Central to the University of Waterloo’s mission is the creation and dissemination of knowledge. As new scholars, graduate students are expected to disclose and publicly defend their research results to ensure review from their peers and acceptance and inclusion of their findings in open scholarly discourse. At times, graduate students may wish to protect their research results, particularly when they contain material of commercial or marketable value, or when restricted by a publication agreement. Similarly, students may require accessibility accommodations or engage in sensitive research areas which may present personal risks. These unique circumstances may result in a thesis and/or thesis defence being Held Without Public Disclosure.
The following theses have been submitted to the Faculty of Science Graduate Office and are available, unless otherwise noted, for review by any member of the University during the display period only. The display period is the time between the posting of the thesis and the examination date.
January PhD Defences
Monday, January 5, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: James WILLIS
Title: Field-Theoretic Simulations of Binary Blends of Complementary Diblock Copolymers
Supervisor: Mark Matsen
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 352
Thursday, Janurary 8, 2026 at 4:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Ahmed MOHAMED
Title: Analysis of Neural Networks with Physics Applications
Supervisor: David Yevick
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Ella HABIBZADEH
Title: Enhanced Performance and Stability of Planar Heterojunction Solar Cells via Hole Transport Layer Engineering and Low-Cost Fabrication
Supervisor: Tong Leung
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 11:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Stephen HARRIGAN
Title: Electroluminescence in the Classical and Quantum Regime in Undoped GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures
Supervisor: Jonathan Baugh and Michael Reimer
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Note: Held Without Public Disclosure
Friday, January 23, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Tyler HODDER
Title: Laurentide Ice Sheet dynamics across multiple glacial interglacial cycles from Quaternary Stratigraphic records in the western Hudson Bay Lowland, central Canada
Supervisor: Martin Ross and Olav Lian
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
February PhD Defences
Monday, February 23, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Lars KAMIN
Title: From Asymptotic to Finite-Size Security in Decoy-State Quantum Key Distribution
Supervisor: Norbert Lütkenhaus
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 2101
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at 2:30:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Hunter MARTIN
Title: Measuring the Weak Gravitational Lensing Signal from Cosmic Voids
Supervisor: Michael Hudson
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 352
March PhD Defences
Monday, March 2, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: David HILGER
Title: Hydrogeological, Mineralogical, and Geochemical Characterization of a Gold Mine Tailings Containment Area at the Giant Mine, NT
Supervisor: Carol Ptacek and David Blowes
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053 with Remote Examiners
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 9:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Gyorgy JAICS
Title: Investigation of Magneto-Optical and Photonic Properties of Plasmonic Tungsten Oxide and Alkali Tungsten Bronze Nanocrystals
Supervisor: Pavle Radovanovic
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, March 5, 2026 at 12:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Boyao TIAN
Title: Development of a Coupled Hydro-Economic Model to Support Groundwater Irrigation Decisions
Supervisor: Andrea Brookfield
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Christopher XU
Title: Analog Emulation of Hyperbolic Space with and Coherence Effects in Superconducting Circuits
Supervisor: Raffi Budakian and Matteo Mariantoni
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 2101 with Remote EE
January MSc Defences
Monday, January 5, 2026 at 1:30:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Nutan RAUNIYAR
Title: Characterizing Tele-optometry Patients in a Multi-site Private Practice Setting
Supervisor: Stan Woo and Elizabeth Irving
Department: School of Optometry and Vision Science
Location/Method: Optometry Rm 341
Monday, January 12, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Della ZHOU
Title: Vegetation and open water carbon greenhouse gas fluxes of urban stormwater ponds
Supervisor: Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Philippe Van Cappellen
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 1:30:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Noelle STARLING
Title: Leveraging long term water quality monitoring data to elucidate drivers and controls on N and P loading in the Lake Winnipeg Basin
Supervisor: Philippe Van Cappellen and Chris Parsons
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Gebremedhin DAGNEW
Title: Modeling Logical Error Rates in Surface-Code Quantum Computing based on Lattice Surgery and Applications
Supervisor: Roger Melko
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Friday, January 30, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Cherrie CHAN
Title: Assessment of interannual variability of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in the Athabasca River
Supervisor: Adam Yates
Department: Biology
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
February MSc Defences
TBA