Ms. Kara Komoto will defend her thesis

Title:  A CLIMATOLOGY OF PERSISTENT HIGH RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE LOWER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN: IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH AND AGRICULTURE.

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the thesis research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  All faculty and students are welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Geography graduate students and other non-committee members may attend the second questioning stage with permission of the defending student.

Committee:
Julie Winkler (chair)
Kyla Dahlin
Martin Chilvers (Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the thesis.

Ms. Judith Namanya will present and defend her dissertation proposal

Title: Investigating Uganda’s Persistently High HIV Prevalence among Young Women in an Era of Widespread Gains in HIV Prevention and Treatment

Two hours will be allowed for the presentation and subsequent questioning. An initial uninterrupted presentation of the proposed research should be 20-30 minutes in length. Anyone, including faculty, students, and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation.  The student’s Advisor will moderate the question session that follows, and all Guidance Committee members will actively participate. However, all persons attending may ask questions and offer comments

Committee members:
Leo Zulu (Chair)
Sue Grady
Clifford Broman (Sociology)
Robin Miller (Psychology)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles (ruggles@msu.edu) if you would like an electronic copy of the proposal.

Ms. Nafiseh Haghtalab will present and defend her dissertation proposal

Title: Evaluating Climate Variability and Coupling Strength of Land-Atmosphere Interactions Across the Amazon Basin

Two hours will be allowed for the presentation and subsequent questioning. An initial uninterrupted presentation of the proposed research should be 20-30 minutes in length. Anyone, including faculty, students, and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation.  The student’s Advisor will moderate the question session that follows, and all Guidance Committee members will actively participate. However, all persons attending may ask questions and offer comments.

Committee members:
Nathan Moore (chair)
Joe Messina
Jeff Andresen
Pouyan Nejadhashemi  (Dept. of Biosystems Engineering)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles (ruggles@msu.edu) if you would like an electronic copy of the proposal.

Ms. Mattie Kelepile will defend her dissertation

Title:  Antiretroviral (ART) and Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) Therapies Adherence In Greater Gaborone, Botswana: A Mixed Methods Health Geographic

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the dissertation research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  Anyone, including faculty, students and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Faculty are welcome to stay for this stage.  Graduate students and other non-committee members (e.g., family and friends) may attend the second questioning stage with prior permission of the defending student.  Successful completion of the defense and approval of the dissertation will be determined by a majority vote of the dissertation committee.

Committee:
Sue Grady (chair)
Julie Winkler
Leo Zulu
Anne Hughes (Social Work)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the dissertation.

Ms. Gabriela Shirkey will present and defend her dissertation proposal

Title:  Integrating Unknown Socioeconomic Processes into Landscape Carbon Production Estimates

Two hours will be allowed for the presentation and subsequent questioning. An initial uninterrupted presentation of the proposed research should be 20-30 minutes in length. Anyone, including faculty, students, and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation.  The student’s  Advisor will moderate the question session that follows, and all Guidance Committee members will actively participate. However, all persons attending may ask questions and offer comments.

Committee members:
Jiquan Chen (chair)
Kyla Dahlin
Ashton Shortridge
Annick Anctil (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles (ruggles@msu.edu) if you would like an electronic copy of the proposal.

Ms. Sara Torres will defend her thesis

Title: NEAR AND DEAR: A STUDY ON PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIORS

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the thesis research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  All faculty and students are welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Geography graduate students and other non-committee members may attend the second questioning stage with permission of the defending student.

Committee:
Sue Grady (chair)
Julie Winkler
Aaron McCright (Sociology)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the thesis.

Mr. Thomas Bilintoh  will defend his thesis

Title: Remote sensing for mapping and modeling presence of armyworm infestation on maize in Ejura, Ghana

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the thesis research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  All faculty and students are welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Geography graduate students and other non-committee members may attend the second questioning stage with permission of the defending student.

Committee:
Ashton Shortridge (chair)
Raechel Portelli
Jiaguo Qi

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the thesis.

Mr. Albert Fulton will defend his dissertation

Title: LATE HOLOCENE NATIVE AMERICAN LAND-USE IMPACTS ON THE VEGETATION OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL NEW YORK STATE, USA:
AN INTEGRATED HISTORICAL AND PALEOECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the dissertation research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  Anyone, including faculty, students and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Faculty are welcome to stay for this stage.  Graduate students and other non-committee members (e.g., family and friends) may attend the second questioning stage with prior permission of the defending student.  Successful completion of the defense and approval of the dissertation will be determined by a majority vote of the dissertation committee.

Committee:
Catherine Yansa (chair)
Alan Arbogast
Jeffrey Andresen
Jodie A. O’Gorman (Anthropology)
John P. Hart (New York State Museum)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the dissertation.

Ms. McKenzie Kulseth  will defend her thesis

Title:  An Evaluation of Hot-Dry-Windy Index Skill Using Multiple

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the thesis research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  All faculty and students are welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Geography graduate students and other non-committee members may attend the second questioning stage with permission of the defending student.

Committee:
Sharon Zhong (chair)
Jeff Andresen
Joseph Charney (U.S. Forest Service)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the thesis.

Ms. Qiong Zhang will be presenting and defending her dissertation proposal

Title:  IMPACTS OF HAZE ON MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN XIANYANG, CHINA

Two hours will be allowed for the presentation and subsequent questioning. An initial uninterrupted presentation of the proposed research should be 20-30 minutes in length. Anyone, including faculty, students, and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation.  The student’s Advisor will moderate the question session that follows, and all Guidance Committee members will actively participate. However, all persons attending may ask questions and offer comments.

Please contact Sharon Ruggles (ruggles@msu.edu) if you would like an electronic copy of the proposal.

Committee members:
Sue Grady (Chair)
Julie Winkler
Sharon Zhong
Eric Freedman (Knight Center for Environmental Journalism)

Ms. Kelsey Nyland will defend her dissertation

Title: STAIRWAYS TO HEAVEN:  ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF CRYOPLANATION TERRACES

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the dissertation research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  Anyone, including faculty, students and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Faculty are welcome to stay for this stage.  Graduate students and other non-committee members (e.g., family and friends) may attend the second questioning stage with prior permission of the defending student.  Successful completion of the defense and approval of the dissertation will be determined by a majority vote of the dissertation committee.

Committee:
Fritz Nelson (co-chair)
Randy Schaetzl (co-chair)
Ashton Shortridge
David Lusch
Grahame Larson (Earth and Environmental Sciences)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the dissertation.

Ms. Lisa-Marie Pierre will defend her dissertation

Title: ENTREPRENEURIAL PROPENSITY: THE CONSTRAINING AND ENABLING FACTORS OF INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS ON WOMEN FACULTY IN ENGINEERING

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the dissertation research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  Anyone, including faculty, students and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Faculty are welcome to stay for this stage.  Graduate students and other non-committee members (e.g., family and friends) may attend the second questioning stage with prior permission of the defending student.  Successful completion of the defense and approval of the dissertation will be determined by a majority vote of the dissertation committee.

Committee:
Elizabeth Mack (chair)
Joe Darden
Igor Vojnovic
Steven Gold (Sociology)

Please contact Sharon Ruggles at, ruggles@msu.edu if you would like to an electronic copy of the dissertation.

Please join the MSU Geography celebration, Thursday, April 4 @ 7PM, during the 2019 American Association of Geographer’s Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

Mr. Connor Plensdorf will defend his thesis

Title: Analysis of GEOBIA Classification Algorithms for Contextual Detection of DPRK Missile Testing Facilities

The defense will consist of two steps:  a 30-60 minute uninterrupted presentation by the student summarizing the thesis research, and a subsequent two-stage questioning session.  All faculty and students are welcome to attend the presentation and to participate in the initial portion of the question session, which will be moderated by the Advisor.  The Advisor and Guidance Committee will ask questions in the second stage of this session.  Geography graduate students and other non-committee members may attend the second questioning stage with permission of the defending student.

A copy of the thesis is available electronically.  Contact Sharon Ruggles ruggles@msu.edu  if you would like the thesis sent to you electronically.

Committee:
Raechel Portelli (chair)
Ashton Shortridge
Kyle Evered

Mr. Aaron Kamoske will present and defend his dissertation proposal

Title: SEEING WITHIN THE CANOPY:

MEASURING THREE-DIMENSIONAL FOREST TRAITS AND PROCESSES ACROSS ECOSYSTEMS

Two hours will be allowed for the presentation and subsequent questioning. An initial uninterrupted presentation of the proposed research should be 20-30 minutes in length. Anyone, including faculty, students, and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation.  The student’s Advisor will moderate the question session that follows, and all Guidance Committee members will actively participate. However, all persons attending may ask questions and offer comments.

Please contact Sharon Ruggles (ruggles@msu.edu) if you would like an electronic copy of the proposal.

Committee members:
Kyla Dahlin (Chair)
Ashton Shortridge
David Rothstein (Forestry)
Scott Stark (Forestry)

Ms. Xiaomeng Li will present and defend her dissertation proposal

Title: Personal service and leisure travel in the Detroit Region: Exploring individual- and neighborhood-level variability

Two hours will be allowed for the presentation and subsequent questioning. An initial uninterrupted presentation of the proposed research should be 20-30 minutes in length. Anyone, including faculty, students, and staff, is welcome to attend the presentation.  The student’s Advisor will moderate the question session that follows, and all Guidance Committee members will actively participate. However, all persons attending may ask questions and offer comments.

Please contact Sharon Ruggles (ruggles@msu.edu) if you would like an electronic copy of the proposal.

Committee members:
Igor Vojnovic (Chair)
Arika Ligmann-Zielinska
Laura Reese (Political Science)
Zachary Neal (Psychology)

 All Majors Welcome!

Mr. Jiang Chang will take his oral comprehensive examination

All Geography faculty may attend and participate in the oral examination.  Geography graduate students and other non-committee members (e.g., family and friends) may attend with prior approval of the student being examined.

Committee:
Igor Vojnovic (Chair)
Guo Chen
Laura Reese (Political Science)
Zeenat Kotval-Karamchandani (School of Planning Design and Construction)