Special Notice
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University Graduate School has updated its guidelines for conducting thesis and dissertation defenses. Click here for more information.
Schedule Your Defense
One of the last steps to obtaining your doctoral degree is to defend your dissertation. Once you have finalized your dissertation, you must schedule and announce your defense.
First, arrange a mutually agreeable time with your committee. Set up the oral exam at least 30 days prior to when you wish to defend. Provide all members of your committee with a complete copy of your dissertation at least 30 days before the defense so they will have sufficient time to read and criticize your work.
Announce Your Defense
Once the date of your defense has been established, you should complete the Ph.D. Defense Announcement Submission through OneStart. The announcement e-doc must reach the University Graduate School at least 30 days before the date of your defense. The University Graduate School begins counting the 30 days from the date your e-doc is received by our office. We recommend that you submit the e-doc at least 40 days before your defense date to allow time for the e-doc to route for approval through your academic department.
The summary should be informative and contain a brief statement of the principal results and conclusions. Unlike the abstract, which is intended for specialists in the field, an attempt should be made in the summary to communicate the findings in language and style that can be understood by the University community at large. The summary should be no less than 150 and no more than 300 words in length.
Submit your announcement on One.iu »
Once announced, the time and place cannot be changed without the approval of the dean of the University Graduate School.
Ordinarily, the defense is conducted here at Indiana University, but under extraordinary circumstances other arrangements can sometimes be made. Prior approval must be obtained from your committee and the University Graduate School.
After submitting your Ph.D. Defense Announcement Submission e-doc, track your document to ensure timely approval. Retain the email confirmation containing your document ID.
Learn how to track your announcement »
At Your Defense
Have your committee sign the acceptance and abstract pages of your dissertation at the defense.
Learn more about formatting requirements »
Upcoming Announcments
This list of scheduled Ph.D. dissertation defenses is distributed so that faculty may attend or see the full announcement. If you are a faculty member and wish to see the full announcement, please call the University Graduate School Office at (812) 855-8853. If you wish to attend, please contact the committee chair in advance as a courtesy.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, GRADUATE DIVISION
Monday, October 26, 2020, 12:15 pm
Anthropology
Mattern, Lindsey
Infant feeding practices and maternal work in urban and rural Tamil Nadu, India
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Andrea Wiley, (812-856-4993)
Thursday, October 29, 2020, 2:00 pm
Sociology
Vina, Sean
Behind the Laughter: Stigma and Communal Coping among Standup Comedians
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Fabio Rojas, (812-856-1491)
Friday, November 06, 2020, 11:00 am
Cognitive Science; History & Philosophy of Science
Zappettini, Shane
The Ethological Constitution of the Embodied Mind
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Randall Beer / Prof. Jutta Schickore, (812-856-0873 / 812-855-9728)
Friday, November 06, 2020, 2:00 pm
Anthropology
Fernandez, Catalina
The evolutionary role of dietary adaptations and their health outcomes among indigenous people of Chile
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Andrea Wiley, (812-856-4993)
Monday, November 09, 2020, 1:30 pm
Comparative Literature
Richards, Emerson
LA VOIZ QUE SEINT JOHAN OÏ OU CIEL SIGNEFIE LA GRANT JOIE DE SEINTE EGLISE EN CIEL ET EN TERRE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCTION AND RECEPTION OF THE PARIS APOCALYPSE (PARIS, BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE, MS FR. 403)
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Rosemarie McGerr, (812-855-7627)
Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 1:00 pm
Chemistry
Li, Ziran
Progress Towards the Total Synthesis of Mersacidin
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Mike VanNieuwenhze, (812-856-7545)
Thursday, November 12, 2020, 11:15 am
Linguistics; Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
Bokhari, Hassan
A Comprehensive Analysis of Coda Clusters in Hijazi Arabic: An Optimality-Theoretic Perspective
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Salman Al-Ani / Prof. Stuart Davis, (815-855-8555 / 812-855-2043)
Thursday, November 12, 2020, 2:00 pm
Evolution, Ecology, & Behavior
Goldberg, Jay
Towards understanding the mechanisms maintaining a stable trichome dimorphism in Datura wrightii
Jordan Hall 121
Chair: Prof. Lynda Delph, (812-855-1831)
Friday, November 13, 2020, 12:15 pm
Microbiology
Ball, Alyssa
The Mechanism of Transcription Initiation of Quorum-Sensing Regulated Genes
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Julia van Kessel, (812-856-2235)
Friday, November 13, 2020, 3:00 pm
Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
Alaufi, Hamed
TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF THE SAUDI FRIDAYS’ ORATIONS DURING THE ARAB SPRING
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Salman Al-Ani, (812-606-1534)
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 10:00 am
Biochemistry
Li, Yuxi
Mechanism of DNA Structural Sensitivity Of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Exo1 Nuclease in DNA Damage Repair
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Hengyao Niu, (631-375-0463)
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 1:00 pm
Chemistry
Zhu, Cheng
The development of multifunctional scanning ion conductance for local physical property measurement
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Lane Baker, (812-856-1873)
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 2:30 pm
Chemistry
Hosseini, Seyyedamirhossein
Electrosynthesis: Bridging the Gap Between Organic and Analytical Chemistry
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Stephen Jacobson, (812-855-6620)
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 4:00 pm
Mathematics
Perera, Kaluthanthrige Dona
Pluripotential Theory Associated with Convex Bodies
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Norman Levenberg, (812-855-0957)
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 4:00 pm
Chemistry
Debnath, Sibali
Applications of Novel and Efficient Computational Methods to Unravel Structure-Property Relationships in Complex Molecules
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Krishnan Raghavachari, (812-856-1766)
Friday, November 20, 2020, 10:00 am
Linguistics
Zhang, Yiwen
Subjectivity and Nominal Property Concepts in Mandarin Chinese
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Thomas Grano, (812-856-5736)
Friday, November 20, 2020, 10:00 am
Sociology
Bodamer, Elizabeth
Do I Belong at This Law School? How Perceived Experiences of Bias, Stereotype Concerns, and Social Capital Influence Law Students' Sense of Belonging
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Ethan Michelson, (812-856-1521)
Thursday, December 03, 2020, 2:00 pm
Astrophysics (Astronomy)
Sun, Qinghui
Stellar Physics from Lithium in Open Clusters
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Constantine Deliyannis, (812-856-5197)
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, GRADUATE DIVISION
Monday, November 16, 2020, 10:00 am
Inquiry Methodology
Feng, Yanan
Effect Size Measures for Differential Item Functioning in Cognitive Diagnostic Models
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Dubravka Svetina, (812-856-3750)
SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS, COMPUTING, AND ENGINEERING, GRADUATE DIVISION
Thursday, October 29, 2020, 3:00 pm
Computer Science
Wang, Peng
Understanding and Mitigating Emerging Cybercrimes through Intelligent Data Analysis
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. XiaoFeng Wang, (812-856-1862)
Monday, November 09, 2020, 12:00 pm
Computer Science
Xie, Yuan
NEURAL NETWORKS BASED ALGORITHMS FOR LEARNING CONTEXUAL INFORMATION AND DISTRIBUTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Yuan Zhou, (412-228-2077)
Friday, November 13, 2020, 11:00 am
Computer Science
Vollmer, Michael
A Language-based Approach to Programming with Serialized Data
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Ryan Newton, (812-856-4205)
Monday, November 16, 2020, 12:30 pm
Computer Science
Wang, Xueqiang
Towards Intelligent and Scalable Security Analysis of Mobile and IoT Systems
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. XiaoFeng Wang, (812-856-1862)
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, GRADUATE DIVISION
Tuesday, November 17, 2020, 2:00 pm
Pharmacology
Zong, Xingyue
EZH2-Mediated Downregulation of the Tumor Suppressor DAB2IP Maintains Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Kenneth Nephew, (812-929-7728)
SCHOOL OF OPTOMETRY, GRADUATE DIVISION
Tuesday, October 27, 2020, 10:00 am
Vision Science
Warner, Raymond
Blood Flow Regulation in Small Parafoveal Vessels in the Human Retina
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Stephen Burns, (812-856-3713)
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS, GRADUATE DIVISION
Wednesday, November 04, 2020, 2:30 pm
Environmental Science
dos Santos Massoca, Paulo Eduardo
TACKLING DEFORESTATION AT SUBNATIONAL SCALES IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON: DIVERSE MUNICIPALITIES, AGENTS, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION IN A MOVING FRONTIER
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Eduardo Brondizio, (812-650-8483)
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Thursday, November 19, 2020, 11:00 am
Human Performance
Gang, Chinhoo
Understanding the Civic Potential of Football Fan Clubs: Tracing the Process of the Materialization of Civic Opportunities in the Lives of Highly Engaged Supporters
Remote Defense: Contact chair for details
Chair: Prof. Paul Pedersen, (812-855-4066)