phd thesis on rice

Welcome to the Thesis & Dissertation Submission System

Within a week of your defense, please upload the defended copy of your thesis as well as a scan of your signed approval of candidacy form. Please make sure you have written the title of your thesis in the appropriate section on the form, and that you have indicated the date of your defense on the form.

Once your submission is complete and submitted within this site, please fill out the webform here:

https://graduate.rice.edu/online-thesis-submission-form

in lieu of submitting the thesis in person to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Complete instructions for thesis submission may be found here.

If you have questions after reading the instructions completely, please contact your graduate coordinator or [email protected] for assistance.  

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Doctoral dissertation, work closely with top faculty on your doctoral dissertation.

While working on the doctoral dissertation, the student interacts extensively with faculty, seeking advice from faculty with whom the student shares research interests. A dissertation chairperson will be typically selected by the student by the end of his/her second year of study. With the consultation of this dissertation chairperson, the student will typically select his or her dissertation committee members during the third year of his/her study. The dissertation committee members help the student formulate and pursue his or her dissertation topic.   Working on the dissertation involves two important milestones. The first involves the defense of a dissertation proposal that explains the nature of the student’s planned dissertation research. When the student has developed a written dissertation proposal that his or her advisor judges is ready for oral defense, a formal proposal defense before the dissertation committee is held. At the defense, the student proposes his/her dissertation idea, discusses its significance to the development of knowledge and explains the research methods to be used and any preliminary results. Doctoral students will typically propose their dissertation defense proposal by the end of their third year of study. The second and final milestone is the dissertation defense. When the written dissertation is judged complete by the student’s advisor, it must be defended orally in a final dissertation defense before the dissertation committee and the general Rice community.

Doctoral Dissertation Committee

There is no formal process for creating a dissertation committee. As a student progresses to the dissertation stage (typically after the end of the second year), he or she begins working with a faculty advisor. The advisor may be one of the student’s summer paper advisors. This advisor typically then becomes the chairperson of the student’s dissertation committee. As the student develops the dissertation, he or she selects other members of the committee on the advice of the chairperson, or by approaching other faculty members who have shown interest in the dissertation topic. The rules regarding committee membership are as follows:

• The dissertation committee is composed of at least three members who must be approved by the Director of the Ph.D. program.
• All committee members must be tenured or tenure-track Rice faculty members.
• At least two committee members must be Jones Graduate School of Business faculty.
• At least one committee member must be a non-Jones Graduate School of Business faculty.
• At most, two committee members may be tenure track or tenured faculty members at universities other than Rice University. These outside members must be in addition to the three Rice University faculty members.
• The committee chairperson must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member of the Jones Graduate School of Business of the student's area.
• At least three committee members, including the chairperson, must be present at the dissertation proposal. The committee vote must be unanimous for the student to pass the dissertation proposal.
• All dissertation defenses must take place on the Rice University campus with the candidate and all committee members in physical attendance. In exceptional cases, appeals to this requirement can be made in writing to the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies through your graduate coordinator. The committee vote must be unanimous for the student to pass the dissertation defense.
• Members of the dissertation committee change only in exceptional circumstances.

Scheduling the Dissertation Proposal and Dissertation Defenses

• At least 3 months must lapse between the dissertation proposal defense and the dissertation defense.
• The student sends the proposal/dissertation to all committee members who discuss whether it is acceptable.
• When the proposal/dissertation is deemed acceptable, the student works with the committee members to find a mutually agreed upon day and time for the proposal or dissertation defense.
• No later than two weeks before the proposal/dissertation defense, the student must provide a copy of the dissertation proposal or dissertation to each of the committee members and send an electronic copy to Melinda Pena ([email protected]), coordinator of the Ph.D. program.
• A formal announcement about the proposal/dissertation defense, invitation for all Jones School faculty and PhD students to attend the defense, and the title and abstract of the proposal/dissertation should go out no later than two weeks before the scheduled date. Please contact Melinda Pena, coordinator of th Ph.D. program to arrange this announcement. In addition, the dissertation defense must be publicly announced two weeks before the scheduled defense. Defense announcements should be submitted by the student to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies by filling out the following form: http://events.rice.edu/rgs.

PhD Program

2023 Ph.D Thesis Defenses

Tam cheetham-west.

Title: Finite Quotients of Hyperbolic 3-Manifold Groups Thesis Advisor: Alan Reid

This thesis provides further evidence of the seemingly very close relationship be-tween the geometry of a finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifold and the profinite completion of its fundamental group.

Ethen Gwaltney

Title: Stahl-Totik regularity and exotic spectra of Dirac operators Thesis Advisor: Milivoje Lukic

This thesis motivates and presents three novel results in the spectral theory of one-dimensional Dirac operators, each of which concerns various forms of exotic or distinguished spectral characteristics. First, we consider the possibility of embedded eigenvalues in the absolutely continuous spectrum of a Dirac operator with operator data of Wigner-von Neumann type. Second, we demonstrate the genericity of Cantor spectrum when the operator data is chosen to be limit-periodic. Third, we provide for the Dirac operator setting an analogue of Stahl-Totik regularity, which, among other things, provides a lower bound on the thickness of the spectrum in terms of the operator data when the data is taken to be uniformly locally square integrable.

Connor Sell

Title: Cusps and commensurability classes of hyperbolic 4-manifolds Thesis Advisor: Alan Reid

It is well-known that the cusp cross-sections of finite-volume, cusped hyperbolic n-manifolds are flat, compact (n − 1)-manifolds. In 2002, Long and Reid proved that each of the finitely many homeomorphism classes of flat, compact (n − 1)-manifolds occur as the cusp cross-section of some arithmetic hyperbolic n-orbifold; the orbifold was upgraded to a manifold by McReynolds in 2004. There are six orientable, compact, flat 3-manifolds that can occur as cusp cross-sections of hyperbolic 4-manifolds. This thesis provides criteria for exactly when a given commensurability class of arithmetic hyperbolic 4-manifolds contains a representative with a given cusp type. In particular, for three of the six cusp types, we provide infinitely many examples of commensurability classes that contain no manifolds with cusps of the given type; no such examples were previously known for any cusp type in any dimension. Further, we extend this result to find commensurability classes of hyperbolic 5-manifolds that avoid some compact, flat 4-manifolds as cusp cross-sections, and classes of non-arithmetic manifolds in both dimensions that avoid some cusp types

Asgeir Valfells

Title: Local Criteria in Polyhedral Minimizing Problems Thesis Advisor: Bob Hardt

This thesis will discuss two polyhedral minimizing problems and the necessary local criteria we find any such minimizers must have. We will also briefly discuss an extension of a third minimizing problem to higher dimension. The first result we present classifies the three-dimensional piecewise linear cones in R4 that are mass minimizing w.r.t. Lipschitz maps in the sense of Almgren’s M (0, δ) sets as in Taylor’s classification of two-dimensional soap film singularities. There are three that arise naturally by taking products of R with lower dimensional cases and earlier literature has demonstrated the existence of two with 0-dimensional singularities. We classify all possible candidates and demonstrate that there are no p.l. minimizers outside these five. The second result we present is an assortment of criteria for edge-length minimizing polyhedrons. The aim is to get closer to answering a 1957 conjecture by Zdzislaw Melzak, that the unit volume polyhedron with least edge length was a triangular right prism, with edge length 22/3311/6 ≈ 11.896. We present a variety of variational arguments to restrict the class of minimizing candidates.

Chunyi Wang

Title: Direct and Inverse Spectral Theory for the Hamiltonian System with Measure Coefficients Thesis Advisor: David Damanik

This thesis discusses the direct and inverse spectral theory of Hamiltonian systems with measure coefficients, which can cover more singular cases. In the first part, we define self-adjoint relations associated with the systems and develop Weyl-Titchmarsh theory for these relations. Then, we develop subordinacy theory for the relations and discuss several cases when the absolutely continuous spectrum appears. Finally, we develop inverse uniqueness results for Hamiltonian systems with measure coefficients by applying de Branges’ subspace ordering theorem. Overall, this thesis contributes to the study of Hamiltonian systems with measure coefficients, expands the self-adjoint operator theory to a more general class of physical models, and investigates common spectral properties among different model

Harshit Yadav

Title: Functorial constructions of Frobenius algebras in the Drinfeld center Thesis Advisor: Chelsea Walton

Frobenius algebras in vector spaces are classical algebraic structures. However, because of their discovered connections to various fields, including computer science and topological quantum field theories, there is a growing interest in exploring their generalizations within the framework of monoidal categories. Inspired by these connections, this thesis delves into the problem of functorially constructing ‘nice’ Frobenius algebra objects in such categories. We introduce unimodular module categories and employ them to provide a functorial construction of Frobenius algebras in the Drinfeld center of a finite tensor category. We also classify unimodular module categories over the category of representations of a finite dimensional Hopf algebra

Kenneth Zheng

Title: Brauer groups of a family of nonnegative Kodaira dimension elliptic surfaces Thesis Advisor: Anthony Varilly-Alvarado

We explore the Brauer groups of the elliptic surfaces given by y2 = x3 + t6m + 1 over Q for m = 2, 3. When m = 2, the resulting surface is K3, and when m = 3, the surface is honestly elliptic with Kodaira dimension 1. We compute the algebraic Brauer groups of these surfaces by studying the action of Gal(Q/Q) on their Neron-Severi groups. Following the work of Gvirtz, Loughran, and Nakahara [GLN22], we find bounds for the exponents of transcendental Brauer groups of these surfaces. The transcendental Brauer group is closely related to the transcendental lattice. The argument begins with an explicit description of the basis of the respective transcendental lattices and reinterpreting elements of these lattices as elements in rings of integers. From this, we bound the transcendental Brauer group. These bounds apply more generally to the surfaces given by y2 = x3 + A1t6m + A2 for Ai ∈ Z and m = 2, 3

2022 Ph.D Thesis Defenses

Austen james.

Title: A Bayesian Approach to Computing Brauer Groups of Cubic Surfaces Thesis Advisor: Tony Varilly-Alvarado

We present an algorithm for computing Brauer groups of cubic surfaces. The algorithm takes as input an equation f (x, y, z, w) = 0 for a cubic surface X over Q and a confidence threshold 0.5 < ρ < 1, and outputs the Brauer group of X, Br X/ Br Q and a confidence level ψ > ρ for the result. The algorithm runs by sampling lifts of Frobenius at many primes of good reduction and relies on Chebotarev’s density theorem and Bayesian inference to produce, with confidence ψ > ρ, a subgroup of W (E6). This subgroup represents the action of Galois on the geometric Picard group of X, from which we compute Br X/ Br Q. We give a description of this algorithm and a proof that it terminates, as well as an implementation in Magma. We also examine the speed of such an approach relative to existing methods and explore how the Bayesian technique of this algorithm can be applied to answer questions concerning the Galois and Brauer groups of other classes of surfaces.

Title: Mathematical Results for Michell Trusses Thesis Advisor: Robert Hardt

Given an equilibrated vector force system $\mathbf{F}$ of finite mass and bounded support, we investigate the possibility and properties of a cost minimizing structure of given materials that balances $\mathbf{F}$. Our work generalizes and reinterprets results of Michell’s paper in 1904 and Gangbo’s recent work where the given equilibrated force system occurs on a finite set of points and the balancing structure consists of finitely many stressed bars joining these points. Such a bar corresponds to an interval $[a,b] \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ having a multiplicity $\lambda \in \mathbb{R}$ where $|\lambda|$ indicates the stress density on the bar and $\sgn(\lambda)$ indicates whether it is being compressed or extended. While there exists a finite bar system to balance any given equilibrated finite force system, Michell already observed that a finite cost-minimizing one may not exist. In this thesis, we introduce two new mathematical representations of Michell trusses based on one-dimensional finite mass varifolds and flat $\R^n$-chains. Here one may use a one-dimensional signed varifold to model the balancing structure so that the internal force of the positive (or compressed) part coincides with its first variation while the internal force of the negative (or extended) part coincides with its negative first variation. For the chain model, we use the subspace of structural flat $\mathbb{R}^n$ chains in which the coefficient vectors are a.e. co-linear with the orientation vectors. The net force then becomes simply the $\mathbb{R}^n$ chain boundary and so cost-minimization becomes precisely the mass-minimizing Plateau problem for structural chains. For either model, a known compactness theorem leads to existence of optimal cost-minimizers as well as time-continuous cost-decreasing flows.

Giorgio Young

Title: Some results on the spectral theory of one-dimensional operators and associated problems Thesis Advisor: Milivoje Lukić

This thesis discusses results in the area of spectral theory of Schrödinger operators, and their discrete analogs, Jacobi matrices, as well as some closely associated problems. The first result we present relates to the quantum dynamics generated by a particular class of almost periodic Schrödinger operators. We show that the dynamics generated by Schrödinger operators whose potentials are approximated exponentially quickly by a periodic sequence exhibit a strong form of ballistic transport. The second result exploits the connection between the KdV hierarchy and one-dimensional Schrödinger operators to prove a uniqueness result for the KdV hierarchy with reflectionless initial data via inverse spectral theoretic techniques. The third and fourth results concern orthogonal and Chebyshev rational functions with poles on the extended real line. In the process of extending some of the existing theory for polynomials and exploring some of the new phenomena that arise, we present a proof of a conjecture of Barry Simon’s. This thesis contains joint work with Benjamin Eichinger and Milivoje Lukić.

Nicholas Rouse

Title: On a conjecture of Chinburg-Reid-Stover Thesis Advisor: Alan Reid

We study a conjecture of Chinburg-Reid-Stover about ramification sets of quaternion algebras associated to hyperbolic 3-orbifolds obtained by (d,0) Dehn surgery on hyperbolic knot complements in S^3. For a sporadic example and an infinite family, we prove that the set of rational primes p such that there is some d such that the quaternion algebra associated to the (d,0) surgery is ramified at some prime ideal above p is infinite. This behavior is governed by the Alexander polynomial of the knot, and we investigate its connection to reducible representations on the canonical component of the character variety and the failure of a certain function field quaternion algebra to extend to an Azumaya algebra over the canonical component. We further provide a more general framework for finding such examples that one may use to recover the infinite family.

Stephen Wolff

Title: The inverse Galois problem for del Pezzo surfaces of degree 1 and algebraic K3 surfaces

Thesis Advisor: Anthony Várilly-Alvarado

In this thesis we study the inverse Galois problem for del Pezzo surfaces of degree one and for algebraic K3 surfaces. We begin with an overview of how the question of the existence of k-points on a nice k-variety leads, via Brauer groups, to the inverse Galois problem. We then discuss an algorithm to compute all finite subgroups of the general linear group GL(n,Z) up to conjugacy. The first cohomologies of these subgroups are a superset of the target groups of the inverse Galois problem for any family of nice k-varieties whose geometric Picard group is free and of finite rank. We apply these results to algebraic K3 surfaces defined over the rational numbers, providing explicit equations for a surface solving the only nontrivial instance of the inverse Galois problem in geometric Picard rank two. Next we study representatives from three families of del Pezzo surfaces of degree one, searching for 5-torsion in the Brauer group. For two of the three surfaces, we show that the Brauer group is trivial when the surface defined over the rational numbers, but becomes isomorphic to Z/5Z or (Z/5Z)^2 when the base field is raised to a suitable number field. For the third surface, we show that its splitting field has degree 2400 as an extension of the rational numbers, a degree consistent with 5-torsion in the Brauer group.

Gilliam Stagner

Title: Filling links and minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds. William Stagner Thesis Advisor: Alan Reid

This thesis studies this existence of filling links 3-manifolds. A link L in a 3-manifold M is filling in M if, for any spine G of M disjoint from L, \pi_1(G) injects into \pi_1(M - L ). Conceptually, a filling link cuts through all of the the topology 3-manifold. These links were first studied by Freedman-Krushkal in the concrete case of the 3-torus M = T^3, but they leave open the question of whether a filling link actually exists in T^3. We answer this question affirmatively by proving in fact that every closed, orientable 3-manifold M with fundamental group of rank 3 contains a filling link.

Leonardo S. Digiosia

Title: Cylindrical contact homology of links of simple singularities Thesis Advisor: Joanna Nelson

In this talk we consider the links of simple singularities, which are contactomoprhic to S^3/G for finite subgroups G of SU(2,C). We explain how to compute the cylindrical contact homology of S^3/G by means of perturbing the canonical contact form by a Morse function that is invariant under the corresponding rotation subgroup. We prove that the ranks are given in terms of the number of conjugacy classes of G, demonstrating a form of the McKay correspondence. We also explain how our computation realizes the Seifert fiber structure of these links.

Shawn Williams

Title: Extensions of the Fox-Milnor Condition Thesis Advisor: Shelly Harvey

The search for slice knots is an important task in low dimensional topology. In the 1960s, Fox and Milnor proved a theorem stating that the Alexander polynomial of a slice knot satisfies a special factorization. A decade later, Kawauchi extended this theorem for the multivariable Alexander polynomial of slice links. This factorization, known as the Fox-Milnor condition, has been used and generalized many times as an obstruction to a link being slice. In this defense, we will see two more extensions of this condition, first to the multivariable Alexander polynomial of 1-solvable links, and then for the first order Alexander polynomial of ribbon knots.

Contact Information

Tel (713) 348-4829

Mailing Address: Rice University Math Department -- MS 136 P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77005-1892

Physical Address: Rice University Herman Brown Hall for Mathematical Sciences 6100 Main Street Houston, TX 77005

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PHD PROGRAM

Requirements

For degree requirements, please see General Announcements . Note: An automatic master's degree is not offered to PhD degree candidates in the department.

The minimum semester hours of coursework (one course usually consists of three semester hours) required of PhD students is tabulated as a function of the degree held upon entrance into the program. Students with an MS need 18 hours of coursework. Students with a five-year BS, 30 hours; with a four-year BS, 36 hours; and with a 4-year BA., 42 hours. In all cases, a student's course of study is formulated in consultation with the thesis director and must be approved by the department.

Qualifying Examination

By the end of the third semester of study in the MECH graduate program, all PhD students must successfully complete a Qualifying Exam (QE).

The QE is a two-part exam covering mechanical engineering topical knowledge (via oral exam) and research aptitude (via research evaluation). The purpose of this examination is to determine whether the student is qualified to conduct independent research at the technical level required for the PhD thesis.

The student's grasp of fundamental concepts in their field and related fields of interest will be examined. A committee consisting of three faculty members of the department will administer the examination.

The outcome of the QE will be either “pass,” in which case the student continues in the program, or “fail,” in which case the student is eligible for a retake of the part(s) of the exam (oral exam and/or research aptitude) deemed unsatisfactory. This retake must occur no later than the end of the semester following the original examination. Only one re-take of the qualifying exam will be permitted. If the student is not successful at the retake, they will not be approved to move forward in the PhD program.

Candidacy Evaluation

All PhD students are required to conduct a Candidacy Evaluation. The Candidacy Evaluation (CE) involves the evaluation of a written document and an oral presentation, prepared and delivered by the student.

The CE provides an assessment of the student’s research progress and feasibility of any additional proposed research that the student intends to complete for their PhD thesis. The evaluation is administered by the student’s PhD Thesis Committee. The Candidacy Evaluation should be scheduled when all coursework and department requirements are completed (typically after six semesters), but no later than the ninth semester of study.

The Candidacy Evaluation will usually take place one year before the intended PhD defense date.

Language Requirement

The Department of Mechanical Engineering does not have a foreign language requirement for its graduate degrees. It is recommended that every student is proficient in at least one computer language.

Research & Thesis

Each candidate for the PhD must complete a thesis that constitutes an original contribution to scientific knowledge. The thesis will be digitally preserved in the library. Instructions for preparation of theses can be obtained at the appropriate time through the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Final Thesis Defense

Upon completion of the thesis, each candidate for the PhD degree must pass a final public oral examination.

A committee consisting of at least four members will conduct the examination. Three, including the committee chair, must be members of the department. One member must be from another department within the university. With the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies (or Department Chair*) and Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, one of the committee members from the department or the other-department member can be replaced with a tenured or tenured-track faculty member from another university with academic standing comparable to Rice’s. When replacing the other-department member, the petition from the DGS (or Department Chair*) to the GPS must include a proper justification for that replacement. The justification needs to be based on the outside-Rice member bringing to the committee a level of related expertise that is beyond what would otherwise be available at Rice, including from other departments. The members of the committee will be announced early enough so that the candidate may discuss with them the nature of the thesis research and the contents of the thesis.

The thesis must be made available to the members of the examining committee at least two weeks before the examination date. Although the examination will be concerned primarily with the candidate's thesis, the questioning may also cover other areas. The oral defense may be scheduled at any time except during official examination periods.

Public announcements of the oral examinations for the doctoral degree must be made at least two weeks in advance.

* When the DGS is on the committee

Thesis Deadline

Students must observe the deadlines set by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for submission of the final thesis to receive their degree for either January or May conferral. Otherwise, students have six months from the date of defense to submit their final thesis to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies .

Normally, three or more years of study past the bachelor's degree are required for the PhD degree. The minimum residence requirement for the PhD degree is four semesters (fall/spring) of full-time study at the university.

Graduate Seminars

All PhD students must attend at least 75% of the MECH seminars for their first three years in the department and must register for MECH 606 each semester during that time.

Instructional Assistance

All PhD students are required, as part of their research degree program and educational experience, to provide instructional assistance to the department. This instructional assistance, which could be in the form of grading, lecturing, assisting in labs, or developing course material, will not exceed ten hours per week for four semesters.

PhD Program

About the Program

Our PhD program prepares students for a research career in academia or industry. The program consists of formal courses and original research conducted under the guidance of a faculty advisor, leading to a thesis. Students in the PhD program complete a Master of Science (MS) degree as part of their program.  Our department also offers a stand-alone MS degree, but only on a case-by-case basis.  Most students who have a prior MS degree with a research thesis component can directly move to the PhD program and do not have to complete a Rice MS degree (and will have a reduced coursework requirements as well). Students with a prior MS degree without a thesis may be waived from obtaining a Rice MS degree in some cases. Financial support is available for this program.  

Research & Faculty

Rice ECE research is highly interdisciplinary and covers a broad range of topics. Currently, our research focuses on the following areas: Data Science, Optics and Photonics, Quantum Engineering, Computer Engineering, Neuro-Engineering, Digital Health, and Wireless, Networking, Sensing, and Security.

Living in Houston

Rice University's location in Houston helps provide faculty and students with endless opportunities for collaboration outside the campus. It is the center of the oil and gas industry, the home of the Texas Medical Center, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center is just down the road. Living in Houston means employment opportunities throughout the region, parks, professional sports teams, world-class dining, and other attractions make it a great place to call home.

Learn more about Life in Houston .

Helpful Links

FAQ: Rice Research Repository

How do i search for a thesis or dissertation.

If you know the name of the author, advisor, or committee member, select "Rice University Graduate Electronic Theses and Dissertations" on the repository home page . Then, select Browse --> By Author. Note: author, advisor, and committee member names appear via this function; it is currently impossible to separate student names from faculty names during a search.

If you know the title of the thesis or dissertation, you can use the "Search the repository" bar on the repository home page .

If you are unable to find a thesis or dissertation, please use this webform .

• Using R3 content
• Last Updated Nov 17, 2023
• Answered By Shannon Kipphut-Smith

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Ph.D. Degree

Previous Graduate Work Certain requirements may be modified for students who have done equivalent graduate work elsewhere. Students should consult with the chair of the Graduate Committee to verify the application of the guidelines described below to their particular case. Graduate-level courses taken elsewhere may be substituted for required courses for the masters and/or PhD degree when the student can demonstrate high achievement in the course and mastery of the material. The suitability of previous work will be evaluated by means of an interview, or multiple interviews if necessary, with an appropriate faculty member (e.g., the Rice professor who teaches the Rice equivalent graduate course). Final approval must be given by the Associate Chair for the Graduate Program

Advice and Support for Graduate Students  Further details on the program, especially on advising, is given in the Department's Graduate Student Handbook . The handbook is meant as a resource for P&A graduate students, providing a handy, concise guide to essential information about the graduate degree program, but it is only one source of information. If you cannot find the answers to your departmental programmatic questions here, please do not hesitate to contact the departmental staff (including the graduate program coordinator, Rosa Almendarez ), the Chairs of the Graduate Program Committee (currently Han Pu ), the Associate Chair of the department ( Stan Dodds ), or the Departmental Ombudsperson (currently David Alexander ). All faculty and staff serve as part of the support network for graduate students, but the ombudsman in particular is a good person to contact for confidential discussion and advice on a wide range of topics. 

For current students, faculty are specifically assigned as graduate student advisors to answer academic questions. We are available to guide you through the process. That being said, graduate students are adults, and there is a presumption that students will take responsibility and initiative – these are certainly necessary for a successful doctoral degree! Please ask questions and keep on top of deadlines and requirements. We look forward to working with you.

To complete the Ph.D. degree a candidate must write a doctoral thesis and publicly defend it in the final oral examination. The committee that administers the final oral examination for the Ph.D. is composed of two faculty members or Faculty Fellows from the department, and an additional Rice faculty member from outside the Physics and Astronomy department. The formal requirements are:

• The student must complete all course work specified for their matriculating class and any additional courses required by the thesis advisor.
• The student must satisfactorily complete four semesters of teaching practicum.
• The transcript must show at least 90 semester hours credit, including research beyond the Bachelor's Degree. At least 60 semester hours of this study must be done as a full-time student in residence at Rice.
• The student must successfully complete a research project involving independent and original work. The work must be reported in an approved thesis, and defended in a public oral examination.

After degree conferral, the transcript will show the following:

Major: Physics Degree Program: Doctor of Philosophy

Engineering Resources: Citation

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Style Guides

PhD Thesis LaTeX Template 2008 This item contains a set of template latex files for the PhD thesis at Rice University.

ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information , edited by Anne Coghill, 3rd edition, American Chemical Society, 2006. In print only.  Call number: QD8.5 .A25 2006

Chicago Manual of Style Classic style guide from the University of Chicago Press.

Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations , by Kate Turabian, 6th edition, University of Chicago Press, 1996. In print only.  Call number:  LB2369 .T8 1996

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Zotero has good sharing capabilites making, it easy to create group libraries and share your research.

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Theses/ Dissertations

Linnea Ng Fostering Belonging through a Brief Intervention Dissertation August 27, 2021 Time: 9:30AM – 11:30AM Zoom Defense

Meghan Davenport Reconsidering the role of error encouragement in error management training: Is self-regulation the key? Thesis July 22, 2021 Time: 10:00AM – 12:00PM Zoom Defense

Allison Traylor The Antecedents and Effects of Teamwork Process Exclusion in Engineering Teams Dissertation July 9, 2021 Time: 10:00AM – 12:00PM Zoom Defense

Autumn Horne Investigating the relation between phonological working memory and speech production Thesis July 8, 2021 Time: 11:30AM – 1:30PM Zoom Defense

Ryan Brown Bereavement and Food: An investigation of postprandial immune responses Thesis June 28, 2021 Time: 2:00PM – 4:00PM Zoom Defense

Bradley Weaver Effect of Motorcycle Lighting Configurations on Drivers’ Perceptions of Closing Dissertation June 24, 2021 Time: 9:00AM – 11:00AM Zoom Defense

Rachel Zahn The Role of Phonological Working Memory in Narrative Production: Evidence from Chronic Aphasia Thesis April 30, 2021 Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM Zoom Defense

Ivy Watson Are you responsible for confronting prejudice?: Increasing ally behaviors by promoting responsibility Thesis April 29, 2021 Time: 10:00AM – 12:00PM Zoom Defense

Amanda Woods The Impact of Trainer and Trainee Race on Diversity Training Outcomes: Are the Differences Black and White? Dissertation April 23, 2021 Time: 8:30AM – 10:30AM Zoom Defense

Denise Reyes Moving Up or Giving Up: How Professional Rejection Sensitivity Impacts Career Success Dissertation April 22, 2021 Time: 9:30AM – 11:30AM Zoom Defense

Shannon Cheng Co-Conspirators in the Fight for Racial Justice?: Understanding How Asian American Respond to Anti-Black Discrimination at Work Dissertation April 13, 2021 Time: 9:00AM – 11:00AM Zoom Defense

Ian Robertson The Development and Initial Validation of the Trust in Self-Driving Vehicles Scale (TSDV) Dissertation April 9, 2021 Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM Zoom Defense

Jensine Paoletti Addressing the Social Support Paradox with a Multidomain Complementary Fit of Desired and Perceived Support Dissertation April 9, 2021 Time: 11:00AM – 1:00PM Zoom Defense

Shivam Pandey Buzz Buzz: Haptic Cuing of Road Conditions in Autonomous Cars for Drivers Engaged in Secondary Tasks Dissertation April 7, 2021 Time: 10:00AM – 12:00PM Zoom Defense

Xianni Wang Computational Modeling Reveals How Navigation Strategy and Ballot Layout Lead to Voter Error Thesis August 28, 2020 Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM Zoom Defense

Michelle Chen The Role of Childhood Maltreatment and Self-Regulatory Processes on Inflammation, Depressive Symptoms, and Grief Symptoms During Spousal Bereavement Thesis July 29, 2020 Time: 10:30AM – 12:30AM Zoom Defense

Julie Dinh Creating Space for Care: Enhancing Patient-Centered Performance Outcomes Through Organizational Change Dissertation July 7, 2020 Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM Zoom Defense

Brittany Bradford Examining STEM Formative Experiences and College STEM Outcomes from a Social Cognitive Career Theory Perspective Dissertation June 30, 2020 Time: 1:30PM – 3:30PM Zoom Defense

Brad Weaver A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Takeover Performance during Conditionally Automated Driving Thesis June 17, 2020 Time: 8:30AM – 11:00AM Zoom Defense

Sarah Irons Phonetic Correlates of Sublexical Contributions to Reading Aloud Familiar Words Thesis June 5, 2020 Time: 9:00AM – 11:00AM Zoom Defense

Michelle Kim Perceived Work Environment, Job Characteristics, Job-related Mental Health: Across the Working Lifespan in a 19-Year Longitudinal Study Dissertation June 1, 2020 Time: 3:00PM – 5:00PM Zoom Defense

Abby Corrington Perceptions of Team Contributions for Men and Women Dissertation April 30, 2020 Time: 5:00PM – 6:30PM Zoom Defense

Adam Braly Direct Learning for Time-to-Collision Judgments of Approaching Objects: The Role of Fractal 1/f Noise in Exploration Dissertation April 6, 2020 Time: 11:00AM – 1:00PM Zoom Defense

Isabel Bilotta The Role of Fairness Perceptions in Patient and Employee Health: A Multi-Level Multi-Source Investigation Thesis March 5, 2020 Time: 1:30PM – 3:00PM Location: Sewall Hall 109

Linnea Ng The Effects of Interpersonal Discrimination on Older Adults’ Pill Sorting Task Performance and Interactions Thesis February 7, 2020 Time: 1:00PM – 2:30PM Location: Sewall Hall 462

Jackie Torres A Lifespan Perspective on Proactive Socioemotional Behaviors and Work Attitudes and Performance Dissertation February 6, 2020 Time: 11:30AM – 1:30PM Location: Sewall Hall 462

Allison Traylor It’s About the Process, Not the Product: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Relationships Between Team Demographic Diversity, Processes, and Performance Thesis November 4, 2019 Time: 9:00AM – 10:30AM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Anoushka Shahane Chromosomal, Lexical, and Neurobiological Mechanisms of Cognitive Reappraisal and How They Relate to Health Indicators Thesis August 23, 2019 Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM Location: BRC 140Q

Shannon Cheng Examining the Social Identity of Being a Muslim in the American Workplace Thesis July 30, 2019 Time: 10:00AM – 11:30AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Meiyuzi Gao Multi-Cultural Usability Assessment with System Usability Scale Dissertation June 3, 2019 Time: 10:30AM – 12:00PM Location: 1064 Duncan College

Rachel Trump-Steele Male Allies and Gender Equality: Exploring the Explanatory Mechanisms Dissertation May 15, 2019 Time: 8:30AM – 10:00AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Christine Nittrouer Allies as Intermediaries: Strategies that Promote Hiring People with Intellectual Disabilities Dissertation April 15, 2019 Time: 12:00PM – 2:30PM Location: 301 Sewall Hall

Amanda Woods What Does it Take to Lead Change? A Qualitative Approach to Identifying Change Leader Functions and Competencies Thesis April 15, 2019 Time: 3:30PM – 5:00PM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Curtiss Chapman How do Word Frequencies and Semantic Diversity Affect Selection of Representations in Word Processing? Dissertation April 4, 2019 Time: 11:15AM – 2:15PM Location: BRC 706

Chelsea Iwig Unobtrusive Real-Time Cognitive State Measurement for Human Performance Assessment in the Field Dissertation November 27, 2018 Time: 9:00AM – 11:00AM Location: 103 Martell College

Brittany Bradford Qualitative Data Analysis and Biodata Measure Development of Rice Undergraduates’ STEM Formative Experiences Thesis November 27, 2018 Time: 9:00AM – 11:00AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Michelle Kim Vocational Interest and Its Impact on College to Job Trajectory in a 11-Year Longitudinal Study Thesis November 20, 2018 Time: 9:00AM – 10:30AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Jensine Paoletti Is it a Popularity Contest? Popularity and Diversity in Team Leadership Thesis November 6, 2018 Time: 9:00AM – 11:00AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Qiuhai Yue Evaluating the Buffer vs. Embedded Processes Accounts of Verbal Short-Term Memory by Using Multivariate Neuroimaging and Brain Stimulation Approaches Dissertation October 29, 2018 Time: 1:15PM – 3:15PM Location: 706 BioScience Research Collaborative

Ian Robertson Subjective Usability Evaluation: A Comparison of Four Methods Thesis July 5, 2018 Time: 1:00PM – 2:30PM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Colin Noe Measuring Top-Down Influence onto Sub-Lexical Speech Perception Thesis April 20, 2018 Time: 8:30AM – 10:00AM Location: 706 BioScience Research Collaborative

Shannon Marlow Conditions Promoting Psychological Safety in Self-Managed Teams Dissertation April 11, 2018 Time: 1:00PM – 2:30PM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Jackie Gilberto Old Dogs and New Tricks: How Ageism Affects Trainer Attitudes, Trainer Behaviors, and Training Characteristics Thesis April 6, 2018 Time: 3:00PM – 5:30PM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Denise Reyes You Get What You’re Not Afraid to Ask For: The Role of Gender-Based Rejection Sensitivity on Gender Differences in Negotiation Initiation Thesis April 4, 2018 Time: 10:30AM – 12:00PM Location: 460 Sewall Hall

Abby Corrington A Multinational Examination of the Impact of Power Posing in a Negotiation Setting Thesis March 28, 2018 Time: 10:00AM – 11:30AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Alda Rivas Can Retrieval Practice Reduce the Associative Deficit? Dissertation March 21, 2018 Time: 4:00PM – 5:30PM Location: 305 Sewall Hall

Julie Dinh Cultural Competency in Healthcare Providers: A Qualitative Investigation Thesis March 21, 2018 Time: 10:00AM – 11:30AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Yingxue Tian The Domain-Specificity of Serial Order Short-Term Memory Thesis March 20, 2018 Time: 1:00PM – 2:30PM Location: 706 BioScience Research Collaborative

Amy Shaw The Effects of Time and Material Constraints on Creativity Thesis November 21, 2017 Time: 10:00AM - 11:30AM Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Meiyuzi Gao Measuring the Usability of Home Healthcare Devices Thesis May 18, 2017 Time: 11:00AM – 1:00PM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Kamalika Ghosh Trait and Experiential Antecedents of Indian Medical Students’ Prosocial Knowledge and their Contribution to Students’ Clinical Performance Thesis May 9, 2017 Time: 2:30PM – 4:00PM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Stephanie Zajac Diversity in Design Teams: A Ground Theory Approach Thesis April 18, 2017 Time: 3:30PM – 5:00PM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Christina Lacerenza Leader Emergence in Self-Managed Teams as Explained by Surface- and Deep-Level Leader Traits Thesis April 18, 2017 Time: 1:30PM – 3:00PM Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Carlos Moreno A Longitudinal Study: Promoting First-Generation Latino Success through Parental Pro-Educational Interventions Thesis December 16, 2016 Time: 3:00pm-4:30pm Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Carmen Young Age and Training: A Meta-analysis Examining Training Features Thesis December 16, 2016 Time: 1:30pm-3:30pm Location: 462 Sewall Hall

Wendy Jackeline Torres Course Participation, Performance, and Completion of Adult Learners in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Trait Complexes, Interest, and Non-Ability Determinants Thesis November 17, 2016 Time: 10:00am-12:00pm Location: 250 Sewall Hall

Heather Dial Sublexical, lexical and phonological short-term memory processes: Evaluating models of speech perception and short-term memory Thesis July 29, 2016 Time: 9:00am-12:00pm Location: BioScience Research Collaborative Rm 706 Chair: Randi Martin Other committee members: Simon Fischer-Baum, Caleb Kemere

Curtiss Chapman Rethinking the behavioral patterns that dissociate semantic dementia and comprehension-impaired stroke aphasia Thesis July 7, 2016 Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm Location: Sewall Hall 462 Chair: Randi Martin Other committee members: Simon Fischer-Baum, James Pomerantz

Tao Wei Naming "CAT" in the past affects naming "DOG" in the present: How and where semantic facilitation and interference occur Thesis June 20, 2016 Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 462 Chair: Tatiana Schnur Other committee members: Randi Martin, Simon Fischer-Baum, Casey O'Callaghan

Julie Hughes The Cognitive and Neural Bases of Bilingual Word Selection Thesis June 17, 2016 Time: 1:30pm-3:30pm Location: BioScience Research Collaborative Rm 706 Chair: Tatiana Schnur Other committee members: Randi Martin, Caleb Kemere, James Pomerantz

Yu-Hsuan Chang It Takes More Than Practice and Experience to Become a Chess Master: Evidence from a Child Prodigy and from Adult Tournament Players Dissertation May 20, 2016 Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 562 Chair: David M. Lane Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Arthur Gottschalk and Frederick L. Oswald

Debshila Basu Mallick Factors affecting audiovisual speech perception as measured by the McGurk effect Dissertation March 31, 2016 Time: 10:00am-12:00pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 303 Thesis Director: Michael Beauchamp Chair: James L. Dannemiller Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Richard Grandy

Kamalika Ghosh Personality Traits, Prosocial Knowledge, Charismatic Leadership Behavior, and Clinical Performance of Indian Medical Students Master's Thesis January 14, 2016 Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 462 Chair: Stephan J. Motowidlo Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald and Margaret E. Beier

Rachel Trump Male Allies: Men Convince other Men that Gender Equity Matters Master's Thesis November 11, 2015 Time: 1:30pm-3:30pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 309 Chair: Mikki Hebl Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald and David M. Lane

Christine Nittrouer Lacking a Voice: Bias against Women as Academic Speakers at Top Universities Master's Thesis October 15, 2015 Time: 3:45pm-5:30pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 250 Chair: Mikki Hebl Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Frederick L. Oswald

Christina Zimmer Virtual Teams: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review of Best Practices Dissertation August 27, 2015 Time: 1pm-3pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 250 Chair: Anton J. Villado Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Michelle R. Hebl, and Rick Wilson

Jason Randall Mind Wandering and Self-directed Learning: Testing the Efficacy of a Self-Regulation Intervention to Reduce Mind Wandering and Enhance Online Training Performance Dissertation July 21, 2015 Time: 10am - 12pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 250 Chair: Anton J. Villado Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Erik Dane, and Michelle R. Hebl

Kimberley Orsten False Pop Out Dissertation May 1, 2015 Time: 12pm - 2pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 462 Chair: James Pomerantz Other committee members: James L. Dannemiller, Richard Grandy, and David M. Lane

Ting Xiao Reasoning, Fast and Slow: Investigating Cognitive Abilities, Speed and Effects of Personality Traits Master's Thesis April 17, 2015 Time: 9:30am - 12pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 460 Chair: Fred Oswald Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Anton J. Villado

Jingyi Geng Role of features and categories in the organization of object knowledge Dissertation April 17, 2015 Time: 9am - 12pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 462 Chair: Tatiana Schnur Other committee members: Randi C. Martin, Simon Fisher-Baum, and Steven Cox

Alda Rivas Do older adults benefit from effortful retrieval? Master's Thesis April 16, 2015 Time: 3pm - 4:30pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 462 Chair: Jessica Logan Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Simon Fisher-Baum

Carmen Young The Effects of Structure and Metacognitive Prompts on Learning Outcomes in Training Environments Master's Thesis February 10, 2015 Time:1-3pm Location: Sewall Hall Rm 429G Chair: Margaret Beier Other committee members: Michelle Hebl and Anton J. Villado

Nicole Howie The Generalizability of Cognitive Modeling Parameters for Older Adults Master's Thesis January 7, 2015 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: Philip T. Kortum, Marcia O'Malley, and Jessica M. Logan

Clayton Stanley Comparing vector-based and ACT-R memory models using large-scale datasets: User-customized hashtag and tag prediction on Twitter and StackOverflow Dissertation November 13, 2014 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: Philip T. Kortum and Devika Subramanian

Jeffrey Zemla Factors Influencing Speed-Accuracy Tradeoffs in Decision Making Dissertation September 25, 2014 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: Tatiana T. Schnur, Richard Batsell, and Philip T. Kortum

Jisoo Ock Why do raters pursue different rating goals? The role of rater personality and accountability context Dissertation September 2, 2014 Chair: Frederick L. Oswald Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Anton J. Villado, and D. Brent Smith

Samuel McAbee Personality, Interpersonal Skills, and Students' Job Search Behaviors Dissertation August 7, 2014 Chair: Frederick L. Oswald Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, D. Brent Smith, and John Cornwell

Claudia Acemyan System Usability and User Mental Models of Three Verifiable End-to-end Voting Methods: Helios, Prêt à Voter, and Scantegrity II Dissertation July 1, 2014 Chair: Philip T. Kortum Other committee members: Michael Byrne, Dan Wallach, and David M. Lane

Denise Y. Harvey Semantic Interference in Language Production and Comprehension: Same or Separable Loci? Dissertation April 18, 2014 Chair: Tatiana T. Schnur Other committee members: Randi C. Martin, Simon Fischer-Baum, and Casey O'Callaghan

Seydahmet Ercan Antecedents of Expatriates' Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Expatriate Adjustment and Job Attitudes as Mediators and Cultural Similarity as the Moderator Dissertation April 1, 2014 Chair: Frederick L. Oswald Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Anton J. Villado, and D. Brent Smith

Katie O'Brien Just Saying "No": An Examination of Gender Differences in the Ability to Decline Requests in the Workplace Dissertation March 31, 2014 Chair: Michelle Hebl Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Anton J. Villado, and Bridget Gormon

Debshila Basu Mallick An Investigation of Audiovisual Speech Perception Using the McGurk Effect Master's Thesis March 11, 2014 Director: Michael Beauchamp Chair: James L. Dannemiller Other committee members: Tatiana T. Schnur and Margaret E. Beier

Heather Dial Separating Semantic and Phonological Short-term Memory in Aphasic Patients Using a Novel Concurrent Probe Paradigm Master's Thesis January 1, 2014 Chair: Randi C. Martin Other committee members: Tatiana T. Schnur and Jessica M. Logan

Michelle Martin Personality, Emotional Intelligence, and Skill in Service Encounters: Exploring the Role of Prosocial Knowledge as a Mediator Dissertation August 30, 2013 Chair: Stephan J. Motowidlo Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Frederick L. Oswald, and D. Brent Smith

Rebecca Lundwall Molecular Genetics and the Development of Reflexive Visual Attention Dissertation August 8, 2013 Chair: James L. Dannemiller Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald, John Alford, and Anne Sereno

Christina Upchurch Adaptive Performance: The Role of Knowledge Structure Development Master's Thesis April 17, 2013 Chair: Anton J. Villado Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Frederick L. Oswald

Julie Walker Hughes All cumulative semantic inference is not equal: A test of the Dark Side Model of lexical access Master's Thesis April 17, 2013 Chair: Tatiana T. Schnur Other committee members: Randi C. Martin and Simon Fischer-Baum

Bryan Campbell The Usability Implications of Long Ballot Content for Paper, Electronic, and Mobile Voting Systems Dissertation April 15, 2013 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: Philip T. Kortum, Dan Wallach, and David M. Lane

Gillian Piner CHILVote: The design and assessment of an accessible audio voting system Dissertation April 10, 2013 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: Philip T. Kortum and Dan Wallach

Enrica Ruggs The Influence of Employee Inkings on Consumer Behavior: Booed, Eschewed, and Tattooed Dissertation March 28, 2013 Chair: Michelle Hebl Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald, D. Brent Smith, and Margaret E. Beier

Nicole Howie The Effect of Response Modality on Task Performance for Older and Younger Adults Master's Thesis March 6, 2013 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: Philip T. Kortum and Jessica M. Logan

Jennifer Chen Human Olfactory Perception: Characteristics, Mechanisms and Functions Dissertation March 5, 2013 Director: Xiaohong Denise Chen Chair: James R. Pomerantz Other committee members: Jessica M. Logan and Casey O'Callaghan

Sebastian Thomas The Impact of Feedback Tone, Grammatical Person and Presentation Mode on Performance and Satisfaction in a Computer-based Learning Task Dissertation January 9, 2013 Chair: David M. Lane Other committee members: Michael Byrne, H. Albert Napier, and Philip T. Kortum

Yu-Hsuan Chang Chess performance under time pressure: Evidence for the slow processes in speed chess Master's Thesis December 19, 2012 Chair: David M. Lane Other committee members: James L. Dannemiller and Frederick L. Oswald

Louma Ghandour Stability of College Students’ Fit with Their Academic Major and the Relationship Between Academic Fit and Occupational Fit Dissertation November 29, 2012 Chair: Margaret E. Beier Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald, Bridget Gorman, and John M. Cornwell

Jason Randall Is Retest Bias Biased? An Examination of Race, Sex, and Ability Differences in Retest Performance on the Wonderlic Personnel Test Master's Thesis November 26, 2012 Chair: Anton J. Villado Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Frederick L. Oswald

Corinne Allen Inhibitory control mechanisms and their role in task switching: A multi-methodological approach Dissertation May 8, 2012 Chair: Randi C. Martin Other committee members: Tatiana T. Schnur, Suzanne Kemmer, Chandramallika Basak, and Frederick L. Oswald

Larry Martinez Confronting Bias: How Targets and Allies Can Address Prejudice Against Gay Men in the Workplace Dissertation April 16, 2012 Chair: Michelle Hebl Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Rick K. Wilson, and John M. Cornwell

Jisoo Ock Practical impact of predictor reliability for personnel selection decisions Master's Thesis April 13, 2012 Chair: Frederick L. Oswald Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Anton J. Villado

Seydahmet Ercan Assessing Adverse Impact: An Alternative to the Four-Fifths Rule Master's Thesis April 11, 2012 Chair: Frederick L. Oswald Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Anton J. Villado

Azli Hassan Testing the semantic control hypothesis for stroke aphasics with semantic deficits Master's Thesis April 11, 2012 Chair: Randi C. Martin Other committee members: Tatiana T. Schnur and David M. Lane

Yi Glaser The Mechanisms of Proactive Interference and Their Relationship with Working Memory Dissertation April 10, 2012 Chair: Randi C. Martin Other committee members: Michael Byrne, Rick Wilson, Chandramallika Basak, and Michael Beauchamp

Chad Tossell An Empirical Analysis of Smartphone Use: Characterizing Internet Visit Patterns and User Differences Dissertation February 24, 2012 Chair: Philip T. Kortum Other committee members: Michael Byrne, David M. Lane, and Lin Zhong

Sara Haber The Neurological Components of Metacognitive Monitoring: JOL Accuracy in Younger and Older Adults Dissertation January 10, 2012 Chair: Jessica M. Logan Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Richard Grandy, Michael Beauchamp, and James L. Dannemiller

Shu Wang Individual Differences in Adaptation to Changes Dissertation December 15, 2011 Chair: Margaret E. Beier Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald, H. Albert Napier, Anton J. Villado, and Jeffrey Fleisher

Jeffrey Zemla A Computational Model of Commercial Jetliner Taxiing Master's Thesis September 7, 2011 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: David M. Lane and Philip T. Kortum

Daniel Glaser Implications of differences of echoic and iconic memory for the design of multimodal displays Dissertation August 12, 2011 Chair: David M. Lane Other committee members: Michael Byrne, Philip T. Kortum, and H. Albert Napier

Rebecca Lundwall Is Response Time Variability on an Exogenous Visual Orienting Task Associated with Specific Genetic Markers? Master's Thesis June 27, 2011 Chair: James L. Dannemiller Other committee members: Chandramallika Basak and Frederick L. Oswald

Gillian Piner A Usability and Real World Perspective on Accessible Voting Master's Thesis May 10, 2011 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: David M. Lane and Philip T. Kortum

Ashley Meyer The positive and negative effects of testing in lifelong learning Dissertation April 12, 2011 Chair: Jessica M. Logan Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier, Nicoletta Orlandi, and James L. Dannemiller

Gunes Avci Transfer of the testing effect: Just how powerful is it? Dissertation April 6, 2011 Chair: Jessica M. Logan Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald and Suzanne Kemmer

Jennifer Chen Binaral Rivalry in the Presence of Visual Perceptual and Semantic Influences Master's Thesis March 31, 2011 Chair: Denise Chen Other committee members: Chandramallika Basak and Jessica M. Logan

Rochelle Evans Why Does Content Desirability Impact Subjective Video Quality Ratings and What Can Be Done About It? Dissertation January 24, 2011 Chair: Philip T. Kortum Other committee members: Michael Byrne, Lin Zhong, and David M. Lane

Michelle Martin The Generalizability of Knowledge as Measured by a Single-Response Situational Judgment Test Across Domains Master's Thesis January 21, 2011 Chair: Stephan J. Motowidlo Other committee members: Margaret E. Beier and Frederick L. Oswald

Bryan Campbell Usability Assessment of the Straight-Party Voting Ballot Option on Paper, Punch Card, and Electronic Voting Systems Master's Thesis December 13, 2010 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: David M. Lane and Philip T. Kortum

Kristen Greene Effects of Multiple Races and Header Highlighting on Undervotes in the 2006 Sarasota General Election: A Usability Study and Cognitive Modeling Assessment Dissertation November 22, 2010 Chair: Michael Byrne Other committee members: David M. Lane, Dan Wallach, and Philip T. Kortum

Ashley Rittmayer Hanks Employee Turnover: The Effects of Workplace Events Dissertation November 12, 2010 Chair: Margaret E. Beier Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald, Andrew Perkins, and Michelle Hebl

Katharine Bachman The Influence of Work-Family Balance Based Realistic Job Previews on Job Search Decisions Master's Thesis November 9, 2010 Chair: Michelle Hebl Other committee members: Anton J. Villado and Margaret E. Beier

Yue Su The effect of secondary tasks and stimulus type on ratings of telephone hold workload Master's Thesis August 20, 2010 Chair: Philip T. Kortum Other committee members: Michael Byrne and David M. Lane

Larry Martinez Childhood cancer survivors' workplace experiences Master's Thesis August 3, 2010 Chair: Michelle Hebl Other committee members: Frederick L. Oswald and Margaret E. Beier

Katherine Ramos Development of a New Measure of Helping at Work Master's Thesis June 15, 2010 Chair: Frederick L. Oswald Other committee members: Stephan J. Motowidlo and Daniel J. Beal

Denise Harvey Object Priming in the Fusiform Cortex: Exploring Effects of Task and Visual Similarity Master's Thesis May 14, 2010 Chair: Tatiana T. Schnur Other committee members: James L. Dannemiller, Randi C. Martin, and E. Darcy Burgund

Sebastian Thomas The Influence of the Tone of Feedback Prompts on the Learning Behavior and Satisfaction of University Students in a Multiple Cue Probability Task Master's Thesis May 13, 2010 Chair: David M. Lane Other committee members: Michael Byrne and Philip T. Kortum

Corinne Allen Task switching and short-term retention: The role of memory load in task switching performance Master's Thesis April 14, 2010 Chair: Randi C. Martin Other committee members: David M. Lane and Jessica M. Logan

Jingyi Geng The distractor frequency effect in Stroop and picture-word interference paradigms Master's Thesis April 13, 2010 Chair: Tatiana T. Schnur Other committee members: Randi C. Martin and Jessica M. Logan

Loan Vuong The role of attentional control in garden path recovery Dissertation January 15, 2010 Chair: Randi C. Martin Other committee members: David M. Lane, Jessica M. Logan, and Suzanne Kemmer

Pablo Cruz Emotion Perception and Reactions to Tests: Affective Influences on Test Performance Dissertation January 13, 2010 Chair: Daniel J. Beal Other committee members: Michelle Hebl, Andrew Perkins, and Margaret E. Beier

RICE BIOENGINEERING PhD PROGRAM

Degree Requirements

Rice University's minimum requirement for the doctorate degree is 90 semester hours. The PhD candidate in bioengineering must:

• Complete 30 semester hours of graduate-level courses (500 and above) in foundation, supporting, and advanced topics (The maximum number of hours that can be transferred is 12.); 15 of these credit hours must be designated as bioengineering (BIOE) courses.
• Maintain an average GPA of 3.2 or higher;
• Complete 2.5 semesters as a teaching assistant for six to ten hours per week;
• Prepare a thesis proposal and present it to the thesis committee;
• Complete a publishable thesis representing research that is an original and significant contribution to a field of bioengineering; and
• Pass a public oral examination in defense of the thesis.

No foreign language is required for an advanced degree in bioengineering. About four to six years of study are normally necessary to complete the PhD degree requirements.

Prerequisite Courses

If a student does not have evidence on their undergraduate transcript that they have received credit for these undergraduate courses, they must take them as part of the PhD curriculum.

Fundamentals of Systems Physiology (BIOE 322 or equivalent 3 credit hours)

Cell Biology (BIOC 341 or equivalent 3 credit hours)

Statistics (BIOE 440 or equivalent, 1 credit hour)

The Rice Bioengineering PhD curriculum is comprehensive and provides students with a fundamental understanding of the life and medical sciences, advanced analytical and engineering capabilities, and translational research that transfers biotechnical advances from bench to bedside.

With this educational background, doctoral graduates will be well prepared to:

• Work as independent researchers;
• Acquire a graduate-level understanding of foundations in bioengineering and apply this material across a variety of sub-disciplines;
• Integrate knowledge from different sources to solve a defined bioengineering problem;
• Acquire deep knowledge in a sub-discipline in which they will pursue their dissertation; and
• Demonstrate professional skills in both oral and written communication.

The PhD curriculum has three components: foundation, supporting, and advanced topics courses. Collectively, the components afford students broad exposure to their chosen field of research interest. First-year PhD students enjoy the opportunity to rotate in faculty labs their first semester after they matriculate. This helps students identify the bioengineering field that best suits their post-graduate career goals.

Foundation Courses

Students must take a minimum of five graduate-level (500-level or above) bioengineering courses for a total of 15 credit hours. The following core courses are required for all bioengineering (BIOE) PhD students:

• BIOE 539: Applied Statistics for Bioengineering & Biotechnology (3 credit hours) OR a 400-level or higher mathematics, statistics, or computational and applied mathematics course (3 credit hours)
• UNIV 594: Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (1 credit hour)
• BIOE 633: Life Sciences Entrepreneurship (1.5 credit hours) OR BIOE 690: Professional Development for Bioengineering (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 516: Mechanics, Transport, and Cellular Signaling (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 517: Instrumentation and Molecular Analysis (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 518: Introduction to Computational Biology (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 519: Biomaterials (3 credit hours)

Supporting Courses

Students may elect a department research area and take three supporting courses in that area of interest. Students must consult with his or her adviser regarding appropriate courses to support their chosen research area:

• Biomaterials, Biofabrication & Mechanobiology
• Biomedical Imaging & Instrumentation
• Cellular, Molecular and Genome Engineering & Synthetic Biology
• Computational and Theoretical Bioengineering & Biophysics

Advanced Topics Courses

A large array of advanced specialty courses is available to Rice bioengineering graduate students. Each student should select the courses most appropriate for his/her research with the help of the thesis adviser. Advanced topic courses may be used to meet the 30 semester hours of graduate level courses.

Graduate Seminar Courses

Students must register for the graduate seminars (BIOE 698 in fall, BIOE 699 in spring) every semester of their first three years of study. Students beyond their third year are not required to attend, but are highly encouraged to do so. These courses are given on a pass/fail basis only. Attendance at the seminars is mandatory unless the absence has been excused in advance by the course administrator. Graduate students may miss up to two seminars per semester. Seminars are given by leaders from the field of bioengineering. Following each seminar, there is time scheduled for graduate students to meet with the speaker for an informal discussion. Attendance at these sessions is not mandatory, but strongly recommended.

Learn more about our seminar courses.

PhD Program

Perform high-impact research with faculty in application areas such as energy, sustainability, hazards, mathematical biology, and health care delivery.

About the Program

PhD students in computational applied mathematics at Rice University gain knowledge in understanding of physical phenomena and in making complex decisions. The experience involves intensive course study in small classes, close interaction with professors and immediate opportunities to participate in seminars and to engage in research projects.

Research & Faculty

PhD students work closely with Rice CMOR faculty across a broad spectrum of mathematical fields and computational methods, including Numerical analysis; Operations research; Optimization; Differential equations; Scientific computation.

Living in Houston

Rice University's location in Houston helps provide faculty and students with endless opportunities for collaboration outside the campus. It is the center of the oil and gas industry, the home of the Texas Medical Center, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center is just down the road. Living in Houston means employment opportunities throughout the region, parks, professional sports teams, world-class dining, and other attractions make it a great place to call home.

Learn more about Life in Houston .

Helpful Links

Factors influencing rice production efficiency in Ban Home, Laos

Downloadable content.

• Hem Inthavong, Khamla.
• Agriculture remains a dominant economic sector in many developing countries. Rice constitutes a staple food for more than half of the world's population and is the main meal of all Lao people (FAO, 2005). However, rice production faces many problems, including the effects of floods, drought and poor soil quality. These challenges combine to reduce rice productivity below what might be possible. However, before new agricultural policies are put in place, it is important to identify the factors associated with rice production efficiency. This thesis analyses technical and socio-economic factors that influence rice production and estimates the level of technical efficiency of individual rice farmers in Ban Home, Laos. Survey data were collected in the region in 2003, for both wet season and dry season rice production. Using these data, a Cobb-Douglas frontier production function was estimated for each season using two approaches, deterministic and stochastic. During the wet season, several factors were statistically significant and positive in their effect on rice yield: area in rice production, level of fertilizer use, total labour, the use of a modern variety, sandy soil and contact with a professional agricultural advisor. During the dry season, only area in rice production and fertilizer were significant. Based on the frontier production functions, it is possible to conclude that the average technical efficiency of farmers is higher during the dry season than the wet season, for both the deterministic and stochastic approaches. However, socio-economic factors were unable to explain the level of technical efficiency among farmers, when evaluated using a standard regression approach. By using a simple t-test to compare the mean level of efficiency of different groups of farmers, some significant differences emerged. Farmers who used credit were found to be more efficient than those who did not. Moreover, experienced farmers were more efficient than less experienced farmers. Also, farmers with less than 7 years of education were more efficient than more educated farmers.
• Rice -- Yields -- Laos.
• McGill University
•  https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/cj82k7573
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Aug. 16, 2024

Navigating health insurance in the u.s.: the basics, by salpy kanimian. are there any more little details i should know about the healthcare plan.

When I arrived in the U.S., I faced two challenges: filing taxes and choosing a health insurance plan. In my home country, Lebanon, health insurance was straightforward, with minimal to no features and choices. The U.S. system, however, was a different story—one packed with terms and decisions that may be overwhelming. Today, my PhD dissertation is on U.S. health insurance. But who would have thought I'd write a dissertation on this topic four years ago? It's a journey that took an unexpected turn, and I'm excited to share my knowledge with you.

If you are an international prospective student, this blog is for you.  To all Rice students, this is your gentle reminder to sign up for health insurance: https://studenthealthinsurance.rice.edu/           

Healthcare costs in the U.S. can be daunting, even with insurance.

Tip #1: Check service costs upfront to budget and anticipate healthcare expenses more effectively.

So, first things first: here are some cost-related terms to know.

• Premium : The amount you pay each month or year for your health insurance plan.
• Deductible :The amount you must pay out-of-pocket for healthcare services before your insurance begins to pay.
• Copay : The fixed dollar amount you pay for services like doctor visits or prescriptions, usually at the time of service after you've met your deductible.
• Coinsurance : This is similar to copay, but it's a fixed percentage amount you pay for services after you've met your deductible.
• Maximum Out-Of-Pocket : The cap or maximum dollar amount you pay for healthcare services in a plan year.

Health insurance plans often have a group of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers, typically known as a healthcare “network."

Tip #2: To avoid unexpected bills, check if doctors and hospitals are in-network before scheduling appointments or procedures.

Here's what you need to know about networks:

• In-network : Doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers labeled as “in-network” have agreed to a contract with your insurance company to provide services at specific rates (e.g., copays, and coinsurance rates).
• Out-of-network : This group includes providers who haven't agreed to the insurance company's rates.

Now, let's dive into the world of health insurance plan types, each with its own unique features and requirements.

Tip #3: Carefully check your plan type and what requirements it has.

Here are a few key types of plans to keep in mind when making your choice:

• Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans : These plans offer less flexibility when choosing doctors and typically require staying in-network. HMOs demand that you choose a primary care physician (PCP) and get referrals from them to see specialists.  
• Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans: Compared to HMOs, PPO plans offer more flexibility in seeing specialists without referrals, both in and out of the network.

If you liked this blog, stay tuned for more on U.S. health insurance and healthcare!

About the author: 

Salpy Kanimian is from Beirut, Lebanon and is a PhD candidate in Economics. She got her dual degree in Economics and Mathematics at the American University of Beirut prior joining Rice.  Read more .

Further Reading:

How I get my life together with Notion—quite literally

Houston Without a Car: How to Navigate Rice University and Beyond

Mental Health Resources at Rice and Beyond