soil water data were collected to determine nitrate-N and dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) leaching loads. The primary objectives were to determine how winter wheat could potentially reduce nitrate-N, total nitrogen (TN), and DRP leaching compared to cereal rye and fallow and analyze how fertilization intensity impacted both wheat yields and nutrient leaching. Winter wheat and cereal rye both significantly reduced nitrate-N loads after 3-years of rotation. In winter 2023-24, fallow plots experienced up to four times as much nitrate-N leaching compared to either winter cover, or the three winter wheat treatments leached significantly less nitrate-N on average compared to cereal rye. Winter wheat plots cumulatively leached an average of 25 kg nitrate-N ha-1 or between 50-80% less than fallow plots in winter 2023-24. DRP nutrient loads also decreased significantly over the course of the study, but there were no differences between individual treatments. Loads decreased between 85-98% between winter 2021-22 and summer 2024. Wheat yields were unaffected by fertilization intensity across all seasons, but they were impacted by seeding rates. Winter 2021-22 had a seeding rate nearly 40% lower than winter 2023-24, and winter 2023-24 winter wheat grain yield was more than two times greater than the following season. Soybean yields experienced a potential yield penalty from winter wheat in summer 2022 with winter wheat plots yielding 0.401 Mg DW ha-1 on average. This pattern was not consistent in the following summer 2024 season. There were also no differences in yield-based TN leaching in the winter wheat seasons or the summer 2022 season. In summer 2024, cereal rye was most effective at reducing TN leaching under the greatest soybean yield. Incorporating winter wheat into a corn-soybean rotation resulted in significant water quality benefits and no cash crop yield penalties, and it should be considered by Midwestern agricultural producers as a viable option to increase revenue and help reach water quality goals.
Kuan Chun Chen – Ph.D. Dissertation in Education
Title: Integrating Aviation - Themed STEM Disciplines into Mathematics Instruction: Effects on Pre-Service Teachers’ Content Knowledge Development in Taiwan
Major Professor: Cheng-Yao Lin
Date: April 30, 2026
Location: WHAM 202
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Abstract: This study examined the effects of a STEM-integrated pedagogical approach on pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) mathematical content knowledge and affective dispositions. The primary focus was on domain-specific knowledge (statistics, geometry, algebra) and knowledge types (factual, procedural, conceptual). A quantitative-dominant design with qualitative support was employed with 58 PSTs in Taiwan. Data were collected through pre-, post-, and delayed tests, questionnaires, and interviews. Results showed significant improvements in content knowledge across domains, with distinct patterns in knowledge type development and evidence of knowledge retention. Changes in affective dispositions were modest, as the intervention primarily emphasized conceptual understanding rather than affective outcomes. Qualitative findings highlighted increased engagement and shifts toward student-centered perspectives. Based on these findings, a STEM-Integrated Mathematical Knowledge Development Model (SIM-KDM) is proposed to conceptualize PSTs’ learning within a STEM-integrated context.
Yuhao Deng – Master’s Research Paper Presentation for M.S. in Art & Design Sculpture
Title: Compliance
Major Professor: Alex Lopez
Date: March 31, 2026
Location: Glove Factory Surplus Gallery
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Shruti Rao – Master’s Exhibition for M.F.A. in Mass Communication & Media Arts
Title: With Love, Shruti
Major Professor: Karla Berry
Committee Members: Kevin Mercer, Farrah Freibert
Date: April 1, 2026
Location: Northlight Studio Room 1251, Communications Building
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Abstract: This body of work has emerged from an enquiry into the shifting landscape of dating, desire, romance, intimacy, rest, and sleep—especially within the context of our increasingly digital lives. The evening will include an interactive exhibition with two installations, prints, and a live shadow puppetry performance at 8:00 PM. I’ll also be sharing Love Letters I Never Sent, a collection of love letters gathered over the past two semesters through a public art project inviting people to slow down and revisit the intimacy of handwriting a love letter.
Leslie Micheal Murray – Ph.D. Dissertation in Philosophy
Title: The Problem of Dislocation
Major Professor: Randall E. Auxier
Committee Members: Andrew Youpa, David Johnson, Ken Stikkers, John Shook
Date: March 30, 2026
Location: Faner Hall 2031
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Abstract: This dissertation develops a systematic narrative ontology grounded in the lived experience of dislocation and the ongoing work of placemaking. Rather than treating persons, things, and places as fixed units, it argues that reality is composed through passage, the rhythmic movement by which potential becomes actual and by which identity is continually revised. Dislocation is a structural condition of existence, not a rare crisis. We live in the passage between what might be and what becomes real, and our lives take shape through the cuts and decisions that continually settle that tension. The project advances a triadic framework. Ontologics describe the structural realities of person, thing, and place. Implicatives name the inherited pressures, histories, and orientations that press forward into the present. Explicatives are the visible practices, institutions, and performances that stabilize those pressures in shared form. These domains are gathered through encompassing, a general term for existential inclusion, the process by which beings are taken up into relational configurations that both shape and are shaped in return. Shaping, in this account, is reciprocal formation. We are formed by the worlds we inhabit, and we help form those worlds through our conduct. Modern life intensifies dislocation through commodification and technological acceleration. When persons and places are reduced to exchangeable units, relational depth thins and belonging becomes fragile. Stability is misidentified with control, and growth becomes an unquestioned imperative. This work argues instead for a pragmatic reeducation of normativity, stability, and belonging. Stability is reconceived as patterned endurance through passage. Belonging is negotiated participation rather than possession. Normativity is a revisable guide for conduct within living networks, not an absolute endpoint. Drawing in part from process philosophy, pragmatism, actor-network theory, and phenomenology, the dissertation offers an ethics of regard grounded in proportion. Practices such as migration, fasting, ritual, and memorialization are examined as sites where absorption, purification, and resistance to commodification can be tested. Placemaking is understood not as sealing oneself against dislocation but as learning how to inhabit it well. This project reframes the good life as the disciplined cultivation of proportion within a world always in motion accepting the reality of dislocation. To engage the future is to compose dislocation responsibly, sustaining relational integrity among persons, things, and places while remaining open to renewal.
James Antwi Adinkrah – Master’s Thesis for M.S. in Computer Science
Title: Report-Guided Pseudo-Label Generation and Transformation-Based Detection for Chest X-ray Pathology Localization without Manual Annotation
Major Professor: Khaled Ahmed
Committee Members: Richard Selinfreund, Henry Hexmoor
Date: March 27, 2026
Virtual Link: Join James Antwi Adinkrah's Thesis Defense via Zoom
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Abstract: Automated detection and segmentation of thoracic abnormalities in chest radiographs remains a critical challenge in medical imaging, primarily due to the scarcity of pixel-level annotations. This thesis presents a report-guided multimodal framework that eliminates the need for manual radiologist annotations by leveraging free-text radiology reports to generate pseudo ground-truth segmentation masks for two clinically significant pathologies: atelectasis (lung collapse) and cardiomegaly (cardiac enlargement). The proposed pipeline integrates Grounding DINO, an open-set object detection model, with MedSAM, a medical image segmentation model fine-tuned on over one million medical image-mask pairs. Radiology reports from the MIMIC-CXR dataset (approximately 377,000 chest X-rays) are parsed and summarized to produce disease-specific text prompts. These prompts guide Grounding DINO to localize pathological regions, and the resulting bounding boxes are used as prompts for MedSAM to generate pixel-level segmentation masks. A tiered quality control system filters the generated masks, yielding 5,006 high-quality image-mask pairs. Downstream segmentation models, including SegFormer-B5 and Swin Transformer-Base, are trained on these pseudo labels using MMSegmentation. SegFormer-B5, trained on the Grounding DINO-generated dataset, achieves a mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) of 43.17%, with per-class IoU of 26.63% for atelectasis and 19.40% for cardiomegaly. A complementary detection study benchmarks three DETR-family transformer architectures—DETR, RF-DETR, and Conditional DETR—on a three-class subset of the VinBigData Chest X-Ray dataset (Aortic Enlargement, Cardiomegaly, Pleural Thickening). RF-DETR achieves the strongest overall performance with an F1 score of 0.636, precision of 0.814, and accuracy of 0.775, driven by its DINOv2 backbone and exponential moving-average training. A key finding is that over 87% of annotated images contain duplicate multi-radiologist bounding boxes, identifying annotation merging via Weighted Boxes Fusion as the highest-impact improvement. This work demonstrates that clinically meaningful segmentation and detection models can be developed without manual annotations, paving the way for scalable computer-aided diagnosis systems.
Siri Priya Katta – Master’s Thesis for M.S. in Computer Science
Title: Rag-based Enhancements For Context-aware Interfaces In Large Language Model
Major Professor: Henry Hexmoor
Committee Members: Bidyut Gupta, Koushik Sinha
Date: March 25, 2026
Location: Engineering A 309C
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong capabilities in natural language understanding and generation, but they often produce incorrect or hallucinated responses when relying solely on internal model knowledge. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) addresses this limitation by grounding model outputs in externally retrieved context; however, the effectiveness of RAG systems is highly dependent on the quality of the retrieval component. This thesis investigates the impact of retrieval strategies on the performance of RAG pipelines, with a particular focus on comparing single-stage dense retrieval against two-stage retrieval incorporating cross-encoder reranking. Using a controlled experimental setup on the CoQA dataset, pretrained bi-encoder and cross-encoder models are evaluated without task-specific fine-tuning. Retrieval effectiveness is measured using standard metrics including Hit@1 and Exact Match@1 (EM@1), enabling a clear assessment of how retrieval architecture influences grounding accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate that two-stage retrieval with cross-encoder reranking consistently improves retrieval accuracy over dense retrieval alone, highlighting the importance of multi-stage retrieval pipelines in grounded question answering systems. These findings are further contextualized through an analysis of real-world RAG systems such as NotebookLM, which employ structured retrieval, reranking, and strict source grounding to reduce hallucinations. Based on the observed limitations of static retrieval pipelines, this thesis identifies Agentic RAG—where retrieval decisions are dynamically refined through iterative reasoning and tool selection—as a promising direction for future research. Overall, the study emphasizes retrieval quality as a critical factor in building reliable, context-aware, and trustworthy RAG-based language model systems.
Cybil Johnson – Master’s Thesis for MFA in Sculpture
Title: The Unfolding Reel
Major Professor: Alex Lopez
Committee Members: Rick smith, Tony deal, Jiyong Lee
Date: March 25, 2026
Location: Surplus Gallery
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Abstract: My exhibition "The Unfolding Reel" invites viewers into a space where order and chaos coexist. Geometric repetition fractures through gaps, breaks, and interruptions. Together, these shifts reveal structure and instability unfolding at once.
Nancy Qin Yu – MFA Art Exhibition in Art and Design
Title: The Tragedy of Dreams
Major Professor: Jiyong Lee
Committee Members: Alex Lopez, Laurel Fredrickson
Date: March 27, 2026
Location: Surplus Gallery inside the Glove
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Abstract: The Tragedy of Dreams is an art exhibition that explores the fragile boundary between aspiration and reality through a series of glass sculptures, performance art, and time-based installations inspired by historical and cultural myths and artefacts. Drawing from Chinese mythology, opera, and classical narratives, the works examine the emotional and psychological weight carried by those who pursue ideals of glory, love, and success. Using glass, simultaneously beautiful and fragile, the sculptures use symbols of glory such as headdresses as objects reflecting the paradox of dreams: what we long for can also become what burdens us. The exhibition considers the moment when imagined triumph meets lived experience, when the crown that promises glory instead becomes heavy to bear. Through personal narrative and cultural symbolism, The Tragedy of Dreams invites viewers to reflect on ambition, sacrifice, and the quiet pathos of realizing that the dreams we pursue may feel far different once they are finally within reach.
Adilene Rodriguez – MFA Art Exhibition in Art and Design
Title: STIGMATA
Major Professor: Najjar Abdul-Musawwir
Committee Members: Haley Farthing, Mark Pease
Date: March 18, 2026
Location: Surplus Gallery inside the Glove
Time: 3:20 p.m.
Abstract: MFA Thesis Exhibition - 8 paintings, 2 prints, and 1 installation at the Surplus Gallery inside the Glove Building. This body of work is a way to cope and to inform the viewer of a disorder that is often underdiagnosed and hidden in fear of shame or being perceived as vain.
Ashli Bonner – MFA Art Exhibition in Fine Arts
Title: Operating Playhouse
Major Professor: Erika Palmer
Committee Members: Haley Farthing, Najjar Abudl-Musawwir
Date: March 19, 2026
Location: Glove Factory Surplus Gallery
Time: 2:15 p.m.
Abstract: Thesis exhibition showcasing mix media artworks of abstracted animal anatomy.
Sean TE Maulding – Ph.D. Dissertation in Communication Studies, with concentrations in Gender and Sexuality, and Performance Studies
Title: Til Death Do Us Part: Adapting Drama Therapy Techniques for Solo Performers
Major Professor: Jonathan Gray
Committee Members: Rebecca Anderson, Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, Christina Ivey, Jacob Juntunen
Date: April 1, 2026
Location: Communications Building 2005
Virtual Link: Join Sean TE Maulding's Dissertation Defense via Teams
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Abstract: Jen Helms will be designing costumes for the SIU School of Theater and Dance production of Wedding Band: A Love-Hate Story in Black and White, as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Theater. Set in Charleston, South Carolina in 1918, Wedding Band is an unsparing tale about the consequences of a decade-long romance between a black seamstress and a white baker. Julia and Herman have loved each other devotedly, enduring harsh disapproval from whites and scorn from blacks. As they confront the impossibility of ever living a normal married life, and as Herman falls ill, Julia gradually reaches out to forge affirming bonds of solidarity with her community. The play will be produced in the Moe Theater, opening on November 30 and running two weekends.
India Hagen-Gates – Ph.D. Dissertation in Communication Studies, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Society
Title: Reimagining Belonging - The Rhetoric of Nature and Bodies in Outside Magazine and Unlikely Hikers
Major Professor: Jonathan Gray
Committee Members: Dustin Greenwalt, Christina Ivey, Cinzia Padovani, Rebecca Walker Anderson
Date: April 2, 2026
Location: Communications Building 2010
Virtual Link: Join India Hagen-Gates' Dissertation via Teams
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Abstract: In this project, I focus on the visual representations of nature and bodies, unpacking rhetoric from different locations. By evaluating the construction of nature and bodies, I can explore how these constructions are self-sustaining, as the construction of nature is created and reified through visual rhetoric, it in turn strengthens the construction of the “natural” or “outdoor” body. To explore the constructions of nature and the body, I turn to two collections: Outside magazine and the group Unlikely Hikers. Outside, founded in 1977, is a leading magazine in outdoor recreation, featuring all sorts of activities outdoors including hiking, camping, climbing, and cycling. Unlikely Hikers, created in 2016, is an online community focused on featuring more diverse bodies in outdoor spaces.
Lauren Benedict – Master’s Thesis for M.S. in Forestry
Title: Impacts of Prescribed Burning and Midstory Thinning on the Abundance of Eastern Whip-Poor-Will and Chuck-Will’s-Widow in Southern Illinois
Major Professor: Brent Pease
Committee Members: Charles Ruffner
Date: March 17, 2026
Location: Agriculture Building 209
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Abstract: The Chuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) and Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) are nightjar species that inhabit southern Illinois during the breeding season. Both species are thought to benefit from open woodlands, which are often a result of natural disturbance or active forest management. However, due to a lack of significant disturbances and active management, this forest structure has become rare. Like many disturbance-dependent species, the Chuck-will’s-widow and Eastern Whip-poor-will have experienced range-wide declines over the past 50 years. Despite this, few studies have examined the impacts of forest management and the resulting forest structure on these species. We evaluated the impacts of burning and midstory thinning on nightjar abundance in upland forests during May–August 2025 in southern Illinois, USA. Fourteen of the 28 sites were managed with varying intensities of midstory thinning and prescribed burning, while the remaining 14 sites were not actively managed. Overstory conditions were measured using variable radius plots with a 10BAF Cruz-All, and 40m2 fixed radius plots were used for the midstory and understory. Nightjar surveys were conducted by deploying autonomous recording units on nights when lunar illumination was greater than 50%. Vocalizations were identified to species using BirdNET, and abundance estimated using time-to-detection n-mixture models. There was no significant difference between basal area and overstory density on managed and unmanaged sites, but there were significant differences in midstory density and ground cover. Eastern Whip-poor-will was detected on 25% of the managed sites and 32% of unmanaged sites, while Chuck-will’s-widows were detected equally across management histories at 7%. Eastern Whip-poor-will abundance significantly declined as the percentage of deciduous overstory increased, while a non-significant positive trend with overstory density was documented. Due to low detections, models were not fit for Chuck-will's-widow. Ultimately, this study indicates that overstory conditions are likely more important than midstory and ground cover characteristics in territory selection for Eastern Whip-poor-will, and that, in the southern Midwest, Eastern Whip-poor-will prefer mixed forests over pure deciduous stands.
Shannon Borg – MFA Art Exhibition in Art & Design (2D Painting)
Title: Wayfinding
Major Professor: Erin Paler
Committee Members: Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, Alex Lopez
Date: March 5, 2026
Location: Surplus Gallery, 432 S. Washington St., Carbondale, Illinois
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Abstract: Wayfinding is an exhibition of oil paintings and mixed-media installations by Shannon Borg, offering an immersive experience of movement, color, and light, inviting the viewer to explore their own identity as a member of the human family, a descendant with inherited creativity, collective memory, and courage, capturing fleeting images and moods from inner ancestral landscapes. Shannon Borg's work explores the intersection of time, travel, genetic memory, and abstract landscape painting.
T Brown - Ph.D. Dissertation in Communication Studies
Title: Performing Guru - A Performance Studies Approach to the Study of Cults
Major Professor: Rebecca Anderson
Committee Members: Sandy Pensoneau-Conway, Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, Jonny Gray Jaime Gray
Date: March 4, 2026
Location: Communications Building 2005
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Abstract: This project approaches a long-term experience of living in a cult through a performance studies lens. Utilizing autoethnographic methods, it explores personal insights and observations from years within the inner circle of a coercive religious environment under tyrannical leadership. A variety of systems and relationships are narrated and analyzed according to three categories: ritualization, deployability, and occupation. Ritualization explains how a body becomes imbued with the rhythms and mantras of a cultic milieu. Deployability describes how this body is put into action at the service of leadership. Occupation, as a metaphor, illuminates how a cultic subject becomes filled with the needs and desires of the guru. Employing scripts, poetry, song lyrics, and other performance-centered styles, the hidden methods of a totalist religious group are revealed. The project concludes with general observations about cultic groups, and potential areas for further exploration.
Akhila Kambhatla - Ph.D. Dissertation in Computer Science
Title: Intelligent Surveillance for Weapon Threat Detection: Transformer‑Based Detection and Segmentation Using Thermal and RGB Imagery.
Major Professor: Brittany Hopkins
Committee Members: Henry Hexmoor, Bidyut Gupta, Koushik Sinha, Banafsheh Rekabdar
Date: February 18, 2026
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Thanchira "MJ" Suriyamongkol - Ph.D. Dissertation in Agricultural Science
Title: Wildlife Use of Giant Cane Habitat in Southern Illinois
Major Professor: Becky Lee
Committee Members: Jon Schoonover, Jim Zaczek, Brent Pease
Date: March 16, 2026
Location: Agriculture Building, Room 209
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Abstract: Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl. (Giant cane) is a bamboo species native to the United States and was a prominent feature of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley landscape. Over 70 wildlife species are associated with stands of giant cane (canebrakes). However, canebrake cover has drastically declined to < 2% of its pre-settlement extent. The loss of canebrakes could negatively impact many wildlife species that utilize canebrakes as refuge, nesting sites, and foraging habitat. In addition, although anecdotal historical records suggested canebrake importance for wildlife, systematic study and quantitative analyses of the influence of canebrake on wildlife habitat use is lacking. I conducted wildlife surveys for herpetofauna, mammals, and birds during 2022–2024 at 32 canebrakes and 32 forested sites across Jackson, Union, Alexander, and Pulaski Counties in southern Illinois, USA, and examined the influence of fine-scale vegetation structure, particularly giant cane, on habitat use of wildlife using occupancy modeling techniques. At canebrake sites, 17, 12, and 78 species of herpetofauna, mammals, and birds, respectively, were detected. At non-canebrake sites, 22, 14, and 74 species of herpetofauna, mammals, and birds, respectively, were detected. For herpetofauna, reptile occupancy was higher in denser, larger, and shorter canebrakes, while amphibian occupancy was higher in denser, smaller, and taller canebrakes, although the relationships were not statistically significant. In addition, reptiles occupied open canopy areas that facilitated thermoregulation activities, while amphibians occupied areas with high tree density that better retained moisture. For mammals, the relationships between occupancy and vegetation characteristics were species-specific. Although I did not find any significant associations between mammal habitat use and canebrake presence, high species diversity of mammals was observed at canebrake sites. For birds, responses to vegetation structure (tree density and size) and canebrakes varied among species and nesting guilds (overstory, understory, and ground). Occurrence probability of 48% of the bird species increased with the presence of canebrake. Overall, remnant canebrake structure (sparse) and distribution (fragmented) might explain the lack of significant influence of canebrake presence on wildlife communities. However, a high number of species observed in canebrakes emphasizes their importance in enhancing floodplain landscape complexity and the value in further restoring this cover type beyond its presently diminished status. Re-establishment of dense, contiguous stands of canebrakes may improve wildlife habitat quality. In addition, maintaining habitat heterogeneity and managing vegetation diversity, including variations in canopy cover and structure, may benefit a wide range of wildlife species in southern Illinois landscapes.
Olivia Slater - Ph.D. Dissertation in Pharmacology and Neuroscience/Medicinal Chemistry Concentration
Title: Targeting Toll-like Receptor 4 with Computational Chemistry Methods and Rationally Designed Glycoconjugates
Major Professor: Maria Kontoyianni
Committee Members: Kenneth Witt, Shelley Tischkau, Randolph Elble, Alexei V. Demchenko, Michael R. Nichols
Date: January 22, 2026
Location: Health Sciences Building, Room 1340; SIU-Edwardsville
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Abstract: Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) and protein partners lymphocyte antigen 96 (MD-2), Cluster of Differentiation factor 14 (CD14), and High Mobility Group Box 1 protein (HMGB1) are immune receptors involved in inflammation. TLR4 Agonists include bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), ganglioside GM3, and chemotherapy drug paclitaxel. Our earlier work employed a structure-based design strategy to develop potent amino acid monosaccharides (AM) that bind with TLR4/MD-2 at the protein-protein (PP) interface to antagonize LPS. Compounds 12, 101, and 104 had IC50s equal to 470 nM, 13 nM, and 311 nM, respectively, and 101 was biphasic. Taking into consideration these prior findings, research was undertaken to address questions pertaining to the cause of the biphasic response, chemical features that are important for activity at TLR4/MD-2, feasibility of small molecule design for these receptors, GM3 targeting with glycoconjugates, and whether the power of computational modeling could identify putative binding partners of paclitaxel. These overarching questions established the basis toward the project’s objectives. Rational design, ab initio calculations, docking, and machine learning were employed in order to assess the selectivity of AM conjugates and explore structure-activity relationships. Results show that 101 binds with TLR4/MD-2 and MD-2 alone, charge and polarity on activity and selectivity are significant, and acetyl protection of the amino acid is the best chemical reduction. Computational predictions were confirmed in two experimental labs using different assays. Molecular dynamics, PP docking, and virtual screening were undertaken in order to assess the viability of the PP interfaces of TLR4 and partners, and investigate the feasibility of small molecule binders of CD14. Results show that interfaces between TLRs and one pocket on CD14 are amenable to molecular design. Finally, de novo design, enhanced sampling, and free energy calculations were carried out in order to design glycoconjugates and elucidate paclitaxel’s likely binding partners in metastatic disease. A robust protocol was developed, and results show that a designed glycoconjugate behaves differently in metastatic versus healthy bilayers, and that HMGB1 with TLR4/MD-2 are putative binding partners of paclitaxel.
Scott Jarmon - Ph.D. Dissertation in Communication Studies, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Society
Title: The Crone’s Return - Conjuring Myth in the Golden Girls and Miyazaki
Major Professor: Jonathan Gray
Committee Members: Rebecca Anderson, Nilanjana Bardhan, Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, Heather M. O’Brien
Date: January 14, 2026
Location: Communications Building 2005
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Abstract: This dissertation argues for the resurrection of the crone as a vital mythic figure necessary for understanding contemporary feminist resistance. It contends that rigid methodological frameworks inevitably ignore her messy, disruptive potential. In response, this project develops and practices a “crone-as-method,” an anti-methodological approach that embraces a “vibes-based” orientation (Rowe & Frischherz, 2025). This method is a practice of walking with the crone, framing her qualities as not just objects of study, but as constitutive of inquiry, positioning her as a coproducer of knowledge. The project reviews the crone’s history, tracing her fall from a revered goddess to a persecuted pariah, and into contemporary politics as a new figure of feminist agitation. Sara Ahmed’s figures of the feminist killjoy and willful subject also frame this project’s approach to the crone (2010; 2014). The feminist killjoy—who exposes the unhappy truths behind patriarchal promises—and the willful subject—who stubbornly persists against social pressure—both provide insight to understanding the crone’s disruption. Within the context of the present-day erosion of political rights for women, the dissertation claims that the crone is an instructive guide both methodologically and in present-day political contexts. The crone-as-method is used to engage with The Golden Girls and selected Hayao Miyazaki films, arguing that both sets of texts show the crone as a figure of wisdom, experience, and craft. With The Golden Girls, I use the crone-as-method to analyze how they enact the crone and use their coven as a site of power, attending to their killjoy, willful, and mythological ways. With Miyazaki’s films, I use the crone-as-method to analyze her laborious power through her roles as a Seer, Leader, and Mentor. Together, these texts show the versatility of the crone as a figure in contemporary discourse and her ability to resignify past myths about herself, offering a sustaining energy for feminist world-building.