Central to the University of Waterlooโs 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 toย the Faculty of Science Graduate Officeย 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.
July PhD Defences
Monday, July 27, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Saikiran KHAMGAONKAR
Title: Polymer-Integrated Halide Perovskite Solar Cells and Photoelectrochemical Cells for Solar Energy Conversion
Supervisor: Vivek Maheshwari
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: C2 361
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Richard DO
Title: An Investigation of Notch-Dependent Expression of the Drosophila gene ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต using CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing
Supervisor: Bruce Reed
Department: Biology
Location/Method: B1 266
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Cameron MORGAN
Title: Galaxy evolution across the Virgo cluster environment
Supervisor: Michael Balogh
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 352
Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Sharon QIU
Title: The Human Limbal Shape and Scleral Lens Limbal Designs
Supervisor: Lyndon Jones and Alex Hui
Department: School of Optometry and Vision Science
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
August PhD Defences
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Bruna SIEBENEICHLER
Title: Defining and Engineering the Structural Continuum of Bacterial Inclusion Bodies
Supervisor: Elizabeth Meiering
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: C2 361
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 11:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Anastasiia MASHKO
Title: Systems and Protocols for Quantum Sensing of the Magnetic Field Using Atom Arrays
Supervisor: David Cory and Alexandre Cooper-Roy
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method:PHY 352
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Anne Marie YEBOAH
Title: Visual Deficits in Persisting Post-Concussion Symptoms
Supervisor: Kristine Dalton and Elizabeth Irving
Department: School of Optometry and Vision Science
Location/Method: OPT 350
Thursday, August 13, 2026 at 11:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Kent UENO
Title: Spatial Magnetometry and Entanglement Transport in Neutral-Atom Arrays
Supervisor: David Cory
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 2101
Friday, August 14, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Sotiris MYGDALAS
Title: Spacetime Quasicrystals and Computational Complexity Theory in the Road Towards Quantum Gravity
Supervisor: Niayesh Afshordi and Latham Boyle
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 1201
Recently Held PhD Defences
Monday, June 1, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Leonardo ALMEIDA LESSA
Title: Order in the Open: Symmetries and Entanglement of Many-Body Mixed States
Supervisor: Anton Burkov and Chong Wang
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Amirreza NEGARI
Title: Phases of matter in quantum information and error correction
Supervisor: Roger Melko and Timothy Hsieh
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Dejana MITROVIC
Title: Effects of Temperature and Niclosamide on the Toxicity of the Lampricide TFM (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol) to Sea Lamprey (๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด) and Rainbow Trout (๐๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฌ๐ช๐ด๐ด)
Supervisor: Mark Servos and Michael Wilkie
Department: Biology
Location/Method: B1 266
Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Megan Schuyler MOSS
Title: Scaling and generalization in neural quantum states
Supervisor: Roger Melko
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 308
Friday, June 19, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Harish MURALI
Title: Huge Operators in Holography: BPS Sectors, Matrix Models, and Black Holes
Supervisor: Jaume Gomis and Pedro Vieira
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Friday, June 19, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: รna HOGAN
Title: A STUDY OF THE CLASSIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF MICROPLASTICS THROUGH RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY AND MACHINE LEARNING
Supervisor: Rodney Smith
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: C2 361
Friday, June 19, 2026 at 1:30:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Nicholas ZUTT
Title: Qudit Quantum Computation on Trapped Barium-137 Ions
Supervisor: Crystal Senko
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 352
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Marina MACIEL ANSANELLI
Title: Bidirectional insights between classical and quantum causal inference
Supervisor: Kevin Resch and Robert Spekkens
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at 2:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Cameron LAWLOR-FORSYTH
Title: Identifying and Distinguishing Quenching Galaxies with Spatially Resolved Star Formation
Supervisor: Michael Balogh
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Thursday, June 25, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Amir RESHADI
Title: Multi-Scale Modeling of Microplastic Fate and Transport in Urban Runoff: From Catchment-Scale Yield and Retention to a Global Predictive Framework
Supervisor: Fereidoun Reza Nezhad and Philippe Van Cappellen
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Friday, June 26, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: YiZhi YUAN
Title: Emerging Contaminants in Groundwater and Surface Water at a Mine Reclamation Site: Occurrence, Fate and Remediation
Supervisor: Carol Ptacek and
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Note: Held Without Public Disclosure
Monday, July 6, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Filip BUDIMIR
Title: Chromium Stable Isotope Fractionation During Reduction of Hexavalent Chromium by Zero-valent Iron and Biochar
Supervisor: David Blowes and Richard Amos
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
July MSc Defences
Thursday, July 16, 2026 at 10:30:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Max JONES
Title: Optical and Magnetic Control for Type-II MOTs
Supervisor: Alan Jamison
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 2101
Thursday, July 16, 2026 at 2:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Sascha ZAKAIB-BERNIER
Title: Logic in Dynamical Stabilizer Quantum Error Correction Codes
Supervisor: Graeme Smith
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Monday, July 20, 2026 at 11:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Nicholas CHENG
Title: Characterization of virus-like particles from the BEVS platform with a special focus on gradient ultracentrifugation
Supervisor: Roderick Slavcev and Marc Aucoin
Department: School of Pharmacy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, July 23, 2026 at 2:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Alexander SWEETT
Title: Development of an Analytical Method for Sulfolane Determination in Plant Tissue
Supervisor: Tadeusz Gorecki
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: C2 361
Monday, July 27, 2026 at 11:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Shauhin YAZDANI
Title: Biophysical and Structural Characterization of the Metronidazole Resistance Protein NimB from ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ
Supervisor: Todd Holyoak
Department: Biology
Location/Method: STC 2002
Monday, July 27, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Madison THOMAS
Title: Isolation and characterization of potential PHB-degrading microorganisms from a Southern Ontario landfill
Supervisor: Laura Hug
Department: Biology
Location/Method: B1 266
August MSc Defences
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: David TIBBEN
Title: Star Formation Rates and Metallicities in GOGREEN/GCLASS Clusters at z ~ 1
Supervisor: Michael Balogh
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: STC 2002
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 1:30:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Isabella TODD
Title: Investigating the ESRP1-CTNND1 Regulatory Axis
Supervisor: Natoya Peart
Department: Biology
Location/Method: STC 2002
Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 12:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Sehmimul HOQUE
Title: Toroidal Gibbs sampling using quantum and classical techniques
Supervisor: Roger Melko and Pooya Ronagh
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Sakshee Samir PATIL
Title: Individual Qubit Manipulation Using Dual Acousto-Optic Deflectors in a Trapped Ion Quantum Processor
Supervisor: Kazi Rajibul Islam
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 2101
Recently Held MSc Defences
Monday, June 8, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Hayden EPP
Title: The Effect of Turfgrass-to-Meadow Restoration on Carbon Storage and Sequestration in an Urban Environment
Supervisor: Rebecca Rooney
Department: Biology
Location/Method: MC 4060
Monday, June 8, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Katelyn GAO
Title: Benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and freshwater food webs of beaver-impounded streams in the eastern Canadian Arctic
Supervisor: Michael Power
Department: Biology
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Monday, June 22, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Saduni SUMITHRARACHCHIGE DON
Title: The Investigation of Gold Nanoparticles as Radiosensitizers to Treat Prostate Cancer in 3D In Vitro models
Supervisor: Shawn Wettig and Ernest Osei
Department: School of Pharmacy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Friday, June 26, 2026 at 11:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Anna KOSIAK
Title: Optimization of the Intelligent Phagemid-Assembled Gene Expression (iPhAGE) system as a platform for miniphagemid production
Supervisor: Roderick Slavcev
Department: School of Pharmacy
Location/Method: PHR 7007
Monday, July 6, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Dinah Ayeley Wankyimah QUAYE
Title: Alteration of Metasedimentary Rocks Associated with Gold Mineralization at Young-Davidson Gold Mine
Supervisor: Chris Yakmchuk and Shoufa Lin
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Mikka STASIUK
Title: The Hardness of Nonlocal Quantum Computation
Supervisor: Robert Myers
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 352