Defense Notices


All students and faculty are welcome to attend the final defense of EECS graduate students completing their M.S. or Ph.D. degrees. Defense notices for M.S./Ph.D. presentations for this year and several previous years are listed below in reverse chronological order.

Students who are nearing the completion of their M.S./Ph.D. research should schedule their final defenses through the EECS graduate office at least THREE WEEKS PRIOR to their presentation date so that there is time to complete the degree requirements check, and post the presentation announcement online.

Upcoming Defense Notices

Vinay Kumar Reddy Budideti

NutriBot: An AI-Powered Personalized Nutrition Recommendation Chatbot Using Rasa

When & Where:


Eaton Hall, Room 2001B

Committee Members:

David Johnson, Chair
Victor Frost
Prasad Kulkarni


Abstract

In recent years, the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and healthcare has paved the way for intelligent dietary assistance. NutriBot is an AI-powered chatbot developed using the Rasa framework to deliver personalized nutrition recommendations based on user preferences, diet types, and nutritional goals. This full-stack system integrates Rasa NLU, a Flask backend, the Nutritionix API for real-time food data, and a React.js + Tailwind CSS frontend for seamless interaction. The system is containerized using Docker and deployable on cloud platforms like GCP.

The chatbot supports multi-turn conversations, slot-filling, and remembers user preferences such as dietary restrictions or nutrient focus (e.g., high protein). Evaluation of the system showed perfect intent and entity recognition accuracy, fast API response times, and user-friendly fallback handling. While NutriBot currently lacks persistent user profiles and multilingual support, it offers a highly accurate, scalable framework for future extensions such as fitness tracker integration, multilingual capabilities, and smart assistant deployment.


Past Defense Notices

Dates

PETER SPEER

The Study and Implementation of Electrically Small Micorstrip Antennas for an Integrated Transceiver Design

When & Where:


250 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Chris Allen, Chair
Shannon Blunt
Jim Stiles


Abstract


JOSEPH MAKAREWICZ

A Novel Method for Digital Image Acquisition from a Scanning Electron Microscope

When & Where:


2001B Eaton Hall

Committee Members:

Arvin Agah, Chair
Carl Leuschen
Brian Potetz


Abstract


SUYANG JU

Intelligent Approaches for Routing Protocol in Cognitive Ad-Hoc Networks

When & Where:


317 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Joseph Evans, Chair
Xue-Wen Chen
Gunes Ercal-Ozkaya
Erik Perrins
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan*

Abstract


QI CHEN

Wideband Channel Sounding Techniques for the Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Gary Minden, Chair
Erik Perrins
Jim Roberts
Alexander Wyglinski
Tyrone Duncan*

Abstract


DANIEL LEUNG

Robustness and Energy Efficient in Distributed Map Making of Small Autonomous Indoor Robots

When & Where:


2001B Eaton Hall

Committee Members:

Arvin Agah, Chair
Swapan Chakrabarti
Jerzy Grzymala-Busse
Brian Potetz
Sarah Kieweg*

Abstract


CHRISTOPHER REDFORD

Argumentation-Based Negotiation in Multi-Agent Systems

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Arvin Agah, Chair
Swapan Chakrabarti
Gunes Ercal-Ozkaya
Brian Potetz
Paul Atchley*

Abstract


PIYUSH UPADHYAY

Performance Optimization in Lossy Multihop Wireless Network Using Cross-Layer Interactions

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

James Sterbenz, Chair
Bo Luo
Gary Minden


Abstract


GEOFFREY AKERS

An Approach to GMTI Using Multiple Resolutions of Simultaneously Generated Multilook SAR Images

When & Where:


250 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Jim Stiles, Chair
Shannon Blunt
David Petr
Glenn Prescott
Tyrone Duncan*

Abstract


VICTOR JARA-OLIVARES

Temperate Ice Depth Sounder Radar (TIDSOR)

When & Where:


317 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Sivaprasad Gogineni, Chair
Christopher Allen
Carl Leuschen
Glenn Prescott
David Braaten*

Abstract


CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR

A Multi-Tiered Genetic Algorithm for Data Mining and Hypothesis Refinement

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Arvin Agah, Chair
Jerzy Grzymala-Busse
Xue-Wen Chen
Nancy Kinnersley
List Friis*

Abstract