The intranasal route is an attractive site for drug delivery. Nanoparticles may provide unique therapeutic opportunities when included in nasal drug delivery systems. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) of two sizes, 30 and 150 nm, were synthesized and their uptake was investigated in the nasal tissues...

My dissertation examines the ways in which mid-nineteenth-century writers negotiated literary and nonliterary media in an effort to respond to and shape changing conceptions of race, gender, and class. I argue that documentary media motivated writers to experiment with a hybrid aesthetic in which...

Vision is our primary sense for gathering information about the world. Because high-acuity vision is limited to the very center of the visual field (fovea), we frequently orient the fovea to objects of interest. In my dissertation, I investigate how different sources of information influence this...

High surface area materials have many applications in heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage, and ion adsorption. By using botanical templates, more sophisticated high surface area structures can be attained. My dissertation focuses on using plants materials, such as plant leaves, celery, and...

General relativity is Einstein's theory of gravitation. It's a major improvement over the classic Newtonian theory of gravitation, but in physics, every answer comes with many new questions. My research exploits an existing symmetry in general relativity by applying projective geometry to the theory...

My research focuses on identification of bioactive compounds using virtual screening along with the design and synthesis of novel organic compounds that exhibit high affinity for target enzymes. I am working on different classes of compounds that are being developed as potential therapeutics for the...

This project interrogates the gendered dimensions of anti-Muslim racism and the constitution of cultural identities in the U.S. through several contemporary case studies centered on image. Analyzing them in the context of shifting geopolitical interests and long histories of representation and...

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare genetic disorder with no current effective treatments. Patients have a variety of features, including obesity, visual impairment, intellectual disability, and male infertility. My research focuses on testing gene therapies aimed at treating some of these...

Penalized regression is one of the most popular statistical tools to analyze high dimensional data, where the number of features exceeds the number of observations. My research addresses two important questions in this active research area. First, we proposed a new cross-validation regime that...

The project’s objective is to evaluate how patient characteristics, surgeon selection factors, and hospital size and accreditation affect the likelihood of having a Cancer Care Coordinator or receiving a Survivorship Care Plan, and how all of these factors affect post-treatment health-related...

My dissertation, which is concerned on matters of health and healing in Africa, tells the story of the importance of kinship relations in the tending of the sick. In it, I show how kinship relations are particularly important in under-served rural communities in Zimbabwe.

Current research argues that discussing social, cultural, and political issues in high school literature classrooms is both necessary and fraught with tensions. In this study, I collaborate with four secondary teachers to explore how educators choose texts, facilitate complex classroom dialogues...

Allylic fluorides are ubiquitous scaffolds in the architecture of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, materials chemistry, and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Recently, methodologies have focused on the utilization of transition-metal catalysis to forge allylic carbon-fluoride bonds. My...

Iron oxides are ubiquitous in Earth and their redox reactions control the cycling and availability of important elements. In my dissertation, we explored the connections between mineral surface defects and iron redox chemistry. Specifically, we investigated how the presence of surface defects...

My dissertation titled, “Taming of the Mind: The Rhetoric of Instruction and the Cognitive Practices of Becoming Swaminarayan Devotees in Nineteenth Century Gujarat,” analyzes vernacular lyric literature of the internationally prominent Swaminarayan Hindu tradition to examine sectarian instructions...

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a highly sensitive technique that detects trace amounts of biological, chemical, and radiologically-relevant molecules based on enhanced vibrational signals using plasmonic nanoparticles. Reproducible SERS signals, however, require stable optical...

Current levels of oil shipment by rail have caused significant strain on rail infrastructure and led to crude oil train derailments and related fires. This work aims to understand crude oil droplet combustion and thereby to lead to methods to improve train fire safety. Crude oil obtained from...

Protein homeostasis, which is a balance between protein synthesis and degradation, plays a key role in maintaining normal brain functions and ensuring proper brain development. Abnormal stability and turnover of brain- or neuron-specific proteins often times lead to neurodevelopmental disorders. My...

In searching for objects in a cluttered visual scene, such as finding a friend’s face in a crowd, we selectively attend to some objects and disregard others. Typically, we find our target object (our friend’s face) by efficiently guiding our visual attention toward that object’s features. My...

Electron beam (EB) polymerization is a fast, eco-friendly, and low energy means of curing thin films, adhesives, inks, and coatings. EB offers many advantages over traditional polymerization methods, but the relationship between starting materials, processing conditions, and final properties is not...

Asymmetric cell division, unequal distribution of cell fate determinants between daughter cells, underlies the development and maintenance of varied tissue types. The Wnt/β-catenin asymmetry pathway asymmetrically distributes Wnt signaling components to differentially regulate Wnt target genes in...

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) can occur when a fetus is exposed to alcohol during gestation. Alcohol exposure causes damage to the developing brain, however there is a wide range of outcomes between babies with similar alcohol exposure levels. One potential explanation is the baby’s genetics. By...

The applicability of linear regression analysis hinges on the presumption that the dataset enjoys a single linear model. In reality, however, a dataset may admit multiple groups, each of which assumes a distinct model. In real data analysis, this subgroup structure involving functional heterogeneity...

Masculine Gestures: On Imitation and Initiation in Modernism explores tropes of social initiation and gender imitation in American literature and film between 1915 and 1940. I focus specifically on sites where a complex negotiation of gender identity and Americanness is undergone— the boxing ring...

My PhD thesis focuses on the development of two new laser surface engineering methods for multifunctional surfaces. The first method is an innovative nanosecond laser-based high-throughput surface nanostructuring process that efficiently treats large-surface-area engineered metal alloys. The second...

High quality early phase clinical trials are important to identify safe and efficacious interventions for further study. For these trials, rapid recruitment and late toxicity onset can cause suboptimal outcomes. My research aims to address these challenges by developing new dose-finding trial...

My research is focused on utilizing principles of supramolecular chemistry to construct targeted organic functional materials. Employing strong, directional non-covalent interactions, we aim to design desired molecular arrangements and, in turn, control overall reaction pathways in solids. We have...