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Thesis and Dissertation Writing Programs

In addition to one-on-one writing appointments, the Graduate Writing Center has a number of programs and workshops that offer support to dissertators and thesis writers.

During the academic year, the GWC offers single-session overview workshops on master's theses, dissertation proposals, and dissertation writing. Click our current schedule or browse past workshops to see when these topics may be offered. We also encourage you to look at relevant workshop videos .

Writing Groups

The Graduate Writing Center sometimes organizes writing groups of various types (online writing groups, facilitated writing groups, or independent writing groups). We are also happy to help groups of graduate students self-organize into writing groups. For best practices on setting up writing groups, see our writing groups resource page . For information about writing groups currently being offered or organized by the GWC, see our writing groups web page.

Master's Thesis Mentoring Program

The Graduate Writing Center offers a program to support graduate students who are working on master's theses (or other master's capstone projects) and doctoral qualifying papers. The program provides workshops and one-on-one writing appointments. For more information, read Master's Thesis Mentoring Program .

Spring Break Writing Retreats

The Graduate Writing Center offers writing retreats for graduate students who are working on master's theses, dissertation proposals, dissertations, and other writing projects. These programs are usually offered in spring break and summer. Retreats are open to all graduate and professional students. For more information and registration instructions for spring break writing retreats, scroll to the bottom of this web page and click on the relevant program. For programs offered during to the summer, go to the summer boot camp and thesis retreat page.

Summer Dissertation Boot Camps and Thesis Retreats

The Graduate Writing Center holds a number of programs during the summer to help graduate students who are at the dissertation and dissertation proposal stages. We also offer dissertation/thesis retreats during the summer. See our most current summer dissertation boot camp and program offerings for more information.

Spring Break Writing Retreat (All Fields) with Online and In Person Options

This program is for graduate or professional students who are writing large-scale projects like master's theses or capstones, doctoral dissertations or proposals, or manuscripts for publication. The program provides dedicated time to focus on your writing and has online and in-person options. For STEM students, it additionally offers workshops related to scientific writing issues. To read more and register, please see the program description below. Deadline to register is Monday, March 18th.

CLICK HERE for application and program details for spring break writing retreat.

SCHEDULE, March 25th – 27th (in person); March 25th – March 28th (online):

Daily Schedule: 9:00-10:00: Online productivity workshops & discussion 10:00-12:00: Online writing groups or individual work (in person) 12:00-1:00: Lunch break 1:00-2:00: Online Workshops or individual work 2:00-4:00: Online writing groups or individual work (in person)

Morning Online Productivity Workshops (9-10 am) Morning workshops will address project organization, time management, and productivity tips.

Online Writing Group or Individual Work If you are doing the retreat online, you will join online writing groups via Zoom at the designated times. If you are at the in-person location, you may work independently or join the online writing groups via Zoom.

How to Sign Up for the Writing Retreat : Fill out the web form (linked here) by Monday, March 18th . We don't anticipate any capacity issues, but if we have any, we will accept registrants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Morning Productivity Writing Workshops (9-10 am)

Monday, March 25th, 9:00–10:00 AM — Project Organization for Writing In this workshop, we will discuss how to set up an organized system for a large-scale research and writing project, especially the writing components.

Tuesday, March 26th, 9:00–10:00 AM—Time Management and Productivity Tips for Writing In this workshop, we will discuss effective strategies for time management, goal setting, and productivity when conducting large-scale research and writing projects, especially for the writing components.

Wednesday, March 27th, 9:00–10:00 AM — Demos of Tools Writing consultants will demo a couple of organizational tools and how they use these tools to support writing.

Afternoon Scientific Writing Workshops (1-2 pm)

Monday, March 25th, 1:00–2:00 PM — Strategies for Writing Effective Scientific Papers This workshop will address basic principles for writing scientific papers and offer strategies for avoiding common pitfalls. We will also introduce key points from Joshua Schimel's book Writing Science on developing good narrative structure and clarity to make writing engaging and impactful.

Tuesday, March 26th, 1:00–2:00 PM — Creating Effective Figures and Visual Aids This workshop focuses on strategies for designing effective figures and visual materials. The workshop will also introduce different software packages that can be used to create high-quality figures and offer further resources for learning these programs.

Wednesday, March 27th, 1:00–2:00 PM — Thesis and Dissertation Writing in STEM Fields (Final Stages) This workshop will give an overview of the final components and writing stages of a STEM thesis or dissertation.

Further Resources

Advice for Thesis Writing If you haven’t seen a final thesis or dissertation in your field, we recommend looking one from your department in the ProQuest Dissertation database available through the UCLA Library. This database allows you to search by institution, advisor, and manuscript type (master's thesis versus dissertation).

Optional Reading: Joan Bolker. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes A Day . 1998. Paul Silvia. How to Write a Lot . 2007.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

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Home » For Authors & Researchers » Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

1. Does UC require me to make my thesis/dissertation open access? 2. Can I delay open access to my thesis? 3. I’m working on my thesis/dissertation and I have copyright questions. Where can I find answers? 4. Where can I find UC Theses and Dissertations online?

1. Does UC require me to make my thesis/dissertation open access?

Several UC campuses have established policies requiring open access to the electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) written by their graduate students. As of March 25, 2020, there is now a systemwide Policy on Open Access for Theses and Dissertations , indicating that UC “requires theses or dissertations prepared at the University to be (1) deposited into an open access repository, and (2) freely and openly available to the public, subject to a requested delay of access (’embargo’) obtained by the student.”

In accordance with these policies, campuses must ensure that student ETDs are available open access via eScholarship (UC’s open access repository and publishing platform), at no cost to students. By contrast, ProQuest, the world’s largest commercial publisher of ETDs, charges a $95 fee to make an ETD open access. Institutions worldwide have moved toward open access ETD publication because it dramatically increases the visibility and reach of their graduate research.

Policies and procedures for ETD filing, including how to delay public release of an ETD and how long such a delay can last, vary by campus. Learn more :

• UC Berkeley: Dissertation Filing Guidelines (for Doctoral Students) and Thesis Filing Guidelines (for Master’s Students)
• UC Davis: Preparing and Filing Your Thesis or Dissertation
• UC Irvine: Thesis/Dissertation Electronic Submission
• UCLA: File Your Thesis or Dissertation
• UC Merced: Dissertation/Thesis Submission
• UC Riverside: Dissertation and Thesis Submission
• UC San Diego:  Preparing to Graduate
• UCSF: Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines
• UC Santa Barbara:  Filing Your Thesis, Dissertation, or DMA Supporting Document
• UC Santa Cruz: Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines (PDF) from the Graduate Division’s Accessing Forms Online page

2. Can I delay open access to my thesis/dissertation?

Some campuses allow students to elect an embargo period before the public release of their thesis/dissertation; others require approval from graduate advisors or administrators. Visit your local graduate division’s website (linked above) for more information.

In 2013, the American Historical Association released a statement calling for graduate programs to adopt policies for up to a six year embargo for history dissertations. Many scholars found this extreme, and a variety of commentators weighed in (see, e.g., discussions in The Atlantic , The Chronicle of Higher Education , and Inside Higher Ed ).  In addition, a memo from Rosemary Joyce, the Associate Dean of the Graduate Division of UC Berkeley, listed several advantages of releasing a dissertation immediately and added that “the potential disadvantages… remain anecdotal.” In the years since the flurry of writing responding to the AHA statement, the discussion of dissertation embargoes has continued, but the issues have remained largely the same. Thus, this memo from the UC Berkeley graduate dean (2013) remains an excellent summary.

3. I’m working on my thesis/dissertation and I have copyright questions. Where can I find answers?

Students writing theses/dissertations most commonly have questions about their own copyright ownership or the use of other people’s copyrighted materials in their own work.

You automatically own the copyright in your thesis/dissertation   as soon as you create it , regardless of whether you register it or include a copyright page or copyright notice. Most students choose not to register their copyrights, though some choose to do so because they value having their copyright ownership officially and publicly recorded. Getting a copyright registered is required before you can sue someone for infringement.

If you decide to register your copyright, you can do so

• directly, through the Copyright Office website , for $35
• by having ProQuest/UMI contact the Copyright Office on your behalf, for $65.

It is common to incorporate 1) writing you have done for journal articles as part of your dissertation, and 2) parts of your dissertation into articles or books . See, for example, these articles from Wiley and Taylor & Francis giving authors tips on how to successfully turn dissertations into articles, or these pages at Sage , Springer , and Elsevier listing reuse in a thesis or dissertation as a common right of authors. Because this is a well-known practice, and often explicitly allowed in publishers’ contracts with authors, it rarely raises copyright concerns. eScholarship , which hosts over 55,000 UC ETDs, has never received a takedown notice from a publisher based on a complaint that the author’s ETD was too similar to the author’s published work.

Incorporating the works of others in your thesis/dissertation – such as quotations or illustrative images – is often allowed by copyright law. This is the case when the original work isn’t protected by copyright, or if the way you’re using the work would be considered fair use. In some circumstances, however, you will need permission from the copyright holder.  For more information, please consult the Berkeley Library’s guide to Copyright and Publishing Your Dissertation .

For more in depth information about copyright generally, visit the UC Copyright site.

4. Where can I find UC Dissertations and Theses online?

All ten UC campuses make their electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) openly accessible to readers around the world. You can view over 55,000 UC ETDs in eScholarship , UC’s open access repository. View ETDs from each campus:

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Dissertations at UCLA and Beyond

• Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Foreign Dissertations Search the CRL Catalog for dissertations already held at the Center. If a foreign dissertation is not at CRL, UCLA's Interlibrary Loan Service will request that CRL acquire it for your use. This special issue of Focus on Global Resources describes CRL's extensive collection of foreign dissertations.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations This international organization promotes the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic analogues to traditional paper-based theses and dissertations in order to more effectively share knowledge.

Selected Dissertations - Architecture & Urban Design

• Architecture
• The search for a theory in architecture : Anglo-American debates, 1957-1976 / Louis Martin. Thesis--Ph.D.; Princeton University, 2002.
• Affordable Housing in High Opportunity Areas : Insights for Fair Housing Advocates / by Emmanuel Proussaloglou Thesis--M.U.R.P.; University of California, Los Angeles, 2023.
• Connecting Pico : a study of alternatives to re-knit the Pico Neighborhood that was divided by the I-10 freeway in Santa Monica, California / by Cecilia Garcia Urban Planning Project (M.A.)--UCLA, 2010.
• Streetscape improvement recommendations: CRA/LA Cleantech Corridor / by Daniel Caroselli Urban Planning Project (M.A.)--UCLA, 2011.
• Politics and the adoption of local development policies in Southern California cities / by Todd Andrew Donovan Dissertation--Ph. D.; University of California, Riverside, 1991.
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• Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 8:42 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.ucla.edu/architecture

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Ph.D. Dissertations A comprehensive list of the Ph.D. dissertations written at UCLA Linguistics over the last 50+ years.

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M.A. Recipients & Theses A comprehensive list of the M.A. papers and theses written at UCLA Linguistics over the last 30+ years.

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Final Oral Exams & Dissertation Filing

Final oral exam, preparation:.

Students must schedule the Final Oral Exam at least four weeks in advance of the Final Oral with the  Graduate Advising Supervisor .

If any of your doctoral committee members have changed, complete a Reconstitution of Doctoral Committee Form (see below under FORMS) and submit it to the Graduate Advising Supervisor with the appropriate signatures (except the Department Chair’s signature). This form must be submitted at least four weeks prior to the Final Oral.

Effective Fall 2022, only one doctoral committee member (never the student or chair/co-chairs) may participate remotely in a final defense. The Grad Council has authorized Grad Division to review exceptions for remote participation of student and multiple committee members in extraordinary circumstances. Please inform Grad Advising Supervisor if anyone will need to participate remotely at least 1 month in advance of the exam so the exception request can be submitted for review and approval. If the exam will be remote, the student must coordinate the details of the exam and may contact Psych IT at https://www.psych.ucla.edu/admin-units/information-technology/. Please note: Students are not allowed to provide food or drink for the Final Oral Examinations.

Submit these forms below to the Graduate Advising Supervisor at least four weeks prior to your Final Oral Exam.

• Final Announcement Form : Please print out the  SAMPLE  announcement and use this as a guide. Be sure to accurately list your committee member’s full title (i.e., If committee member is a Professor in Residence, this entire title must be listed on the announcement.)
• Reconstitution of Doctoral Committee Information  (if applicable)

Dissertation Filing

• Please note that you must be registered the quarter you file your dissertation or the previous quarter.
• Doctoral Filing Fee Status : Complete the form ( paper form  or electronic form) if you are eligible to submit a filing fee in lieu of registration. Read the terms on the form carefully. You must obtain your Doctoral Chair and committee member’s signatures, but the Graduate Advising Supervisor will submit the form on your behalf. Submit this form to the Graduate Advising Supervisor no later than Friday of Week 1 of the quarter you plan to file.
• Information about the electronic filing process and formatting requirements for the dissertation can be found on the  Graduate Division’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation website .
• Once you have filed, declare non-attendance on MyUCLA for the subsequent quarter in order to not be assessed fees.

Filing Deadlines 

Graduate Division Official Filing Deadlines : UCLA has specified dissertation filing deadlines each quarter. Degrees to be officially conferred during a particular quarter must be filed by the posted filing deadline for that quarter. Please review the posted filing deadlines and remember that the deadline is at 5pm on the specific days noted.

If you file your dissertation by the official filing deadlines for each quarter, your degree date will be the last day of the quarter in which you filed. If you file your dissertation  after  the official filing deadline but before the start of the next quarter, your degree date will be the last day of the subsequent quarter.

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UCLA Graduate Programs

Dissertation Year Award

This program is intended to support doctoral students who are advanced to candidacy at the time of nomination by their department to the Division of Graduate Education.  Applicants should be within one year of completing and filing the dissertation and planning to start teaching or research appointments soon after the end of their dissertation award year.

For additional information on the DYA program, please see the Graduate Student Financial Support publication.

Eligibility

The program is open to UCLA doctoral students in all fields of study who:

• Are officially advanced to doctoral candidacy at the time they are nominated by their departments (for 2024-25, by March 22, 2024). “Officially” means ATC documents have been received by the Division of Graduate Education’s Academic Services;
• Will file their dissertations within 12 months of beginning their awards. The thoroughness with which nominees have provided details in their application for completion of their dissertation is an important element in assessing their candidacy for a Dissertation Year Award;
• Are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, international or registered California AB540 students. For international students, funding is subject to award eligibility in regards to visa type. For those under AB540, funding will be provided only if AB131 is still in effect for the duration of the award.

DYA recipients are not eligible to receive Division of Graduate Education funding of any kind after the last DYA payment has been issued. Students who have previously received any dissertation award from Division of Graduate Education funds (such as, but not limited to, a Distinguished TA Dissertation Year Award) or have received dissertation funding from other sources specifically for the last year of write-up also are not eligible.

Students may apply for the DYA in only one doctoral degree program.

Award Amount

Program participants will receive a $20,000 in student financial support plus standard tuition and fees (excluding nonresident supplemental tuition and professional degree supplemental tuition).

February 16, 2024

Applications that are not submitted on time, fail to follow the submission procedures listed below or forwarded as an incomplete application will be disqualified and not reviewed.  Applicants/departments will not be notified. Revisions to applications after submission are not allowed; no exceptions.

By applying, students understand that they are giving their consent to disclose application information to University officials and to relevant funding committees.

Applicants must be nominated by their department, IDP or school. To apply for nomination, students must:

• Students must go to the 2024-25 Merit-Based Awards Application for Continuing Graduate Students site at: https://grad.ucla.edu/funding/financial-aid/funding-for-continuing-students/fellowship-application/
• Select the award application option.
• Review the instructions entirely prior to starting the application.
• Complete each section in order. The application sections are dynamic, so the application modifies the sections according to the entries.
• Basic Information, Citizenship & UID, Major & GPA must be filled out for all awards.
• motivation, context and/or foreground for the research;
• question or hypothesis being addressed;
• theoretical framework, experimental approach or research methodology;
• preliminary findings;
• innovation, significance and/or impact of the work.
• Typically, the abstract is about 150 to a maximum of 300 words in length. It is essential that it be written for faculty who may not be expert in the student’s field of research.
• A brief introduction that provides background and context for the work.
• If applicable, the plan should include information on sampling, instrumentation, data sources and collection, analyses and expected results. A synopsis of preliminary results or analyses may be incorporated as space permits.
• A detailed timeline with projected monthly progress for the remaining research, writing, revision and defense of the dissertation (see “Activation Term Selection” section below).
• The Proposed Plan must be a maximum of four pages double spaced. Minimum font size is 11 pt., with at least 1” margins. Any images, captions, graphs, tables, notes and/or references may be single spaced, but must be 11pt. font and included within the four pages. Pages in excess of four pages will not be forwarded for review.
• Provide faculty mentor information in the DYA section
• Students who have incomplete grades that remain unresolved (i.e., “I” grades) must provide a statement explaining the reason for the incomplete(s), the steps that will be taken to resolve the incomplete(s) and the timeline for doing so.
• A Personal Statement is required. The statement must include the student’s career goals after receiving the degree (maximum two pages, double-spaced, 11 pt font with 1” margins).
• Education (degrees earned and in progress, with dates; date of advancement to doctoral candidacy)
• Extramural, departmental and Division of Graduate Education awards and prizes (include year and amount)
• Published and submitted manuscripts, if any, while a doctoral student at UCLA. Provide full citations, including start/end pages. Do not include manuscripts in preparation.
• Conference presentations, if any, while a doctoral student at UCLA. Indicate the conference date and place, and whether it was a poster or oral presentation. If there are multiple authors, place an asterisk by the name of the presenter.
• Other creative, academic and professional contributions in the student’s field, such as performances, exhibits, community and public service.
• References should emphasize academic accomplishments, degree progress and feasibility of completing the dissertation within the 12-month period proposed by the applicant.
• It will be the student’s responsibility to ensure that the letter has been submitted on time. Be sure to follow up with the recommender as needed. The online site will provide information about the status of the letter’s upload.  The Division of Graduate Education is not responsible whatsoever in contacting recommenders.
• The letter of recommendation is due on or before the application deadline. Applications missing the letter of recommendation or with letters not submitted on time will be disqualified and not reviewed. Applicants/departments will not be notified.

NOTE: Applications that are not submitted on time, fail to follow the submission procedures listed above or forwarded as an incomplete application will be disqualified and not reviewed.  Applicants/departments will not be notified  Revisions to applications after submission are not allowed; no exceptions.

Expectations

Award recipients should complete all degree requirements within 12 months of beginning their dissertation awards and will be asked to submit a report of their progress at the midpoint.

Failure to submit a progress report by the deadline will result in suspension of payment for subsequent terms.

Recipients must be registered and enrolled in at least 12 units during the entire academic year. Registration/enrollment is not required for summer payments. Awardees starting their DYA on July 1 must have been registered/enrolled in the previous Spring and must plan to register/enroll in the following Fall. If not, their summer funding will be cancelled, and it will have to be repaid.

Awardees may not work more than 50% time nor exceed the maximum limit of merit-based support.

Activation term.

Awardees will have the option to select one of three DYA start dates: July 1, October 1 or January 1. Whichever start date is selected, the awardee will have 12 months during which to complete and file the dissertation. In the application, please propose one of these activation dates. This is essential information for reviewers to evaluate the likelihood that the work will be completed within the proposed time frame.

Hints to Prepare a Strong Application

The proposal should be written so that the work will be understandable and its significance appreciated by faculty who may not be expert in the applicant’s field.

The proposal should outline, in a manner appropriate to the subject or discipline:

• question(s), thesis or hypothesis that will be developed;
• scope of the research and the research approach, plan or methodology;
• significance, originality and/or and anticipated impact of the work.

An important review criterion is whether the applicant has provided substantial and compelling evidence that the dissertation can be completed within the funded year.

Each letter of recommendation should address the merits (e.g., quality, originality, significance) of the scholarship or research, as well as the distinction of the applicant. The letter must clearly state the likelihood the applicant will complete the dissertation within the time frame described in the applicant’s proposal.

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UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations

• UCLA Previously Published Works

Architecture, a Technique of Environmental Governance

• Fox, Gary Riichirō
• Advisor(s): Lavin, Sylvia

This dissertation traces the emergence and development of the environmental-managerial project by which federal bureaucracy in the United States sought to administer the visual environment after about 1970. Although this effort relied on interdisciplinary practices and techniques, architects became principal actors in these workings of the administrative state: architects, initially, offered the projective visualization procedures through which state officials sought to account for environmental ‘degradation,’ but eventually, and perhaps more crucially, these practitioners laid out theoretical frameworks for the concept of the aesthetic which afforded a legally specified lens for assessing the value of particular environments. On one hand, the governmental strategies that transformed nuclear reactors, highways, strip mines, and other forms of environmental disturbance into phenomena that existed primarily on an optical register clearly belonged to a broader governmental strategy of pacification. On the other hand, turning to vocabularies and concepts traditionally rooted in the ineffable, subjective traditions of aesthetics and taste undermined the drive toward data management and quantified systems of accountability that otherwise characterized the operations of the administrative state. That the effort to reconcile these contradictions required recourse to a distinct array of art-historical, psychological, economic, and statistical procedures, often at odds with one another, reveals conceptual, procedural, and practical conflicts at the base of the managerial approach to the environment in the U.S., as well as the lasting infiltration of these systems into the self-redefinition of architecture as primarily a profession of image managers. Through examination of a wide range of archival sources, this dissertation attends closely to the mechanics of this historical development—the incremental processes of visualizing, psychologizing, quantifying, and projecting that constituted the chain of techniques by which the aesthetic came to be submitted to regimes of governance in the U.S., as well as their effects, intended and otherwise— which together operated to fabricate consensus around the increasingly unmanageable problem of the environment. It is this process of fabrication, the process by which the management of beauty came to constitute a powerful technique useful to “democracy,” that this dissertation traces.

Movement of the People: Teacher Development in a Teacher-�led Inquiry Group and the Application of Teacher Generated Knowledge

• Martinez, Antonio Nieves
• Advisor(s): Howard, Tyrone

In an attempt to identify ways to develop effective urban teachers, this study examined a grassroots form of teacher development. This year‑long study examined the efforts of a grassroots community based organization creating teachers‑led professional development for teachers. Teachers'ʹ perceptions were explored to understand how this approach to professional development impacted their pedagogy and the ways they believed they were able to more effectively serve their students. Utilizing critical pedagogy and postcolonial theory as analytic frames, this study deconstructed the complex process of teacher development in bi-�weekly inquiry group meetings. The findings from this research suggest that this teacher-�led inquiry group supported participants in developing the critical capacity to make sense of hegemonic discourses as they engaged in humanizing spaces for learning. Findings also reveal that participants leverage this teacher-�led space for learning to build their network of support and create curriculum that honored the lives and communities of Black and Latino students. The participants were a convenience sample of seven educators that voluntarily attended a bi-�monthly teacher-�led inquiry group during the 2012‑2013 school year, worked in public and charter schools in South Los Angeles, and taught across academic disciplines. This qualitative case study drew from ethnographic approaches relying on traditional data collection strategies such as field notes, a review of teachers' curriculum and other artifacts, and teacher interviews.

Thermal Transport in Heterogeneous Nanostructures

• Advisor(s): Hu, Yongjie

Heterogeneous nanostructures involve nanoscale interfaces with different materials components, such as matrix and fillers in composites, stacking planer structures in electronics, and aggregates of nanomaterials. Thermal transport in heterogenous nanostructures is critical to the safety and performance of various applications ranging from high temperature turbines, microelectronics, solar cells, thermoelectrics, buildings’ thermal management and so on. However, it remains challenging to achieve rational control of the thermal properties in heterogeneous nanostructures due to limitations in current characterization techniques and fundamental understandings of interface thermal transport. My PhD research focuses on developing new thermal measurement techniques and investigating fundamental interface transport mechanisms through the combination of experiments and modeling, to provide rational control over heterogeneous nanostructures for better addressing practical heat management and energy conversion problems using nanoengineering. The study of thermal transport in heterogeneous nanostructures in my dissertation spans from technical development of new tools, experimental measurements at nanoscale interfaces and porous structures, and atomistic modelling of fundamental transport physics to practical device applications. First, I have developed a new metrology based on asymmetric beam time-domain thermoreflectance (AB-TDTR) that enables accurate measurements over three-dimensional thermal transport. Through the design of an asymmetric laser beam with controlled elliptical ratio and spot size, the experimental signals can be exploited to be dominantly sensitive to measure anisotropic thermal conductivity along the cross-plane or any specific in-plane directions. I have further applied this new approach to investigate anisotropic transport phenomena that enables unique applications. Second, I have explored the effects of crystal orientations and dipole-dipole interactions on interface thermal transport. In particular, for the first time, we have observed a record-high anisotropy ratio of 3.25 in the thermal boundary resistance across a prototype two-dimensional material, i.e., black phosphorus. Moreover, my study has resulted in the first observation of strong effects from long-range molecular dipole-dipole interactions on interface thermal transport. In addition, I have also investigated the heterogeneous integration of our recently developed new high thermal conductivity materials with prototyped high-power semiconductor, i.e., gallium nitride. Our in-situ measurement demonstrated substantially reduced hot-spot temperatures in devices using boron arsenide cooling substrates, beyond the best state-of-the-art HEMTs using diamond or silicon carbide. Lastly, I have investigated thermal transport in porous and mesoporous structures, including super-hydrophobic polymer aerogel, transparent mesoporous silica, and flexible tin selenide nanosheet films for applications in buildings, windows, and thermoelectric energy conversion.

Tailoring the Magnetic and Magnetoelectric Properties of Nanostructured Materials Using Solution-Phase Methods

• Robbennolt, Shauna
• Advisor(s): Tolbert, Sarah H

Magnetic nanomaterials are an important and widely studied class of materials with a wide variety of applications. The work presented here is aimed at both developing techniques to control the nanoscale structure of these materials and understanding the relationship between that structure and the overall material properties. The techniques used here are primarily solution-phase methods which offer a high degree of control and versatility.

The first part of this work is focused on thin films of magnetic oxide materials which are particularly applicable to radio frequency (RF) devices. Here, both sol-gel and nanocrystal precursors are used to create thin films where the film composition, grain size and porosity are controllably tuned. We then investigated both the static and dynamic magnetic properties of the films to better understand how the nanoscale structure impacts the overall properties. These investigations provide valuable insights that can allow us to design materials with properties tailored to meet the requirements of individual devices. Importantly, these insights are applicable to a wide variety of magnetic materials and are not limited to the specific materials studied here.

The second part of this work is focused on metallic alloy nanocrystals which have potential applications as elements in high density data storage devices. First, in chapter 5, the magnetoelectric properties of FePd nanocrystals is investigated. FePd is a good candidate for use in magnetoelectric memory devices which are highly energy efficient. By using nanocrystals of FePd, we hope to find a route to potentially reducing bit size in those devices which can lead to increased data storage densities. Then, in chapter 6, we move on to explore shape effects by looking at FePt nanorods. FePt has a very high magnetic anisotropy which in memory devices translates to increased bit stability and potentially allows for smaller bit sizes. In nanorods, shape anisotropy can enhance the already high magnetic anisotropy to create even stronger nanomagnets.

Optimization, Characterization and Commissioning of a Novel Uniform Scanning Proton Beam Delivery System

• Mascia, Anthony Edward
• Advisor(s): Low, Daniel

Purpose: To develop and characterize the required detectors for uniform scanning optimization and characterization, and to develop the methodology and assess their efficacy for optimizing, characterizing and commissioning a novel proton beam uniform scanning system.

Methods and Materials: The Multi Layer Ion Chamber (MLIC), a 1D array of vented parallel plate ion chambers, was developed in-house for measurement of longitudinal profiles. The Matrixx detector (IBA Dosimetry, Germany) and XOmat V film (Kodak, USA) were characterized for measurement of transverse profiles. The architecture of the uniform scanning system was developed and then optimized and characterized for clinical proton radiotherapy.

Results: The MLIC detector significantly increased data collection efficiency without sacrificing data quality. The MLIC was capable of integrating an entire scanned and layer stacked proton field with one measurement, producing results with the equivalent spatial sampling of 1.0mm. The Matrixx detector and modified 1D water phantom jig improved data acquisition efficiency and complemented the film measurements. The proximal, central and distal proton field planes

were measured using these methods, yielding better than 3% uniformity. The binary range modulator was programmed, optimized and characterized such that the proton field ranges were separated by approximately 5.0mm modulation width and delivered with an accuracy of 1.0mm in water. Several wobbling magnet scan patterns were evaluated and the raster pattern, spot spacing, scan amplitude and overscan margin were optimized for clinical use.

Conclusion: Novel detectors and methods are required for clinically efficient optimization and characterization of proton beam scanning systems. Uniform scanning produces proton beam fields that are suited for clinical proton radiotherapy.

Predicting Musical Genres using Deep Learning and Ensembling

• Sang, Andrew Minkyu
• Advisor(s): Wu, Yingnian

Automatic Music Genre Classification is a core problem in the Music Information Retrieval space. The classification approach detailed in this paper involves: using musical features from the Million Song Dataset, augmenting the musical dataset with lyrics and cover art images, building a deep learning model for each of the three different types of inputs, and then ensembling the predictions from the individual models using a gradient boosted machine. Ensembling resulted in an 8.6% increase in F1 score over the best individual model while maintaining a similar level of accuracy. This framework may be successfully applied to other problems with multimodal inputs.

Novel Coding Strategies for Multi-Level Non-Volatile Memories

• Sala, Frederic
• Advisor(s): Dolecek, Lara

Non-volatile memories (NVMs) are the most important modern data storage technology. Despite their significant advantages, NVMs suffer from poor reliability due to issues such as voltage drift over time, overwriting, and inter-cell coupling. This thesis applies coding-theoretic techniques to NVMs in order to improve their reliability and extend their lifetimes. In particular, we focus on two classes of problems: those related to the use of thresholds to read memory cells, and those related to inter-cell coupling in the data representation scheme known as rank modulation.

The first part of the thesis develops the concept of dynamic thresholds. In NVMs, reading stored data is typically done by comparing cell values against a set of predetermined, fixed threshold references. However, due to common NVM problems, fixed threshold usage often results in significant asymmetric errors. To combat these problems, the notion of dynamic thresholds was recently introduced. Such thresholds are allowed to change in order to react to changes in cell value distributions. Thus far, dynamic thresholds have been applied to the reading of binary sequences in memories with single-level cells (SLCs).

In this work, the use of dynamic thresholds for multi-level cell (MLC) memories is explored. A general scheme to compute and apply dynamic thresholds is provided. We derive a series of performance results, based on both practical considerations and theoretical analysis. We show that the proposed threshold scheme compares favorably with the best-possible threshold scheme. Finally, we develop error-correcting codes that are tailored to take advantage of the properties of dynamic thresholds. Code constructions are provided for different channel models, including those allowing limited and unlimited numbers of errors of varying magnitude limitations.

The second part of this thesis is focused on the application of constrained coding to rank modulation. Rank modulation is an MLC NVM scheme where information is represented by the rankings of charge levels in an entire block of cells, rather than the absolute charge level of any particular cell. This scheme resolves certain NVM problems, including write-asymmetry, as it allows for a transition from any information state to any other solely through the addition of charge to an appropriate subset of cells. However, the scheme still suffers from inter-cell coupling errors. Such errors are due to inadvertent charge level increases in cells whose neighboring cells have significantly larger levels.

We introduce constraints that mitigate the inter-cell coupling problem in rank modulation. These constraints typically limit the differences between the ranks of neighboring elements in a permutation, and thus limit the charge level differences between adjacent cells, reducing inter-cell coupling effects. In particular, we analyze the single neighbor k-constraint, where neighboring cells' ranks cannot differ by more than k. We provide the best-known bounds for the sizes of sets meeting this constraint, and, for certain cases where the parameter k involves a constant term, we derive exact expressions. We perform an asymptotic analysis. Lastly, we introduce an efficient scheme that allows us to systematically generate constrained permutations.

Differences in perceptions of health care between Asian Americans and non-Hispanic whites on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Clinician and Group Adult Visit Survey 1.0.

• Ahmedov, Mohirjon
• Advisor(s): Hays, Ronald D

Racial/ethnic disparities in patient experiences are widely reported. Asian Americans (Asians) consistently report worse care experiences in the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) surveys than non-Hispanic whites (Whites). However, little is known whether these race/ethnic differences in reports and ratings are due to differences in care experiences or differential response tendencies.

This dissertation consists of three studies. The first study compares reports and ratings of care between Asians and Whites using ordinary least squares analyses. The second study evaluates whether the hypothesized factor structure underlying the scoring of the CAHPS survey is confirmed in the survey dataset using categorical confirmatory factor analytic models. The third paper evaluates measurement invariance between Asians and Whites using a multiple group confirmatory factor analysis. The dissertation uses the Clinician & Group CAHPS Adult Visit Surveys 1.0 data collected in 2011.

In the first study, Asians reported worse care experiences on access to care, office staff courtesy and helpfulness, rated their doctor lower and were less likely to recommend their doctor to family and friends than Whites. On physician communication, no significant difference was noted between Asians and Whites. The reported differences in care experiences between Asians and Whites are likely due to real racial/ethnic differences in care received rather than lack of measurement invariance. The study findings have several important policy implications and provide directions for future research. Quality improvement initiatives in primary care need to be tailored towards reducing racial/ethnic differences in care. Further research will be needed to understand what are the underlying reasons for differential care for Asians and Whites in ambulatory care.

Unveiling the Structure-performance Relationship of the Cathode and Anode Catalyst in Electrochemical Water-splitting

• Liu, Haotian
• Advisor(s): Huang, Yu

Carbon neutrality has been the most popular topic of the twenty-first century. Substitutingnon-sustainable fossil fuels with the cleaner energy source hydrogen is a viable strategy for reducing total carbon footprints, but the conventional method of hydrogen production is energy-intensive and polluting. Water electrolysis stands out among all hydrogen production methods due to its low instrumentation requirements and high efficiency. However, water electrolysis costs have yet to be reduced. By engineering the catalysts used at the cathode and anode, the focus of this thesis will be to improve the water electrolysis efficiency and material durability. In addition, corresponding theory is studied in order to reveal the structureperformance relationship of the catalyst, which provides perspective and theoretical support for the design of future catalysts.

In the first chapter, I will briefly describe the current status of global carbon production.The rationale for selecting water electrolysis is then presented, along with an overview of water electrolysis devices.

In the second chapter, I will describe our work (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 29, 9046–9050) on improving the performance of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by applyingsurface engineering to PtNi alloy. Hydrogen holds the potential of replacing nonrenewable fossil fuel. Improving the efficiency of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical for environmental friendly hydrogen generation through electrochemical or photoelectrochemical water splitting. Here we report the surface-engineered PtNi-O nanoparticles with enriched NiO/PtNi interface on surface. Notably, PtNi-O/C showed a mass activity of 7.23 mA/μg at an overpotential of 70 mV, which is 7.9 times higher compared to that of the commercial Pt/C, representing the highest reported mass activity for HER in alkaline conditions. The HER overpotential can be lowered to 39.8 mV at 10 mA/cm2 when platinum loading was only 5.1 μgPt/cm2, showing exceptional HER efficiency. The performance improvement could be attributed to the successful creation of Ni(OH)2/Pt(111) interface. Ni(OH)2 facilitated H2O molecule to be adsorbed on the surface as the first step of HER, and then recombination on the Pt(111) surface happened. Thus, the overall potential needed was decreased. Meanwhile, the prepared PtNi-O/C nanostructures demonstrated significantly improved stability as well as high current performance which are well over those of the commercial Pt/C and demonstrated capability of scaled hydrogen generation.

In the third chapter, I will demonstrate continuation of the last work, which is furtherimproving the alkaline HER performance on Pt-based alloy. Lattice tuning is one of the effective ways to optimize the HER performance on Pt-based alloy. Here, we report a facile lattice tuning method on Pt-based alloy using Cu addition to control the lattice parameter for optimal HER performacne. During the performance evaluation, PtCuNi/C and PtCuNi- O/C showed an average overpotential of 38.8 mV and 31.3 mV at 10 mA/cm2, respectively. The overpotential of PtCuNi-O/C is dramatically smaller than that of commercial Pt/C (115.2 mV). At an overpotential of 70 mV (-70 mV vs. RHE), the octahedral PtCuNi/C presents a mass activity (MA) of 4.9 mA/μgPt, while the PtCuNi-O/C demonstrates a MA of 8.7 mA/μgPt, which is nearly 9.5 folds to that of the commercial Pt/C (0.92 mA/μgPt). Also, the PtCuNi-O/C can reach a current density of 114 mA/cm2 at -0.2 V vs. RHE without iR compensation, which is well above that of Pt/C (22.4 mA/cm2), indicating a promising potential for the industrial scale hydrogen production. For the stability test, in contrast to the 160.1 mV potential drop for the Pt/C, there was only 55.5 mV, 48.2 mV potential drop for octahedral PtCuNi/C, PtCuNi-O/C, correspondingly, showing a significantly improved durability. Moreover, the dealloyed nanocatalysts showed the best performance when the lattice parameter is in the range of 0.3825-0.3835 nm for both PtNi-O/C and PtCuNi-O/C. In the fourth chapter, the main focus will be on the anode side featuring oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acidic media. Developing durable non-precious catalysts for the acidic OER is crucial for the hydrogen production industry. In this regard, we report a facile strategy to synthesize the cobalt-based spinel oxide for the acidic OER with ultrahigh activity and outstanding durability. Specifically, the as-prepared NiCo2O4 delivered a low overpotential of 407 mV vs. reversible hydrogen electrode at 100 mA/cm2 and only a 68.9 mV increase at 10 mA/cm2 after 20 hours of chronopotentiometry test. Ex situ x-ray absorption spectroscopy studies revealed that Ni mainly occupies the octahedral site. In situ x-ray absorption spectroscopy studies demonstrated that adding Ni helped minimize the structure change during the OER, leading to NiCo2O4’s outstanding durability. Density functional theory calculations demonstrated that the OER overpotential is lowered by 90 mV on the NiCo2O4 surface compared to that of Co3O4. The acidic OER on the NiCo2O4 spinel structure undergoes a kinetically more favorable direct O-O coupling mechanism rather than the adsorbate evolution mechanism, which was seldom reported regarding acidic OER on non-precious metal oxides. We showcase an ideal way to produce cobalt-based spinel oxides following direct O-O coupling mechanism design rules, achieving promising acidic OER performance cost-effectively.

The last chapter generally conclude the content covered in the thesis and provided someperspective on future catalyst design and scale-up applications.

Analysis of Existing Severity Scores and Development of New Models for Hospital Mortality Prediction

• Baden, Lucy Marie
• Advisor(s): Paik Schoenberg, Frederic R

Severity scoring systems are frequently used in hospital intensive care units to assess patient wellness and mortality probability. Accurate mortality predictions are vital to provide appropriate and timely treatments to critical patients. However, commonly used severity scores have been found to make inaccurate mortality predictions. In this paper, we assess and compare four popular severity scores for both discrimination and calibration. We apply logistic regression, random forest, and neural network classification techniques in order to present new mortality prediction models, and compare their performance with pre-existing scores. We also compare the use of a basic set of predictor features that can be easily collected in the ICU environment with an expanded predictor set including laboratory diagnostics. Newly developed models improved on existing severity scores in terms of discrimination, with random forest providing the best results, but often demonstrated poor calibration. The expanded variable set did not improve model performance.

Current and Recent Dissertations

The following Doctoral Dissertations, organized by graduation year, reflect the breadth and depth that characterize the research of our graduate students. Digital access is provided through the  University of California Digital Library , our institutional repository. Additionally, the abstracts of theses and dissertations worldwide are indexed by  ProQuest . 

For Dissertations since 2000, click here .

Dissertations In Progress

Recent dissertations – 2012 to 2023.

Madison Felman-Panagotacos,  Hagiographies of Maternal Bodies: Corporality, Abortion, and Citizenship  in Argentina. [ Advisor: Adriana Bergero] (June 2023)

Julia Gonzalez Calderon,  Negra memoria: la narrativa policial centroamericana en la era del neoliberalismo.  [Advisor: Patricia Arroyo-Calderon]  (June 2023)

Isaac Gimenez,  Crise autoral e apropriações textuais: Corpo e poesia performativa no Brasil, 1920-2020. [ Advisors: Patricia Lino & Jose Luiz Passos]   (June 2023)

Tania Varela,  Adapting Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso for Iberian Readerships: Jerónimo de Urrea’s Spanish Translation and its Sephardic Adaptation (Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Canon. Or. 6)  [Advisor: John Dagenais] (June 2023)

João Paulo Temporão Albuquerque, Postcolonial (Mock-)Epic Narratives: Reading Mário de Andrade with Jorge Luis Borges.   [Advisor: Jose Luiz Passos] (March 2022)

Esther Claudio, Historical Memory in Post-Francoist Spanish Graphic Narrative [Advisor: Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2022)

Roxana Colon-Cosm e, “Dezir quiero de Granada, todo quanto he visto en ella”: A Geocritical Approach to Sixteenth Century Iberian pliegos sueltos. [Advisor: John Dagenais] (June 2022)

Audrey Larkin, Lunar Wastelands to Fertile Fields: Representations of the Landscape in Mexican Novels, Illustrations, and Film Adaptations (1899-2019) [Advisor: Maarten van Delden] (June 2022)

Chak Han (Laura) Lee, Modernity in Transition: Roberto Arlt’s Aguafuertes porteñas.   [Advisor: Veronica Cortinez] (March 2022)

Adelmar Ramirez, Ficciones especulares: formas intermediadas de representación y exégesis de la violencia en la literatura contemporánea mexicana y argentina. [Advisors: Adriana Bergero and Jorge Marturano] (June 2022)

Gemma Repiso Puigdelliura, The Development of Cross-linguistic Transfer: The Case of  Word-External Repairs of Empty Onsets in Spanish Heritage Speakers. [Advisor: Ji Young Kim] (June 2022)

Jesus Jose Silveyra, An e-Learning Lesson on the First Commercial Spanish Theaters. A Non-Traditional Dissertation [Advisor: Barbara Fuchs] (Fall 2022)

Carolina Beltran,  Nature, Nation and Animality in the Discourse of Literary Indigenismo: Case Studies in Peru, Mexico & the American Southwest, 1920-1974   .  [Advisor: Efrain Kristal] (March 2021)

Juliana Espinal,  Representaciones de la violencia paramilitar en la Colombia del siglo XXI.  [Advisor: Veronica Cortinez] (June 2021)

Barbara Galindo,  Vidas Huérfanas, Ciudades Torturadas y Derechos Humanos Ecosociales: Representaciones Culturales del Terror Minero en los Andes.  [Advisor: Adriana Bergero] (June 2021)

Jesus Galleres,  Ira, humillación, Deseo De Venganza y Luchas De Prestigio: Un Acercamiento Al Papel De Las Pasiones En Las Novelas políticas De Mario Vargas Llosa y Alonso Cueto Que Tratan épocas Dictatoriales y De insurrección.  [Advisor: Efrain Kristal] (March 2021)

Laura Muñoz Franco,  Communities of Playmaking: Guillén de Castro in the Development of the Comedia.   [Advisor: Barbara Fuchs] (June 2021)

Paula Thomas,  El espacio público y el derecho a la ciudad en el Santiago de Alberto Fuguet.  [Advisor: Veronica Cortinez] (June 2021)

Benjamin Burt,  Cities of Dreams and Despair: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Brazilian Film and Literature.  [Advisors: Randal Johnson and Jose Luiz Passos] (June 2020)

Veronica Garcia Moreno,  España transfigurada en el Magreb: Construcciones identitarias en la literatura sobre la guerra de África de 1859.  [Advisor: Prof. Jesus Torrecilla] (June 2020)

Natassia Hott,  Rethinking Sterotypes: Representations of Gender in Brazilian Comedies of the Post-Remotada.     [Advisor: Prof. Randal Johnson] (June 2020)

Alexandra Lawn,  The Varying Roles of Morphosyntax in Memory and Sentence Processing: Retrieval and Encoding Interference in Brazilian Portuguese.   [Advisors: Carlos Quicoli and Jesse Harris] (June 2020)

Maria Teresa Monroe,  Indocumentados en tránsito: Representaciones contemporáneas de precariedad, muerte y resistencia.  [Advisor: Marten van Delden] (June 2020)

Renee Rivera,  Masculinities at Work: Men, Masculinities, and Employment in the Spanish Popular Comedies of the Late-Francoist and Transition Eras.  [Advisor: Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2020)

Lourdes Arevalo,  Dos o tres cosas sobre la novela de la violencia y las violencias en Colombia.  [Advisor: Prof. Veronica Cortinez] (March 2019)

Maricela Becerra,  “2 de octubre no se olvida”: la (pos)memorialización de Tlatelolco 68  [Advisor: Prof. Maarten van Delden] (June 2019)

Kristal Bivona,  Transitional Justice in Post-Dictatorship South American Film.  [Advisors: Prof. Randal Johnson and Adriana Bergero] (June 2019)

Francesca Gambini,  La producción cultural del Perú ante la comisión de la verdad y reconciliación.  [Advisor: Prof. Veronica Cortinez] (June 2019)

Jennifer Monti,  Imagining Cuba: Emigration, Tourism, and Imperialist Nostalgia in the Work of Spanish Women Writers and Photographers (1992-2015).  [Advisor: Prof. Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2019)

Cristian Yanai Bermudez,  Black Mexico’s Sites of Struggles across Borders: The Problem of the Color Line . [Advisor: Prof. Hector Calderon] (June 2018)

Franny Brogan,  Signs of our Times: Language Contact and Attitudes in the Linguistic Landscape of Southeast Los Angeles  [Advisors: Carlos Quicoli and Norma Mendoza-Denton] (June 2018)

Paul Cella,  Contemporary Republicanism in Spain: Dialogues with Liberalism and the Left . [Advisor: Prof. Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2018)

Adrian Collado,  Caricaturas del otro: contra-representaciones satíricas de la inmigración en la literatura y la cultura visual Española contemporánea (1993-2017).  [Advisor: Prof. Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2018)

Daniel Cooper,  The Roots of Transformation: Octavio Paz and the Radical Americanist Awakening of Pablo Neruda.  [Advisor: Prof. Maarten van Delden] (June 2018)

Nitzaira Delgado-Garcia,  Historiografía y ficción: la construcción del discurso en la estoria de España (NS7586) de Alfonso X . [Advisor: Prof. John Dagenais] (June 2018)

Armando Guerrero,  The Mexican Diaspora: On constructing and Negotiating Mexicanidad in México City.  [Advisor: Prof. Carlos Quicoli] (June 2018)

Payton Phillips,  Imperial Occlusions: Mestizaje and Marian Mechanisms in Early Modern Andalucía and the Andes.  [Advisor: Prof. Barbara Fuchs] (June 2018)

Alejandro Ramirez-Mendez,  Trans-Urban Narratives: Literary Cartographies and Global Cities in the Urban Imagination of Mexico and the U.S. .  [Advisor: Prof. Hector Calderon] (June 2018)

Rafael Ramirez Mendoza,  Transformar el mundo, cambiar la vida: el surrealismo en el Perú y los proyectos de renovación sociocultural de Jose Carlos Mariategui, Xavier Abril, y Cesar Moro. .  [Advisor: Prof. Efrain Kristal] (August 2018)

Jyeun Son,  Acquisition of Spanish Intonation by Native Korean Speakers . [Advisors: Prof. Carlos Quicoli and Sun-Ah Jun] (June 2018)

Ezequiel Trautenberg,  A Porous Cinema: Cosmopolitanism and Cinephilia in Chilean Art Film (2005-2015).   [Advisor: Prof. Veronica Cortinez] (June 2018)

Elizabeth Warren,  The Aesthetic of the Grotesque in Post-Franco Spain .    [Advisor: Prof. Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2018)

Mariska Bolyanatz,  Plural Production and Perception in Santiago Spanish  [Advisors: Profs. Ji Young Kim and Norma Mendoza-Denton] (June 2017)

Isaura Contreras,  El diario de escritor en la literatura latinoamericana del siglo XX  [Advisor: Prof. Maarten van Delden] (June 2017)

Jhonni Carr,  Signs of Our Times: Language Contact and Attitudes in the Linguistic Landscape of Southeast Los Angeles  [Advisor: Prof. Carlos Quicoli] (June 2017)

Wendy Kurtz,  Mass Graves and Remembering through Ritual: Historical Memory in Contemporary Peninsular Literature, Documentary Film, and Digital Culture  [Advisor: Prof. Maite Zubiaurre] (June 2017)

Magdalena Matuskova,  Cuban Cinema in a Global Context: The Impact of Eastern European Cinema on the Cuban Film Industry in the 1960s  [Advisor: Prof. Jorge Marturano] (June 2017)

David Ramirez Prieto,  José Lezama Lima y las redes intelectuales antimodernas: escritores, revistas, editoriales  (1920-1956) [Advisor: Prof. Jorge Marturano] (June 2017)

Cheri Robinson,  Representations of Transnational Violence: Children in Contemporary Latin American Film, Literature, and Drawings  [Advisor: Prof. Adriana Bergero] (May 2017)

Maria Gabriela Venegas,  La novela del Ecuador desde el espacio anfibio de la ciudad portuaria y su relación con el liberalismo ecuatoriano: tres casos representativos entre 1855 y 1944  [Advisor: Prof. Efrain Kristal] (March 2017)

Daniel Whitesell,  Debates ideológicos y estilísticos en torno a la Revolución Cubana, 1963-1966  [Advisor: Prof. Maarten van Delden] (June 2017)

Inês Cordeiro da Silva Dias, Film and Politics in the Lusophone World (1960s— 1970s) [Advisor: Prof. Randal Johnson] (June 2016)

Julio P. García, Ignacio Padilla, México, y el legado de la tradición literaria latinoamericana (1985-2015). [Advisor: Prof. Maarten van Delden] (June 2016)

Willivaldo Delgadillo, Fabulando Juárez: Marcos de guerra, memoria y los foros por venir. [Advisor: Prof. Maarten van Delden] (June 2016)

Audrey A. Harris, De lo más lindo y de lo más pobre: Transnational Borges and Sandra Cisneros. [Advisor: Prof. Héctor Calderón] (June 2016)

Isabel Gomez,  Reciprocity in Literary Translation: Gift Exchange Theory and Translation Praxis in Brazil and Mexico (1968-2015) [Advisors: Profs. Efraín Kristal and José Luiz Passos]

Bryan Kirschen,  Judeo-Spanish Encounters Modern Spanish: Language Contact and Diglosia among the Sephardim of Los Angeles and New York City. [Advisors: Profs. Claudia Parodi and A. Carlos Quicoli] (June 2015)

Ian Romain,  A Phase Approach to Spanish Object Clitics . [Advisor: Profs. Claudia Parodi and A. Carlos Quicoli] (April 2015)

Juan Jesús Payán,  La magia postergada: género fantástico e identidad nacional en la España del XIX. [Advisor: Prof. Jesús Torrecilla] (May 2015)

Eilene Jamie Powell,  Hurts so good: representation of sadomasochism in Spnaish novels (1883-2012) [Advisors: Profs. Jesús Torrecilla and Silvia Bermudez] (May 2015)

Luiz Santos,  Literatura da Bagunça: a carnavalização nos romances da contracultura brasileira [Advisor: Prof. Randal Johnson] (March 2015)

Sandra Ruiz, Escrito con Tinta Roja: The Mexicana Feminist Detective in the Fiction of Maria Elvira Bermudez, Myriam Laurini, and Patricia Valladres. [Advisor: Prof. Héctor Calderón] (September 2014)

Armando Enrique Cerpa, Cifrado gótico en Santa Evita de Tomás Eloy Martínez y Una casa vacía de Carlos Cerda: espacios subterráneos, espectros e insepultos de las dictaduras. [Advisor: Prof. Adriana J. Bergero] (June 2014)

Carolyn González, Las Insometidas de la Ciudad de México: The Novel of Prostitution in Antonia Mora, Sara Sefchovich, and Cristina Rivera Garza. [Advisor: Prof. Héctor Calderón] (June 2014)

Belén MacGregor Villarreal, Dialect Contact among Spanish-Speaking Children in Los Angeles. [Advisor: Profs. Claudia Parodi] (June 2014)

Chase Wesley Raymond, On the Sequential Negotiation of Identity in Spanish-Language Discourse: Mobilizing Linguistic Resources in the Service of Social Action. [Advisor: Prof. Claudia Parodi and John Heritage] (Winter 2014)

Vanessa Marie Fernández, A Transatlantic Dialogue: Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and the Literary Magazines that Bridged the Atlantic (1920-1930). [Advisor: Profs. Maarten van Delden and Michelle Clayton] (Summer 2013)

Yeon Mi Lee, De milongas a la Casa Rosada: contribuciones y representaciones de la mujer en la industria del espectáculo popular argentino (1930-1950). [Advisor: Prof. Adriana J. Bergero] (Spring 2013)

Luis Francisco Cuesta Muniz, El estadio y la palabra: deporte y literatura en la Edad de Plata. [Advisor: Profs. Maite Zubiaurre and Roberta L. Johnson] (Spring 2013)

Bethany Renee Beyer, Performable Nations: Music and Literature in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. [Advisor: Prof. Elizabeth Marchant] (Spring 2013)

Eli Lee Carter, Luiz Fernando Carvalho: An Auteur of Brazilian Television. [Advisor: Prof. Randal Johnson] (Spring 2013) Brenda Liz Ortiz-Loyola, En busca de la solidaridad: feminismo y nación en el Caribe hispano, 1880-1940. [Advisor: Profs. Roberta L. Johnson and Jorge Marturano] (Spring 2013)

Polina Vasiliev, The Initial State for Californian English Learners of Spanish and Portuguese Vowels. [Advisor: Prof. A. Carlos Quicoli] (Spring 2013)

Joanna Dávila, Sexualidad, género y sociedad en la literatura del Caribe hispanohablante (1950-2000). [Advisor: Prof. Jorge Marturano] (Spring 2013)

Edward Chauca, El lugar de la locura: La construcción de la nación desde lo insano en la narrativa peruana. [Advisor: Prof. Efraín Kristal] (Fall 2012)

Alvaro Molina, Sacred, Epic and Picaresque: Violence and Genre in Cervantes. [Advisor: Profs. Efraín Kristal and Teófilo Ruiz] (Summer 2012)

Bryan David Green, Forging an Ascetic Planet: Jesuit Lives and Virtues on the Mission Frontier of Eighteenth-Century New Spain. [Advisor: Prof. Anna H. More] (Summer 2012)

Argelia Andrade, Segmental and Intonational Evidence for a Los Angeles Chicano Spanish Vernacular. [Advisor: Profs. Claudia Parodi and A. Carlos Quicoli] (Spring 2012)

Jamie Diane Fudacz, The Decadent City: Urban Space in Latin American Dirty Realist Fiction. [Advisor: Profs. Jorge Marturano and Maarten van Delden] (Spring 2012)

María Covadonga Lamar Prieto, El español de California en el XIX. [Advisor: Prof. Claudia Parodi] (Spring 2012)

Claudia Villegas-Silva, Tecnologías en escena: Del teatro multimedia al teatro cibernético en España y las Américas. [Advisor: Prof. Verónica Cortínez] (Spring 2012)

Oriel María Siu, Novelas de la diáspora centroamericana y la colonialidad del poder: Hacia una aproximación de-colonial al estudio de las literaturas centroamericanas. [Advisor: Prof. Héctor Calderón] (Spring 2012)

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Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

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Researchers awarded $4.7 million to study genomic variation in stem cell production, dr. nandita garud recognized for her research on gut microbiome, ucla study reveals how immune cells can be trained to fight infections, ucla scientists decode the ‘language’ of immune cells, dr. eran halperin elected as fellow of international society for computational biology, upcoming events, angela brooks seminar, ghayda mirzaa seminar, jana lipkova seminar, memorial day holiday, katherine andriole seminar, recent student publications.

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Graduate Dissertation Research

Graduate – current – dissertation research.

‘The Eternal Now’: Suicide Notes in Fact, Fiction, and Species Author: Kristen Cardon Advisor: Prof. DeLoughrey

The Boundaries of Memory: Aberrant Remembering in Nineteenth-Century Literature from Déjà Vu to Ancestral Recall Author: Jessica Cook Sherrill Advisor: Prof. Grossman

An Unmet Promise: Aerial Perspective in Modernist Literature Author: Elizabeth Crawford Advisor: Prof. Hornby

Metagenres of Modernity: Dictatorship Novels and Speculative Fiction in the 20th and 21st Centuries Author: Abraham Encinas Advisor: Prof. López

Late-Nineteenth-Century Anglophone Ballads from Canada, India, and the United States: Generic Traditions of Race, Nationalism, and Imperialism Author: Vanessa Febo Advisors: Prof. McHugh, Prof. Yarborough

Mobile Figures and Laboring Travel in American Literature Author: Thomas Garcia Advisor: Prof. Pérez-Torres

Desert Dreams: The Primordial Temporality and Underworld Sublimity of TransBorder Art Author: Salvador Herrera Advisors: Prof. R. Lee, Prof. Pérez-Torres

Sex and the British Novel Author: Miranda Hoegberg Advisors: Prof. Kareem, Prof. Makdisi

The Anatomy of Risk: Economies of the Body in the Pre-Modern Period Author: Rafael Jaime Advisors: Prof. Fisher, Prof. Fuchs

Across Africa’s American Waters: Middle Passages, Imagined Home Spaces and Black Futurities Author: Jessica Lee Advisor: Prof. Goyal

Minor Abstractions: Theory, Ambience, Accounting Author: Dandi Meng Advisors: Prof. McMillan, Prof. Nersessian

Feeling With/out: Minoritarian Performances of Loss, Loneliness, and Longing Author: Nicole Prucha Advisor: Prof. Yarborough

Distasteful Sights: On Disgust and Film Form Author: Emma Ridder Advisors: Prof. Hornby, Prof. McHugh

Our Planet: Collective Narrative and Collective Politics in the Climate Change Era Author: Spencer Robins Advisor: Prof. Heise, Prof. Allison Carruth

Reading in Books: Theories of Reading in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction Author: Samantha Sommers Advisor: Prof. Looby

The Novel and the Transient: Queer Turns in Surrealism Author: Emma Spies Advisor: Prof. Hornby

The Extractivist Episteme in American Narrative: Natural Resources, Bodies, and Environmental Injustice Author: Matthew Swanson Advisor: Prof. Heise

Fossil Power: American Literature and Energy Empire Author: Shouhei Tanaka Advisors: Prof. Heise, Allison Carruth

Contested Bodies: Fictions of Brownness and Latinidad Author: Samantha Solis Advisor: Prof. López

Disability and Political Economy in Romantic Literature, 1762-1834 Author: Lesley Thulin Advisor: Prof. Helen Deutsch

Modes of World-Remaking in 17th-Century English Literature Author: Joseph Torres Advisor: Prof. Gallagher

Human Rights and Postcolonial Critique: Narrating Economic and Social Rights in the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel Author: Arielle Stambler Advisor: Prof. Goyal, Prof. Rothberg

More or Less Alive: Labor and Race in Comics’ Vital Aesthetics Author: Tony Wei Ling Advisor: Prof. R. Lee

Visibility, Inscrutability, and the Asiatic Body Author: Brenda Wang Advisor: Prof. Hornby

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and the Foundations of British Revolutionary Thought, 1563-Present Author: Stanley Wu Advisor: Prof. Shuger

Former UCLA Graduate Student Fernanda Rojas-Ampuero Wins the 2024 Dorothy Thomas Award

Former UCLA Graduate Student Fernanda Rojas-Ampuero, now a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, won the Population Association of America’s highly competitive 2024 Dorothy Thomas Award for best graduate student paper. Her paper, entitled “Sent Away: The Long-Term Effects of Slum Clearance on Children and Families,” documents how Chile’s mandated slum-clearance programs between 1979-1985 had large, negative long-run effects on children and parents. Displaced children earned 14% less as adults, achieved 0.64 fewer years of education, and were more likely to work in informal jobs. Displaced parents had higher mortality rates and died at younger ages.  While at UCLA, Fernanda was a recipient of CCPR’s Treiman award, and received her Ph.D. in economics in 2022. Her dissertation was advised by Professors Dora Costa (chair), Adriana Lleras-Muney, and Michela Giorcelli.

UCLA Department of Economics

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Preparing Scholars for Distinguished Academic Careers

The most advanced degree program at UCLA Law, the Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) is designed for those seeking to pursue careers as teachers and scholars of law.

Apply to the SJD Program

The Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) Degree Program is designed for those seeking to pursue careers as teachers and scholars of law. This highly selective program is open only to applicants who possess a distinguished prior academic record in law, show promise of outstanding scholarship, and demonstrate a high potential for completing a scholarly dissertation of required quality. Applicants must hold a J.D. degree or foreign equivalent and an LL.M. degree (or be enrolled in a program leading to an LL.M. degree).

The S.J.D. Program provides a unique opportunity for outstanding international law graduates to study at the UCLA School of Law. In the sixty years since its foundation, UCLA School of Law has grown to an institution of over 1,000 students and approximately 100 full and part-time faculty members. It is recognized by academic surveys to be among the twenty best law schools in the United States. The school is particularly noted for the unsurpassed expertise of its faculty, whose intellectual strength is balanced by commitments to improved instructional programs and an active recognition of social responsibilities.

UCLA is the premier university in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, a dynamic, cosmopolitan cultural center of more than ten million people. A vital part of the nine-campus University of California system, UCLA has reached national prominence in a variety of disciplines and consistently ranks in the top half-dozen universities in the nation, as judged by its academic peers and in terms of fellowships and grants awarded. UCLA enrolls approximately 45,000 students across 13 schools and colleges, in over 100 academic departments, and in 23 research units. Its 19 libraries, special collections, and archives hold approximately 12 million print and electronic volumes.

Our distinguished law faculty help prepare these students across an extensive range of law subjects -- using a variety of effective and often interdisciplinary approaches to teaching -- for outstanding careers in academia, transactional and litigation practices, government, international and domestic public policy, business, and nonprofit public interest arenas.

Those who ultimately join us can look forward to a promising future for themselves and for those whom they will teach, inform, and represent.

Students in the S.J.D. program must enter with an LL.M. degree, remain in residence for two semesters, and take a minimum of ten units of graded coursework each semester, which must be approved by the supervising faculty member and Graduate Studies Committee. The choice of courses will be from among  those generally offered  at the Law School and will depend on the particular subject matter and course of study approved for each S.J.D. student.

Applicants should bear in mind that, due to curriculum scheduling and faculty availability, not every class listed is taught each year. This is most often true in the case of specialized seminars. The final schedule of law classes will be available shortly before the enrollment process begins in July. The law school academic year begins in the middle of August with a fall semester of 15 weeks. After examinations and vacation in December, classes resume early in January for another 15-week semester that ends in mid-May.

Upon successful completion of the residency requirement and performance in courses at a level substantially above the quality expected of J.D. candidates, the Graduate Studies Committee, following its favorable review of the candidate's course work and of the developed research proposal, shall constitute a doctoral committee. It shall consist of three faculty members, including the student's supervisor and a member from a department outside the Law School. Upon the successful oral defense of the research proposal before the doctoral committee, the Graduate Studies Committee shall admit the student to full candidacy for the S.J.D. degree.

Within two years of the completion of the residency period, unless for exceptional circumstances an extension is granted by the Graduate Studies Committee, a candidate shall submit, and successfully defend in an oral examination, a dissertation in the form of a monograph or series of closely related essays suitable for publication and constituting a substantial contribution to knowledge in its field.

At UCLA Law, S.J.D. students are part of a diverse, vibrant, and thriving international graduate community, comprised of the best and brightest students from around the globe. Our select group of S.J.D. students - alongside members of the LL.M. community – hail from cultures near and far, representing over 30 different countries each year. Upon completion of the program, our students transition into the next phase of their professional careers having developed strong friendships and connections that will last a lifetime. S.J.D. students will also get to know and work closely with our faculty, who are accessible, open and who create a flourishing collegial environment at the law school. As an S.J.D. student, you are in for one of the most intellectually stimulating, memorable, and exciting times of your life, and we look forward to welcoming YOU to the Bruin family.

Hazim Alnemari is a current S.J.D. candidate at UCLA School of Law. In addition to his classical training in Islamic law, Alnemari earned his LL.B. from Taif University and his LL.M. from the University of Washington. He is an academic and legal counselor as well as a lecturer in constitutional law at the Islamic University of Madinah. Alnemari's research focuses on constitutionalism in Arab monarchies by tackling the intersection of law, religion, and monarchy. His research covers areas of comparative constitutional law, constitutional theory, political theory, and jurisprudence.

Suraj Girijashanker completed his legal education from the London School of Economics (LLB), School of Oriental and African Studies (LLM), and Columbia Law School (LLM). He is currently an Assistant Professor at Jindal Global Law School, India and Adjunct Faculty at the Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Prior to transitioning to academia, he served as a Legal Advisor with the Immigration and Protection Tribunal in New Zealand; Expert on Mission with UNHCR Turkey; Associate Refugee Status Determination Officer with UNHCR Egypt; and Legal Representative at Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea. His doctoral project traces imperial and racial narratives in international refugee law, focusing on the nexus between foreign intervention and displacement.

Sofia Grafanaki is a current S.J.D. candidate at UCLA School of Law. She previously earned her Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford and her LL.M. in Corporation Law at New York University School of Law. She also earned an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a second LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Information Law. She is admitted to the New York State bar, as a solicitor of the Senior Courts in London, and as an attorney in Athens, Greece. Grafanaki writes on the implications of big data on individual autonomy and democracy, as well as on speech and the role of the First Amendment in the online environment.

Qin Sky Ma is a current S.J.D. candidate at UCLA School of Law. Ma earned her J.D. from Tsinghua University in China and her LL.M. from UCLA School of Law with a specialization in international and comparative law. Ma passed the Chinese Bar Exam and worked as an assistant lawyer for several Chinese defense attorneys. As a student, Ma served as one of the executive editors for the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs at UCLA. She was a judicial extern at the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District in 2017. Ma taught criminal procedure at a local high school in Los Angeles through the UCLA Street Law Clinic. Ma is focusing her studies on comparative criminal justice and the international justice system.

Wietske Merison is a current S.J.D. candidate at UCLA School of Law. She has an interdisciplinary educational background with an LLM in Public International Law from Utrecht University, an MA in Theology and Religious Studies from VU Amsterdam and a BA majoring in International Law, Religion and Anthropology from University College Roosevelt. She previously worked as a lecturer in International and European Law at Utrecht University and is currently employed as a Research Assistant to Professor Abou El Fadl. In her dissertation she will be working on the articulation of an Islamic framework for environmental justice, specializing in the fields of Islamic Law, Environmental Law and International Human Rights Law.

Diego Nicolás Pardo Motta is a current S.J.D. student at UCLA School of Law. He earned his LL.B. at the Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia) with specializations in Administrative and Constitutional Law. Diego then earned a Master’s in Philosophy and a Master’s in Law with an emphasis in legal research from the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá). Finally, he obtained an LL.M. at UCLA School of Law with specializations in Law & Philosophy, International & Comparative Law, and Human Rights. Diego has served as a Public Worker for the Government of Bogotá, a Law Clerk at the Colombian Council of State, and a Lecturer at the Universidad El Bosque and Universidad del Rosario. His research is focused on the philosophical, historical, and comparative significance of the Consultive Function of the Council of State.

Marina Reis is a current S.J.D. candidate at UCLA School of Law. She previously earned her LL.B. from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a concentration in criminal law and an LL.M. from UCLA Law. While a student, Reis worked at UCLA's Prison Education Program  and was involved in the development of an academic curriculum for incarcerated persons in California. Reis currently works as a research assistant at the African American Policy Forum. Her research uses an intersectional lens to analyze gender-based violence in Brazil and the United States. She is particularly interested in investigating the (in)effectiveness of colorblind legislation to combat gender-based violence and the protection of women of color.

Alessia Zornetta is currently an S.J.D student at the UCLA School of Law. She is affiliated with the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy. Alessia obtained her LL.B at the University of Trento (Italy) and her LL.M at McGill University (Canada). Prior to UCLA, she worked as external researcher for the Institute for Legal Informatics at the University of Saarland (Germany). At present, she works as a student researcher at the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and as graduate research assistant at the McGill Centre for Media, Technology & Democracy (Canada). Her research focuses mainly on platform governance, content moderation, privacy and data protection. During the S.J.D. program, Alessia will focus on the legal challenges concerning end-to-end encrypted platforms.

Hilal Elver is a 2009 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. She earned her J.D. as well as a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Ankara. During the S.J.D. program, her work was focused on the Critical Race Studies program and comparative constitutional law. She published her S.J.D. thesis: The Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012). She was a member of the Academic Council of the UN Least Developed Countries as well as a member of the official delegation of Turkey's UN Climate Change Framework Convention. Elver taught in the UC Santa Barbara Global Studies department until she was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. She held this position from 2014 until May 2020. She is currently in the process of writing a book on the right to food and food policies on a global level.

Willmai Rivera-Pérez is a 2011 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. In 2006 she earned her LL.M. from UC Berkeley School of Law. Her doctoral dissertation explored the role that the international human rights discourse has had in the adoption and development of the direct application of constitutional norms to relations arising from disputes between private parties in Latin America. Rivera-Pérez practiced as an attorney at Marchand Quintero Law Offices focusing on First Amendment litigation. She also clerked for Associate Justice Antonio S. Negrón García at the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. Rivera-Pérez is currently the Kendall Vick Endowed Professor of Public Law at the Southern University Law Center, where she teaches constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, federal civil procedure, succession, donations, and comparative law.

Martin Petrin is a 2011 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. Petrin earned his LL.M. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of St. Gallen. During his time at UCLA, Petrin worked on corporate directors' and officers' liability, exploring various aspects of managers' liability towards shareholders as well as third parties. Petrin previously practiced law with a leading international business law firm and is admitted to the bar in New York and Switzerland. He has been a visiting professor at NYU London and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private Law in Hamburg. He is currently the Dancap Private Equity Chair in Corporate Governance at Western University in Canada, having moved there from University College London in the UK, where he served as Associate Professor and Vice Dean (Innovation).

Astrid Liliana Sánchez-Mejía is a 2015 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. She earned her law degree from Javeriana University, Colombia and her LL.M. from Los Andes University, Colombia. She earned another LL.M. in legal theory from New York University. During her time at UCLA, her research examined the effects of adversarial criminal justice reforms on victims' rights by specifically analyzing the Colombian criminal justice reform of the early 2000s. She published her thesis: Victims' Rights in Flux: Criminal Justice Reform in Colombia, (new York, NY: Springer, 2017). Sánchez-Mejía has taught at various universities and training centers for state representatives in Colombia and Latin America. She is currently a Professor of Law at Javeriana University, Colombia.

Sumit Baudh is a 2016 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and LL.B. from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and graduated with honors. He earned his LL.M. from the London School of Economics. Baudh is qualified to practice law in India and enrolled as a solicitor n.p. with the Law Society in England and Wales. He was formerly an assistant professor at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. As an independent consultant, Baudh has advised national and international organizations including the U.S.-based Arcus Foundation, the United Nations Development Program, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and the Government of India (among others). Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar, The Center for International and Comparative Law at Emory Law School.

Catarina Prata is a 2017 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. She earned her first law degree with a specialization in international law and a Master's degree in International Legal Sciences, both from the New University of Lisbon in Portugal. Prata was a Fulbright Scholar at New York University School of Law, where she obtained her LL.M. degree with a specialization in International Legal Studies. Prata conducted her research on the law of armed conflicts. She focused on private security and military companies and the possible alternatives for their regulation under international law. Prata has worked for Amnesty International in Portugal as a research and advocacy coordinator, and she currently works as a consultant in her field of expertise.

Yang Liu is a 2018 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. Liu previously earned law degrees from Harvard Law School and Tsinghua University, China. His doctoral dissertation focused on judicial politics within and among international courts. Liu also clerked at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Liu continues to research the judicial politics of international courts, theory and history of international law, and comparative foreign relations law. He currently serves as an assistant professor at Renmin University of China Law School, where he teaches international law and comparative politics.

Ricardo Lillo is a 2020 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. Lillo earned his LL.B. from Universidad Diego Portales School of Law in Santiago, Chile. He also earned his LL.M. in Public Interest Law and Policy from UCLA. His doctoral thesis explored the relation between the right to a fair trial and access to justice, and he proposed a new theoretical approach for its understanding in non-criminal matters. Lillo served as a Hoffenberg Research Fellow and as a fellow at UCLA's Transnational Program on Criminal Justice. Lillo is currently a faculty member at Universidad Adolfo Ibañez School of Law, where he teaches procedural law, and is a member of the Law and Society Research Centre.

Qin Xia is a 2020 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. She previously earned her LL.B. with a minor in English Literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University and her LL.M. from the University of Michigan. Xia also earned another master's degree in international economic law from Beijing Foreign Studies University. During her time in the S.J.D. program, she focused her studies on information disclosure and investor protection in the securities markets. Xia is admitted as an attorney in China and is also admitted to the New York State bar. Prior to coming to UCLA, she practiced as a corporate attorney with China Orient Asset Management Corporation. Xia later joined Nanjing University Law School as an assistant professor.

Andrés Caicedo is a 2021 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law, and he is a Fulbright Scholar. He earned his first law degree from Rosario University in Colombia. Caicedo also holds an LL.M. with a specialization in Critical Race Studies from UCLA School of Law, as well as a Master of Public Law from Charles III University of Madrid in Spain. He has worked as a law professor at two universities in Colombia, teaching human rights, constitutional law and sociology of law. During his time in the S.J.D. program, his research focused on issues related to Critical Race Theory, affirmative action, civil rights, equality, constitutional law, and human rights. His doctoral thesis focused on Critical Race Theory and race-conscious remedies to address racial subordination in Colombia.

Zezen Zaenal Mutaqin is a graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. He previously earned his LL.B from the State Islamic University Jakarta School of Shari'a and Law and his LL.M from Melbourne University School of Law. Prior to the S.J.D. program, Mutaqin worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as an assistant to the Asia Pacific Adviser on Humanitarian Affairs and a lecturer at UIN. During the S.J.D. program he focused his studies on the interpretation, articulation, and enforcement of Islamic jus in bello (Islamic law regulation on the use force) and its relation to international humanitarian law. He is now head of the Master Degree Program in the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia.

Bryan Hance is a graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law. He previously earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA, his J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, and his LL.M. degree from UCLA School of Law. Hance clerked for Justice Edward Panelli of the California Supreme Court. Previously, he taught at Glendale University College of Law in Los Angeles and was a partner at the law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, where he handled litigation and transactional matters. He also served as Associate General Counsel at Pepperdine University and as Executive Director of the Center for Conflict Resolution, where he handled training, arbitrations, and mediations. In addition to his law practice, Hance  serves as a professor and program director of the pre-law and paralegal studies programs at National University in San Diego.

Ann Carlson is quoted in the Washington Post about the regulation of Tesla's Autopilot

Mayor bass visits ucla law to discuss philanthropic responses to homelessness, hiroshi motomura earns prestigious scholarly residency in italy.

A conversation with Catrice Monson, Chief Executive Officer at Groupfully and Joshua Brackett, Co-Founder of Groupfully and Sinousia

Film screening followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and SDP Director, Rick Hasen.

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ELP Brief: The "Why" of Schooling

In his ELP Dissertation Brief, Ifeanyi Onyefifi underscores how career confidence linked to academic performance for students of color.

 As a former school counselor, Ifeanyi Onyejiji understands and supports the push for students to learn core academic subjects, such as English, mathematics, and science.  He believes educational equity requires an intense focus on academic learning for low-income students of color, and student success in core content areas is critical to college readiness and career opportunities.  

But as he worked with students, Onyejiji came to wonder if maybe for them, understanding and believing in the ‘why’ of studying specific academic subjects was as important as what they were learning.  

“Sometimes the connection to why this stuff is relevant is very important to students. It can help if students believe, ‘I'm going to use this to go to college, or maybe to one day have this career.’ The belief that ‘I need this subject to do that,’ can be a great connection to the materials and also increase intrinsic motivation,” Onyejiji says. 

As a student in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies Educational Leadership Program, Onyejiji drew on his thinking about the importance of ‘why’ to forge his dissertation and earn his doctoral degree. His research, summarized in a recent Educational Leadership Program dissertation brief , posits that career confidence is linked to academic performance for low-income students of color.

Onyejiji’s research examined the relationship between career self-efficacy, career aspirations, and school performance for high school students from low-income communities of color. Researchers define self-efficacy  as an individual's  belief  in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals.

For the study, Onyejiji surveyed 145 ninth and tenth-grade students attending a charter high school in Southern California. Two staff members at the school also participated in semi-structured interviews.

The results showed positive associations between career self-efficacy and academic performance for high school students from low-income communities of color—particularly for boys. And, in certain cases, students’ career aspirations can be connected to academic performance.

Key among the findings:

Students’ career confidence and aspirations are linked to their academic performance: Confidence in their ability to find occupational information is positively correlated with their GPA. There is more evidence of a connection between career self-efficacy and academic performance for boys, and there is a connection between career aspirations and academic performance.

School staff believe that career exploration provides students with purpose: In interviews, staff said they saw a clear purpose and rationale for career exploration programming and believed instruction in core academic content alone is not sufficient to address the challenges facing their students.

“My study focused on career self-efficacy. I believe it's an important element of school. The research shows that students who are intrinsically motivated, perform better,” Onyejiji says. “We as educators need not separate the idea of academic preparation from the things that motivate students to care about academic preparation. Instead, they should be emphasized, just as we emphasize core content.”

Onyejiji believes students need help building those connections and developing that intrinsic motivation, especially Black and Brown students from low-income backgrounds.

“We know there are disparities in achievement, and there are disparities in communities.  For example, some students don’t know any engineers and have no reason to know how or why to become an engineer. They're not getting that information at home or in their community, so the school should be helping them with that.

“And so, I would ask every school, every educator, every school district, what are you doing to help students become intrinsically motivated?” 

Onyejiji’s research brief offers educators recommendations to help make that happen. He urges education leaders to support career self-efficacy and soft-skill development, implement specific programming for boys, and incorporate career counseling and encouragement into graduation requirements.

Onyejiji also believes that programming that promotes career self-efficacy should be required, and he suggests policymakers establish career self-efficacy as a standard for K–12 schooling.

Since earning his doctorate from the UCLA Educational Leadership Program in 2023, Onyejiji has worked as an educational consultant delivering workshops that help students of color from low-income backgrounds prepare for college and that train teachers in the use of inclusive student-centered teaching practices. He has also started a new company developing curriculum promoting college readiness—this work draws on his research on the need to motivate students and expands on the ideas to include career exploration.

“The UCLA Educational Leadership Program was a great opportunity for me to expand my knowledge, expertise, and capabilities so I can be a better advocate for this issue. It gave me a spark and helped me to sharpen my toolbox for what I want to do.“ 

“Everything I'm doing now, it's all about inclusivity, it’s all about engaging and motivating students.  Once a student has that intrinsic motivation, they're different, they require less touch. Even if they don't know something, they'll figure it out because they have that confidence.”

• Career confidence
• ELP dissertation brief
• Educational Leadership Program
• Ifeanyi Onyejiji
• Knowledge that Matters

Underground History: Splendor and Misery of the Moscow Metro

A public lecture by GABOR RITTERSPORN, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, Centre d'Etudes des Mondes Russe, Caucasien et Centre-Europeen

The Moscow metro is a rare achievement of the Soviet regime continuing to receive virtually unanimous acclaim from post-Soviet citizens. Even those who decry it as a product of Stalinism recognize qualities of the subway's sumptuous architecture and decoration at least by taking it for spectacular kitsch.

The metro is expected to impress the world. It was intended to convey a clear message at the beginning. For fifty-five years the architecture and decoration had been meant to manifest a will to represent and celebrate the Soviet project, which was supposedly the construction of a radically new world of abundance, justice and happiness. The post-Soviet metro is also grappling with the task of representing values, those of the New Regime's architects.

One can make sense of Soviet and post-Soviet imageries of the best of possible worlds through interpreting the decoration of the underground and putting it in historical perspective. The exercise may reveal meanings contemporaries have been unlikely to grasp. It can also open eyes on trends historians are not necessarily aware of.

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Duration: 43:53

Center for European and Russian Studies 11367 Bunche Hall Los Angeles • CA • 90095-1446 Campus Mail Code: 144603 Tel: (310) 825-8030 • Fax: (310) 206-3555 Email: [email protected]

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Leading dei official at ucla medical school plagiarized doctoral dissertation on diversity: report, natalie j. perry, ph.d., allegedly attempted to 'mask glaring academic deficiencies'.

A leading DEI official at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), reportedly plagiarized vast portions of her 2014 doctoral dissertation about diversity, equity and inclusion programs on college campuses.

Investigative journalists Christopher F. Rufo of the Manhattan Institute and The Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak partnered to uncover that Natalie J. Perry, Ph.D. — who leads the DEI program called "Cultural North Star" at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine — appears to have lifted large paragraphs nearly verbatim from 10 other academic papers without citation, according to City Journal .

UCLA Med School has been in the news recently for promoting ideology about "Indigenous womxn," "two-spirits," and "structural racism." A guest speaker praised and two residents championed "revolutionary suicide." The DEI director, who advances "anti-racism," is Natalie Perry. pic.twitter.com/NwSNbiDoBO Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe — Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) April 22, 2024

Titled "Faculty Perceptions of Diversity at a Highly Selective Research-Intensive University," Perry's dissertation at the University of Virginia "examined institutional commitment to diversity from the perspective of organizational values," according to her UCLA biography , and remains her only published work. She received her bachelor's degree in African American and African Studies at Ohio State University, and an EdM in teaching and curriculum at Harvard University.

Many of the portions Perry dissertation, apparently copied with only minor changes, were especially long, with one passage that was nearly 1,000 words and extended for pages.

Rufo and Rosiak also observed that the parts of Perry's paper that were not plagiarized are ridden with basic grammatical errors and even misspellings, prompting them to speculate that her plagiarism was intended to "mask glaring academic deficiencies."

"The positionality of the participants informed the perspective on the origins of the commission. /in response to the needs of the varios [sic] stakeholders within the university, the commission addressed issues of diversity on the faculty, undergraduate, graduate, and university level," Perry wrote in one poorly-written paragraph.

Rufo and Rosiak also noted that Perry neglected to cite even the papers she did mention in the paper, suggesting that even the citations were plagiarized from other papers.

UCLA's medical school has mandated that students learn about colonialism and liberation, which included lessons about "Indigenous womxn," "two-spirits," and "structural racism," according to The Daily Wire .

The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month that during one lecture by a guest speaker who praised the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, she urged students to pray to "mama Earth" and led chants of "Free, Free Palestine."

Neither Perry nor UCLA responded to The Christian Post's request for comment by publication.

"Throughout the paper, Perry copies and pastes large sections of text from other authors," Rufo tweeted. "When she has to rely on original work, she often lapses into serious errors and basic grammatical problems. The paper — of course — was about DEI at universities."

Throughout the paper, Perry copies and pastes large sections of text from other authors. When she has to rely on original work, she often lapses into serious errors and basic grammatical problems. The paper—of course—was about DEI at universities. pic.twitter.com/8nejFTlKP3 — Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) April 22, 2024

The revelation regarding Perry's plagiarism comes amid Rufo's ongoing reporting about plagiarism and academic misconduct at some of the nation's most prestigious universities.

In January, former Harvard University President Claudine Gay announced her resignation weeks after Rufo and the New York Post reported on 27 instances when Gay plagiarized or failed to properly cite other academics' work, which the leadership of Harvard allegedly attempted to cover up. The New York Post claimed the school had threatened them when they began looking into the allegations.

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to  [email protected]

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Books | how a french ph.d. dissertation became a southern california beach read, after coming to study at ucla, paris-born elsa devienne spent years working on her book, 'sand rush: the revival of the beach in twentieth-century los angeles.'.

Originally from Paris, Elsa Devienne spent a year studying at UCLA in the late ‘00s. With a gig as a dog sitter in Santa Monica, she had affordable rent and the chance to visit the local beaches .

“I remember, first of all, being wowed by this incredible landscape, the beauty of the Pacific Ocean ,” Devienne, now based in Manchester, U.K., recalls on a recent video call. But she says the heavily built-up areas around the beaches “shocked” her. “You could find parking lots, freeways, houses, buildings.”

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Devienne, who had never visited Los Angeles before her year at UCLA, was most perplexed by the parking lots that are ubiquitous along the otherwise gorgeous landscape: Who, she wondered, had envisioned the landscape this way – and why?

The winners of the Mr. Muscle Beach Contest in 1951. (Credit Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection, University of Southern California Digital Library /Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

A parking lot built in 1950 on the newly expanded Venice Beach. (Credit California Coast Aug. 1950, Water Resources Collections & Archives, University of California, Riverside / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

Employees of a real estate company do group calisthenics at Playa Del Rey in the 1920s. (Credit Fritz Burns Papers William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

Santa Monica Harbor as seen from above in 1949. (Credit Los Angeles City Archives / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

The lack of facilities and popularity with teenagers caused some consternation of the beach lobby. (Credit California Coast Aug. 1950, Water Resources Collections & Archives, University of California, Riverside / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

A scene from Muscle Beach, circa 1947. (Photo credit Los Angeles Daily News Negatives, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton with her admirers at Muscle Beach, circa 1947. (Photo credit Los Angeles Daily News Negatives, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

A 1936 diagram from California Beaches Association for a project to develop the beach and highway along Santa Monica. (Credit Water Resources Collections & Archives, University of California, Riverside / Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

Historian Elsa Devienne is the author of “Sand Rush: The Revival of the Beach in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles,” out from Oxford University Press. (Courtesy of Oxford University Press)

Experiencing the sand first-hand

These questions launched her upon a years-long investigation into the history of the beaches that line the western edge of Los Angeles County. Originally researched for her Ph.D. dissertation at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Devienne continued to work on the material, which was then translated by Troy J. Tice, for her nonfiction book, “Sand Rush: The Revival of the Beach in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles,” which is out May 1 on Oxford University Press.

The book tracks the development of the coastline from the 1920s – when the beaches ​w​ere more polluted and difficult to access – through the midcentury and beyond as a so-called “beach lobby” worked to develop, clean and expand the coastline, often with the goal of making it a bastion of the White middle-class. As well, Devienne examines the landscape from its real estate significance to its ascendance as a place to celebrate physical beauty.

However, as well as research, Devienne says it’s important to experience the landscape you’re writing about.

“You have to observe how people behave at the beach and who goes to what beach for what reason,” she says. For her year in L.A., Devienne immersed herself in the city. She took a class led by the historian Eric Avila at UCLA and worked with people who had been writing about the city for years. She spent time at Santa Monica Public Library , Santa Monica History Museum , Long Beach Historical Society and Los Angeles Public Library .

“I was a library rat,” she says, but talked to plenty of locals. “The lifeguards, surfers, people who hung out at the beach in the ‘60s, anybody who was ready to talk to me about beaches.”

She later returned to L.A., this time as a Fulbright Scholar for a six-month stint at USC, and interviewed Venice High School and Santa Monica High School alumni. She also took a deep dive into beach reading.

“I read some really, really interesting, funky, wonky, crazy, pornographic ‘50s books about the L.A. beach culture, which, in some cases, I was able to use in the book,” she says.

Devienne would return to Los Angeles again during her time teaching at Princeton. For that trip, she brought students and toured Malibu with them, using the Our Malibu Beaches app to locate entrances to the sand. It was a way of applying her research with people who were largely from the East Coast, where beaches can be harder to access than they are in California.

“That’s basically because the law about what part of the beach is public or private has been interpreted differently in different states,” Devienne explains. “In some states, this has been interpreted strictly and other states much more expansively. The main idea is that the beach that is always wet – that is covered by tide – should always be public, should always be accessible, but the part that is dry can be privatized.”

She adds that some states had more ambitious programs to buy back beaches than others. “In some places, like on the East Coast, there’s such a large history of implementation and establishment of settlements that it was very difficult to buy back the beaches,” says Devienne. “Because California has a history of the presence of Anglo Americans that is a bit less old, there were possibilities to buy back bigger lands that hadn’t yet been broken up into smaller properties.”

Throughout her research, Devienne traces a history of L.A.’s beach life filled with ironies. It’s a history steeped in making the coast accessible, yet marred by racist restrictions. While it’s a human-engineered landscape, the beach has also spawned environmentalist movements.

Climate change and the coastline

Devienne writes that local activism has led to beaches that are “cleaner, more accessible, and more inclusive than they have been in over a century,” but that, as a result of our changing climate, the beaches still face a precarious future.

“It’s so important to keep on pushing for these places to be accessible to all people, to be easily accessible. But also for them to continue existing,” says Devienne. “For this to happen, we need to continue pushing for climate change legislation, for reducing our carbon emissions.”

She adds, “Literally, this is a question of survival. My children could see the end of California beaches as we know them within their lifetime.”

SEE ALSO : Read Laylan Connelly’s coverage of Southern California’s beaches and coastline.

Ultimately, “Sand Rush” took a turn that Devienne didn’t anticipate when she began looking at L.A. beach history. “I didn’t realize when I started writing that this is how I would conclude it,” says Devienne of the discussion of climate change. “As I was writing, the scientific evidence became more and more clear that we could lose something so incredibly wonderful as a beach.”

Next up for Devienne is the history of beach cleanups. She came across the stories of women in Oregon and Texas who began organizing cleanups in the 1980s where volunteers categorized the trash that they found.

“That, for me, is an important chapter and milestone in the history of the anti-plastic movement, which I intend on writing about in my second book,” she says.

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