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Proposing, Writing, and Filing Your Thesis or Dissertation

You’ll find the most comprehensive information about thesis and dissertation writing in published books. A range of sites, however, do provide advice that is more extensive than mere lists of the document’s components and directives to “revise” and “be concise.”

We’ve listed the most useful sites below in the following categories:

Writing Your Proposal

Resources for Proposal Writers : An annotated list of books and websites compiled by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.

Dissertation Proposal Resources : The University of Texas at Austin has a website with real dissertation proposals from a variety of fields, which may be useful for understanding possible options for organization and other aspects; and examples of successful NSF and Fulbright proposals.

Writing Thesis and Dissertation Proposals : A detailed document for proposal writers in all disciplines, developed by Penn State’s Graduate Writing Center.

Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation : A short, free e-book on thinking about the project, writing the proposal, completing the project, and defending it, by S. Joseph Levine of Michigan State University.

Writing Your Thesis and Dissertation

Resources for Dissertators : An annotated list of books and websites compiled by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.

Dissertation Calculator : Enter the start date and target completion date for your dissertation, and get a timeline of research and writing milestones, which range from creating a dissertation support network to writing the abstract. Clicking on any milestone will retrieve a page of detailed advice, along with links. Developed by the University of Minnesota.

Dissertations : Resources and tips from UNC Chapel Hill’s Writing Center for their dissertation boot camp.

PhinisheD : A discussion group for people working on theses and dissertations. You will need to create an account to view posts, and a moderator must approve your registration before you can access them. Once you do have access, though, check out the posts in response to frequently asked questions on managing your dissertation, advisor, and life.

Filing Your Thesis and Dissertation

Policies and Procedures for Dissertation Thesis and Dissertation Preparation and Filing : Did you know that your left and bottom margins have to be at least 1.5 inches wide? Or that your page numbers have to be centered? Read this official UCLA manuscript preparation guide to learn more shocking (and essential) tips.

Thesis and Dissertation Meetings : Attend one of these meetings in the quarter in which you plan to file. UCLA Graduate Division and Library staff will walk you through university regulations, important dates, and the above Policies and Procedures packet.

To report a broken link, please email us at [email protected] .

Extension of graduate thesis and dissertation submission deadlines

Dear Colleagues:

To ensure that graduate students are impacted as little as possible by the rapidly changing events associated with COVID-19, the Graduate Council has voted to extend dissertation, thesis and capstone project filing deadlines from March 20, 2020 to April 10, 2020 for the winter 2020 quarter. The Graduate Division is working closely with the Registrar to implement this change.

The Graduate Council will re-evaluate this policy in early spring in accordance with campus recommendations regarding COVID-19.

Please forward this information to the staff and/or faculty in your department.

With best wishes,

Robin L. Garrell

Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate Division

Andrea M. Kasko Chair of the Graduate Council

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UPDATED: UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements

The UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Filing Requirements has been revised effective September 10, 2016.  There have been no changes to policy. Rather, we have clarified filing requirements and updated information on procedures and copyright.  We have also created a checklist that we hope will make the process of finalizing the manuscript easier for students.  Please be sure to use this revised version and update any links on your department’s webpage or communication.  The attached document is available now on the Graduate Division website .

For any questions, please contact [email protected] or (310) 825-3819.

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Online Catalogs of Dissertations and Theses

Ucla dissertations and theses, dissertation guides for area studies.

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• 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.
• OATD.org Open Access Theses and Dissertations is an index of over 3 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). To the extent possible, the index is limited to records of graduate-level theses that are freely available online.
• UCLA Dissertations and Theses in print: Library Catalog Historically, most doctoral dissertations and selected master's theses were deposited in the Library's main collections. Those theses and dissertations can be found in the Catalog under the subject headings Dissertations, Academic--UCLA--[Department] . As of 2012, UCLA's Graduate Division switched to all digital submissions, so the Library no longer receives print copies of UCLA theses and dissertations. See online sources below.
• UCLA Dissertations and Theses in print (archives) UCLA masters theses and doctoral dissertations, written from 1934-1972. These are non-circulating and must be requested in Library Special Collections.
• Theses in microfilm: University Archives Microfilm negatives of theses going back to 1968, with some individual titles back to 1942.
• eScholarship, University of California This link opens in a new window UC's open access repository. May include recent (2012–present) theses or dissertations not available in ProQuest. Search for author or title of the dissertation.
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Theses and Dissertations

Booklets – m.a. recipients & ph.d. graduates.

• 2019-20, 2020-21, Summer 2021

2022-23 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Master’s Theses & Reports

Madison Aubey, MA

The Archaeology of Sovereignty: Africatown, Black Mobile, and Resistive Consumption

Chair: Justin P. Dunnavant

Amber Kela Chong, MA

Experiments in Sovereignty: Cultivating ʻĀina Momona at Waipā

Chair: Jessica Cattelino  

Dani Heffernan, MA

Constructing the “Cisgender Listening Subject”: Trans-Feminine Speakers’ Commentaries on Voice and Being Heard

Chair: Norma Mendoza-Denton  

Sally Li, MA

Racial and temporal differences in fertility-education tradeoffs highlight the effect of economic opportunities on optimum family size in the US

Chair: Brooke Scelza  

Robin Stevland Meyer-Lorey, MA

Manifest Destiny in Southeast Asia: Archaeology of American Colonial Industry in the Philippines, 1898-1987

Chair: Stephen Acabado  

Victoria Newhall, MA.

Evaluating the Role of Foodways During Large-Scale Socio-Political Transformations at Formative Tres Zapotes

Co-Chairs: Richard Lesure and Gregson Schachner  

Wanda Quintanilla Duran, MA

Chair: Jason De León  

The Force of Intimacy in a Honduran Community

Nicole Smith, M.A.

From Exile to Eviction: Garífuna Indigeneity, Land Rights, and Heritage in Roatán, Honduras

Co-Chairs: Jason De León and Justin Dunnavant

Doctoral Dissertations

Steven Ammerman, PhD

Human-Animal Interaction at the Ancient Urban Site of Sisupalgarh, India

Chair: Monica L. Smith

Spencer Chao-Long Chen, PhD

Dubbing Ideologies: The Politics of Language and Acoustic Aesthetics in Taiwan’s Mandarin-Voiceover Production

Chair: Paul V. Kroskrity

Kristine Joy Chua, PhD

Environmental, Biological, and Cultural Influences on Health and Behavior

Chair: Abigail Bigham

Rodney R. Gratreaks Jr., PhD

Talking to the Wind: Towards an Understanding of Numic Verbal Art and Language Planning in the Village of Shaxwapats

Emily Virginia Jones, PhD

A Violent Operation: Trauma Surgery, Policing, and the Politics of Care in a Los Angeles County Public Hospital

Chair: Laurie Kain Hart

Sucharita Kanjilal, PhD

Home Chefs: Indian Households Produce for the Global Creator Economy

Chair: Akhil Gupta

Andrew E. MacIver, Ph.D.

The Shang-Zhou Transition: Immanence, Power, and the Micropolitics of Encounter

Chair: Li Min

Joshua L. Mayer, PhD

Conjuring Territory: Afro-Indigenous Authority and Settler Capitalism in Nicaragua

Chair: Shannon Speed

Bianca Romagnoli, PhD

Patrolling North of 60: Military Infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic Communities

Co-Chairs: Salih Can Açiksöz and Laurie Kain Hart

Theodore Samore, PhD

Traditionalism, Pathogen Avoidance, and Competing Tradeoffs During a Global Threat

Chair: Daniel M.T. Fessler

William James Schlesinger, PhD

The Production and Governance of Risky Sexual Subjectivity in the Era of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to HIV

Chair: Salih Can Açiksöz

Saliem Wakeem Shehadeh, PhD

Researching the General Union of Palestine Students from the Diaspora

Co-Chairs: Jemima Pierre and Susan Slyomovics

Madeleine Amee Yakal, PhD

Spanish Colonialism in Bikol, Philippines: Localizing Devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia

Chair: Stephen Acabado

2021-22 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Master’s Theses & Reports

Emilia Rose Ørsted Holmbeck, MA

Contextualizing PTSD as Diagnosis and Intervention: Situating Trauma and the Subjective Experience of Suffering in Locally Meaningful Worlds

Co-Chairs: Douglas W. Hollan & Linda Garro  

Jewell Ruth-Ella Humphrey, MA

Harboring History: A Maritime Archaeological Analysis of an 18th Century Shipwreck in Coral Bay, St. Jan

Co-Chairs: Stephen Acabado & Justin Dunnavant  

Lillian Kohn, MA

Public Mourning, Online Spaces: Virtual Memorialization and Binational Grief in Israel-Palestine

Chair: Susan Slyomovics  

NaaKoshie Awurama Mills, MA

Par for the Corps: Black Diplomats and Race in U.S. Foreign Policy

Chair: Laurie Hart  

Abdullah Puckett, MA

Decarceration and Social Justice Activism in South Central LA

Chair: Philippe Bourgois

  Matthew James Schneider, MA

Against Accountability: Policing and Public Knowledge in Los Angeles

Chair: Hannah Appel  

Doğa Tekin, MA

Claiming Big Sur: How Places Enter Semiosis

Co-Chairs: Erin Debenport & Paul V. Kroskrity  

Kimberly Tanya Zhu, MA

Genomic Features Underlying Andean High-Altitude Adaptive Hemoglobin Levels

Chair: Abigail Bigham  

Brittany Nicole Florkiewicz, PhD

Properties of Facial Signaling in Captive Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes )

Chair: Brooke Scelza   Yanina Gori, PhD

Re/mediating Revolution: Cultivating Solidarity in a Cuban Queer Community

Co-Chairs: Hannah Appel & C. Jason Throop  

Jananie Kalyanaraman, PhD

Window seats: Making connection through transport and mobility in Bengaluru city, India

  Eva Rose Melstrom, PhD

The Gate of Weeping: Ethiopian Women Returning from Domestic Work in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf

Co-Chairs: Douglas W. Hollan & C. Jason Throop  

Zachary Mondesire, PhD

Region-craft: An Ethnography of South Sudan’s Transnational Intelligentsia

Lauren Textor, PhD

Deserving Abandonment: Governing Pain and Addiction across U.S. Opioid Landscapes

Co-Chairs: Philippe Bourgois & Laurie Hart

2020-21 Theses and Dissertations

Master’s Theses

Sara Isabel Castro Font, MA

Hipsters, Drunks, Tourists, and Locals: Calle Loíza as a Site of Ideological Contestation

Co-Chairs: Erin Debenport & Paul V. Kroskrity

Lilit Ghazaryan, MA

Speak Beautifully – Language Policies and Practices in Public Kindergartens in Armenia

Chair: Erica Cartmill

Nicco Amedeo La Mattina, MA

“Giving the Meaning” as a Social Practice on Pantelleria: The Metasemantics of Atttunement

Chair: Alessandro Duranti

Alessandra May Laurer Rosen, MA

Semiotic Labors of Personalization: Modernization and Access in an American Yoga School

Danielle Leigh Steinberg, MA

A robust tool kit: first report of tool use in crested capuchin monkeys ( Sapajus robustus )

Chair: Jessica Lynch

Jessie Serene Stoolman, MA

Writing Letters and Reading against the Grain of Anthropology’s Past

Chair: Aomar Boum

Donghyoun We, MA

Food and Restaurants: A Review of the Literature and Exploratory Observations of Restaurant Pivots in LA in the Time of COVID-19

Madeleine Louise Zoeller, MA

Eye See You: Investigating Predictors of the Evil Eye

Chair: Joseph Manson

Farzad Amoozegar-Fassaie, PhD

The Pursuit of Happiness and the Other: Being a Syrian Refugee Child in America

Co-Chairs: Alessandro Duranti & C. Jason Throop

Theresa Hill Arriola, PhD

Securing Nature: Militarism, Indigeneity and the Environment in the Northern Mariana Islands

Chair: Jessica Cattelino

Yael Assor, PhD

Objectivity as a Bureaucratic Virtue: The Lived Experience of Objectivity in an Israeli Medical Bureaucracy

Chair: C. Jason Throop

Amanda Jean Bailey, PhD

Alluvial Hope: The Transformative Practices of Placemaking at a Montana Tribal College

Co-Chairs: Paul V. Kroskrity & Cheryl Mattingly

Hannah Addaline Carlan, PhD

Producing Prosperity: Language and the Labor of Development in India’s Western Himalayas

Alejandro Suleman Erut, PhD

Lying: an anthropological approach

Chair: H. Clark Barrett

Nafis Aziz Hasan, PhD

Techno-politics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) – Investigating Practices and Social Relations in Indian Public Bureaucracies

Tanya Ruth Matthan, PhD

The Monsoon and the Market: Economies of Risk in Rural India

Agatha Evangeline Palma, PhD

The Migrant, The Mediterranean, and the Tourist: Figures of Belonging in Post-Austerity Palermo

Co-Chairs: Aomar Boum & Laurie Kain Hart

Sonya Rao, PhD

Privatizing Language Work: Interpreters and Access in Los Angeles Immigration Court

Alexander Malcolm Thomson, PhD

Mesologues: An Ethnobibliographic Study of Cultural and Lingual Politics in Contemporary Brittany

Co-Chairs: Laurie Kain Hart & Paul V. Kroskrity

2019-20 Theses, Reports, and Dissertations

Ulises Espinoza, MA

Intuitions on Ownership Among the Achuar of Southeastern Ecuador

Eden Franz, MA

Cultural and Interspecific Symbiosis at Salemi, Sicily: Exploring Colonial and Human-Animal Interactions Through Faunal Analysis

Joelle Julien, MA

Haitian Migration to Tijuana, Mexico: Black Migrants and the Political Economy of Race and Migration

Chair: Jemima Pierre

Eric Andrew Sinski, MA

Imagined Communities: Patriotic Sentiment Among Chinese Students Abroad in the Era of Xi Jinping

Chair: Yunxiang Yan

Sasha Lutz Winkler, MA

The Development of Sex Differences in Play in Wild White-Faced Capuchins

Katelyn Jo Bishop, PhD

Ritual Practice, Ceremonial Organization, and the Value and Use of Birds in Prehispanic Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 800-1150 CE

Co-Chairs: Richard Lesure & Gregson Schachner

Molly Josette Bloom, PhD

Thick Sociality: Community, Disability, and Language in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation

Chair: Norma Mendoza-Denton

Courtney Evelyn Cecale, PhD

Scientific Governance and the Cultural Politics of Climate Change Adaptation in the Peruvian Andes

Amy Marie Garey, PhD

The People’s Laughter: War, Comedy, and the Soviet Legacy

Chair: Nancy E. Levine

Kotrina Kajokaite, PhD

Social relationships in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys ( Cebus capucinus ): Insights from new modeling approaches

Chair: Susan Perry

Matthew Richard McCoy, PhD

Unsettling Futures: Morality, Time, and Death in a Divided Belfast Community

Dalila Isoke Ozier, PhD

City of Magic: Aesthetic Value in the Los Angeles Magic Scene

Chair: Sherry B. Ortner

Mindy Gayle Steinberg, PhD

Legal Status and the Everyday Lives of Mexican-Origin Youth in Los Angeles: Family, Gratitude, and the High School Transition

Chair: Thomas S. Weisner

Christopher Shawn Stephan, PhD

“Focus on the Users”: Empathy, Anticipation, and Perspective-Taking in Healthcare Architecture

Anoush Tamar Suni, PhD

Palimpsests of Violence: Ruination and the Politics of Memory in Anatolia

Chair: Susan Slyomovics

Gwyneth Ursula Jean Talley, PhD

Gunpowder Women: Gender, Kinship & Horses in Moroccan Equestrian Performance

Co-Chairs: Nancy E. Levine & Susan Slyomovics

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Filing Deadlines and Fees

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. If you file your dissertation by the official filing deadline, your degree date will be the filing deadline date.

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For detailed filing deadline and filing fee status deadlines, please visit Dissertation Filing Deadlines website .

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Master’s Thesis Committee Regulations

• Master’s Thesis committees are appointed by the Dean of the Graduate Division, acting for the Graduate Council, upon nomination by the Chair of the Department (or Interdepartmental Program), after consultation with the student.
• Master’s Thesis committees consist of a minimum of three faculty members from UCLA.
• Professor (any rank, regular series)
• Professor Emeritus
• Professor-in-Residence (any rank)
• Acting Professor (any rank).
• Adjunct Professors (any rank), Professors of Clinical X (any rank), and Visiting Professors (any rank) may serve as one of the three regular members (not as chair) on professional (not M.A. or M.S.) master’s thesis committees.
• Acting Assistant Professors may serve as regular members, but not as chairs.
• The Chair of the committee and at least one other member must hold academic appointments in the student’s department or interdepartmental program at UCLA.
• Additional members from any of the above titles as well as those with the title of Lecturer may be appointed to the committee and/or serve as Co-Chairs, and shall have the same voting rights and responsibilities as the other committee members.
• By petition, one of the minimum three members may be a faculty member from another UC campus who holds an appropriate appointment as listed above.

Graduate Dates & Deadlines

Graduate – current – dates & deadlines, 2024 graduate summer research mentorship.

• Application deadline: Friday, February 16, 2024 (Note: Recommender’s letter must also be submitted by this deadline!)
• See Graduate Student Financial Support Manual (pp. 12-17) for full information.

2024-25 Graduate Research Mentorship

• See Graduate Student Financial Support Manual (pp. 17-21) for full information.

2024-25 DGE Dissertation Year Award (DYA)

• Application deadline: Friday, February 16, 2024 (Note: Recommenders’ letters must also be submitted by this deadline!)
• See Graduate Student Financial Support Manual (pp. 22-28) for full information.

2024-25 Humanities Division Fellowships: Lenart / Leeds / Mellon Pre-Dissertation / Landres

• Application deadline: February 23, 2024

2024-25 English Department Dissertation Research Fellowship

• Application deadline: Friday, March 1, 2024

2024 UCLA/ Keck Humanistic Inquiry Research Awards

2024 carolyn lew-karon & michael karon digital research graduate fellowship.

UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations

• UCLA Previously Published Works

Optimization-based Planning and Control for Robust and Dexterous Locomotion and Manipulation through Contact

• Shirai, Yuki
• Advisor(s): Hong, Dennis W.

Although robotic locomotion and manipulation have shown some remarkable progress in the real world, the current locomotion and manipulation algorithms are inefficient in performance. They often only work for relatively simple tasks such as walking and running for locomotion and pick-and-place in structured environments (e.g., factory) for manipulation. In contrast, humans can perform quite dexterous tasks through contact as contacts provide additional dexterity to interact with environments. Hence, understanding the underlying contact mechanics plays a key role in designing contact-aware planners, controllers, and estimators for locomotion and manipulation.

However, design for planners, controllers, and estimators is extremely challenging. First, the number of contact states such as making and breaking contact with environments increases dramatically as the number of contacts increases. Thus, the underlying contact dynamics become large-scale non-smooth dynamics. As a result, optimization solvers have difficulties converging due to the non-convexity of the optimization problem.

Second, it is desirable that a robot should be able to interact in unknown environments during operation, leading to generalizable locomotion and manipulation. However, robust planning with frictional interaction with uncertain physical properties is very tough as the robot might cause undesired unexpected contact events. As a result, a robot might not be able to complete its desired task.

Third, once uncertainty is quite large, it is indispensable for closed-loop controllers to stabilize locomotion and manipulation. However, the design of manipulation is quite challenging as most manipulation systems are underactuated and unobservable with potential changes in contact states and modes.

In this dissertation, we present a methodology for contact-rich locomotion and planning using trajectory optimization. We first show that the planner using graph-search planners with trajectory optimization can be beneficial for decreasing the computation complexity. Second, we describe our contact-implicit trajectory optimization for planning of multi-limbed systems for running and climbing. We use decomposition-based optimization techniques to efficiently design a trajectory for a robot subject to various complicated contact constraints such as mixed-integer constraints. Then, we present our robust and stochastic trajectory optimization algorithms for multi-contact systems. We show that our chance-constrained optimization is applicable for planning multi-limbed robots. We also propose covariance steering algorithm for contact-rich systems using a particle filter to approximate a distribution of underlying contact dynamics. Our covariance steering is able to regulate robots' states and contact states simultaneously with probabilistic guarantees. Furthermore, utilizing the underlying structure of contact-rich manipulation, we present robust bilevel trajectory optimization for pivoting manipulation under uncertain physical parameters such as friction coefficients. Our proposed framework is able to design optimal control sequences while improving the worst-case stability margin along the manipulation. Finally, we present our closed-loop controller framework for tool manipulation using visuo-tactile feedback. Our approach enables the robot to achieve tool manipulation under unexpected contact events in closed-loop control fashion with no visual feedback for partially unknown objects.

The perspectives gained from this dissertation provide better insight into developing a contact-rich planning, estimation, and control framework for dexterous locomotion and manipulation in highly unstructured environments.

Energetic Electron Losses Driven by Whistler-Mode Waves in the Inner Magnetosphere: ELFIN observations and theoretical models

• Tsai, Ethan
• Advisor(s): Angelopoulos, Vassilis

Resonant interactions between energetic radiation belt electrons and equatorially-generated whistler-mode waves are widely studied because they yield either electron acceleration or precipitation -- where electrons are scattered and lost into the Earth's atmosphere -- both of which are fundamental to space weather forecasting, which is an increasingly relevant challenge as society scales up its reliance on space technologies. This dissertation investigates the mechanisms that govern the effectiveness of electron losses from Earth's radiation belts driven by whistler-mode waves using novel electron precipitation measurements from the ELFIN CubeSats. A culmination of innovative engineering efforts and a refactored satellite operations program has allowed ELFIN to obtain over 12,500 high-quality, low-altitude electron measurements of the radiation belts. These measurements are uniquely capable of resolving the bounce loss cone, allowing us to probe the physics that drive electron precipitation in great detail. We first present a test particle simulation that directly compares ELFIN-measured electron precipitation with equatorial electron and wave measurements by the THEMIS and MMS spacecraft during magnetic conjunctions, confirming the importance of mid-high latitude wave-power. Next, we demonstrate that test particle simulations combined with an empirical wave amplitude model adequately approximate statistical ELFIN observations at the dawn, day, and dusk MLT sectors, but they significantly underestimate relativistic (>500$keV) electron losses on the nightside. To resolve this discrepancy, we additionally use quasi-linear diffusion simulation methods to find that considering wave obliquity, wave frequency, and plasma density together are required to recover the energetic portion (>100 keV) of precipitating electron spectra without overestimating the loss contributions from the quasi-linear regime (~100 keV). We conclude by presenting the ranges of wave and plasma characteristics necessary for the incorporation of accurately modeled electron loss rates into modern radiation belt models. This unlocks the potential to remotely sense equatorial wave properties using electron precipitation measurements, but also calls for future \textit{in situ} satellite experiments to more deeply understand the interconnected role of energetic electron losses in atmospheric, ionospheric, and magnetospheric dynamics.

Organic Semiconductor Aggregates: from Molecular Designs to Device Applications

• Advisor(s): Yang, Yang

Organic semiconductors built on π-conjugated structures have attracted significant attention due to their distinctive optical, electronic, and mechanical properties. These characteristics position them as ideal materials for various electronic devices. Notably, their strong light absorption and efficient charge transport capabilities mark organic semiconductors as promising solutions for addressing the global energy crisis through solar energy conversion. However, precise control of “soft” nanostructures formed by the noncovalently aggregated organic semiconductors for achieving desired optoelectronic properties is challenging, compared to covalently or ionically inorganic semiconductors with rigid architectures. In Chapter 1, I will introduce basic structures and properties of organic semiconductors, especially on their molecular packing behavior. The structure-property relationship of organic semiconductors will be discussed in terms of device applications, such as the development of near-infrared donor and acceptor materials for organic photovoltaics. From molecular designs to device applications, in the following chapters, I will introduce the chemistry of several organic semiconductor aggregates constructed from twisted and nonplanar π-systems and their performances in various solar energy fields, such as photocatalytic hydrogen reaction, organic photovoltaics and perovskite solar cells. In Chapter 2, I will show the self-assembly of noncovalent π-stacked organic frameworks that shows a higher activity for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. I will first introduce the background of noncovalent π-stacked organic frameworks, which are a subclass of porous materials that consist of crystalline networks formed by self-assembly of organic building blocks through π-π interactions. π-stacked organic frameworks based on spirofluorene as central units and 3-(dicyanomethylidene)indan-1-one as end groups demonstrate strong visible light absorption from 500 nm to 700 nm and high surface area (248 m2 g–1) with 1.8 nm hydrophilic micropores, rendering them well-suited for applications in photocatalysis. The fabricated π-stacked organic frameworks nanoparticles exhibit hydrogen evolution rate up to 152 mmol h-1g-1 at room temperature and 618 mmol h-1g-1 at 70 °C. Cryo-transmission electron microscopy further reveal the native morphology of these nanoparticles and the cocatalyst Pt loading status on them. In Chapter 3, I will discuss the singlet fission property of pentacene polymer and its application in organic photovoltaics. Singlet fission is a process that converts one singlet exciton into two triplet excitons while conserving spin. This exciton multiplication process has the potential to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit of solar power conversion efficiency. Pentacene with high mobility has proved to be ideal organic semiconductors for singlet fission organic photovoltaics. Nevertheless, the cost-intensive vacuum deposition process and the propensity of molecular aggregation in the solid state to prematurely quench triplet excitons pose challenges for their application in photovoltaics. To address these issues, a pentacene polymer is engineered with pentacene units arranged orthogonally to the polymer backbone. This design facilitates the use of pentacene-based materials in organic photovoltaics as donor materials through solution processing. Rapid conversion of photoexcited singlets into triplet pairs, occurring on a picosecond time scale (495 ps) and further dissociate into two “free” triplet excitons in 9.8 µs are observed in the pentacene polymer via transient absorption spectroscopy. The resulting photovoltaic devices based on pentacene polymer and nonfullerene acceptors demonstrate 1.92% power conversion efficiency. In Chapter 4, I will focus on a helicene-based organic semiconductor and its application as electron transport layer in inverted perovskite solar cells. Electron transport layer materials based on fullerene tend to form large clusters and undergo dimerization when exposed to light, leading to a deterioration in electron transport capability and device degradation. The nonplanar geometry of helicenes proves effective in preventing such aggregation issues, thereby enhancing device stability. We have successfully synthesized a small-molecule n-type organic semiconductor utilizing [6]helicene. This compound was employed as the electron transport layer, n-doped by organic amines, in an inverted perovskite solar cell, achieving an impressive power conversion efficiency of over 16%.

Scalable and Efficient Material Point Methods on Modern Computational Platforms

• Qiu, Yuxing
• Advisor(s): Terzopoulos, Demetri

The challenge of efficiently and plausibly simulating deformable solids and fluids remains significant in the domains of Computer Graphics and Scientific Computing. This dissertation presents an in-depth exploration of physics-based simulation, with an emphasis on the Material Point Method (MPM) --- a dominant technique in this arena. Our research aims to extend the capabilities of MPM, focusing on enhancing its performance, scalability, range of applications, and integration with emerging AI technologies. We first summarize our development of optimized MPM leveraging GPU architectures. This advancement accelerates scenarios involving hundreds of millions of particles in multi-GPU computational environments. Furthermore, the thesis introduces a device-agnostic and distributed MPM framework. This system is adept at dynamically allocating workloads across multiple computing ranks, thus enabling simulations at unprecedented particle-count scales. Additionally, the dissertation examines the application of physics-based simulation, specifically MPM, in real-time contexts. It also integrates simulation with generative AI tasks. This exploration includes developing unified frameworks for simulations, image rendering, and natural language processing, showcasing the versatile applicability of MPM in tackling contemporary computational challenges.

Discourse Networks: Dynamic network modeling of the Brexit negotiations

• Kappos, Cybele
• Advisor(s): Hazlett, Chad J.

Political discourse is constantly in flux: the key issues, the actors that define the discourseare changing from moment to moment. Quantitative approaches to discourse are an impor- tant methodological tool that can help researchers measure the structure of and changes in discourse. However, existing approaches are often time-consuming and not scalable to large datasets. In this thesis, I apply a fully automated approach to discourse analysis that combines Structural Topic Modeling and Network Analysis. I apply the model to a novel dataset of the Brexit negotiations in British parliament. I find that the method captures the state of relations between actors and the progress in the negotiation process.

Structural determinants of health access and sexual and reproductive health in new immigrant populations in California

• Khan, Angubeen Gul
• Advisor(s): Gipson, Jessica D.

Immigrants have been entering the U.S. since its inception; however, predominant immigration flows have changed over time. Following the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which repealed national quotas for immigration, two pan-ethnic communities that grew significantly include the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) and South Asian immigrant communities (Bhandari, 2022; Harjanto & Batalova, 2022). MENA and South Asian Americans have established themselves as prominent pan-ethnic communities in the U.S. with a large immigrant network throughout the country (Basu, 2016; Cainkar, 2018; Hashad, 2003; Sekhon, 2003). However, following 9/11 they have also experienced record levels of hate crimes, violence, and discrimination, which have been shown to adversely affected their health and health access (Budiman, 2020; Martin, 2015; Reitmanova & Gustafson, 2008; Samuels et al., 2021; Samari et al., 2020). Other groups of immigrants have also suffered from government policies and practices that were enacted in response to 9/11; debates related to illegal immigration and visa overstays intensified over the following few decades and greatly impacted immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and all over Asia (Passel & Cohn, 2014). These events have had a “chilling effect” on the psyche of immigrants from MENA and South Asian backgrounds, as well as Latin and Asian immigrants Quesada et al., 2011). In the studies of this dissertation, I examined how factors pertaining to the migration process have shaped health access and sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) of immigrant groups in a post-9/11 world—an era in which immigrants of various race/ethnicities have been vilified in a prevailing anti-immigrant sociopolitical climate. In the first two studies of this dissertation, I explored the neighborhood context that MENA and South Asian immigrants resettle into (Aim 1; Chapter 6) and how these environments shape their health access (Aim 2; Chapter 7). In the third study, I focus on the role of citizenship status on contraception use among reproductive-aged (18-44 years) immigrant women (Aim 3; Chapter 8). This dissertation used secondary data from large demographic surveys including the 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates (Aims 1 and 2) and pooled data from 2017 to 2020 waves of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). Data from the first study indicated that MENA and South Asian Americans in California are spread across different metropolitan areas of Northern and Southern California and that they have formed four different types of ethnic neighborhoods that follow a few different social and economic pattern, in terms of the density of these specific immigrant groups, their overall foreign-born concentration, and socioeconomic status. The second study indicated that diversity within these groups, including in terms of their health insurance status, can be observed through the distinct type of neighborhoods in which they resettle. For example, among MENA Americans, socioeconomic advantage in a neighborhood was associated with health insurance status. For South Asians, health insurance status was associated with co-ethnic density and foreign-born density. Finally, in the third study of this dissertation I found that nativity and citizenship status were not significantly associated with contraception use, however, there were notable bivariate differences in type of contraception method used by citizenship status. The findings of this dissertation are important for understanding how different aspects of migration shape health of underrepresented immigrant groups, including MENA and South Asian Americans and non-citizen immigrant groups including legal permanent residents (LPRs) and those without a green card. Researchers and policy makers should use the findings of this dissertation to work toward reducing barriers to health access and SRH in immigrant populations.

On robust estimation in causal machine learning

• Jiang, Jeffrey
• Advisor(s): Pottie, Gregory

This thesis presents three significant contributions to the field of machine learning, with a focus on Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), energy-based models, and education simulations. Firstly, we demonstrate the ability to impose substantial structure on the latent space of VAEs, enabling out-of-distribution data generation, structural hypothesis testing, and the production of augmentations in the latent space. These findings give us new ways to structure and interpret the latent space, creating robustness and explainability. Secondly, we identify a state-of-the-art defense technique using the unsupervised learning approach of energy-based models. This technique effectively defends against several poisoning techniques without requiring excessive additional training time or significantly reducing test accuracy. Lastly, we have developed a simulation for educational purposes that aims to model and comprehend the interactions between humans and machines. This simulation, built on causal information, provides insights into the design of practical educational experiments and highlights the challenges associated with implementing a dynamic Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) in an educational context. Interestingly, our simulation reveals that heuristic methods continue to perform on par with deep learning techniques in the presence of unknown subpopulation distributions and hidden student states. This suggests that despite the rapid advancements in deep learning, heuristic methods retain their effectiveness in certain scenarios.These findings open new avenues for the application of machine learning techniques and provide a solid foundation for future research in these areas.

Wirelessly Powered Localization Systems for Biomedical and Environmental Applications

• Ray, Arkaprova
• Advisor(s): Babakhani, Aydin

The recent emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) has coincided with the popularity of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which transmit and receive data to and from IoT devices. Wirelessly powered WSNs offer significant advantages over battery-powered WSNs since they do not suffer from issues regarding battery leakage and limited battery life.

This thesis presents two miniaturized wireless and battery-less localization systems for use in WSNs. Both systems comprise a printed circuit board (PCB) having a microchip, on-PCB coils, and resonating capacitors. The microchip, fabricated in the TSMC 180 nm process, is wirelessly powered by an RF signal and transmits back a locked sub-harmonic signal generated from the powering signal, eliminating the need for a power-hungry oscillator. The PCB has a form factor of 17 mm × 12 mm × 0.2 mm. The first system, having a 6 µW power consumption, has been proposed to be used for wireless capsule endoscopy and demonstrates an accuracy of less than 5 mm in ex vivo measurements. Additionally, the system has been verified to detect a motion as small as 50 µm, as well as rates of motion up to 10 bpm. The second system, having a 1.5 µW power consumption, has been proposed to be used for fracture mapping at temperatures up to 250 °C and pressures up to 24 MPa.

Study of Dynamic Flash Evaporation and Vapor Separation System and its Application to Desalination

• Chandramouli, Vasudevan
• Advisor(s): Dhir, Vijay

Water scarcity is identified as one of the global issues by the United Nations. As per WHO,2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress. Almost 80% of wastewater (UNESCO, 2017) flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused. Fresh water demand is expected to increase drastically in the upcoming decade. Fresh water production from unconventional water sources such as seawater, brackish water, and ultra-saline water becomes crucial to achieve self-sufficiency. Desalination provides a favorable solution for coastal places like California due to easy access to seawater. Thermal desalination is suitable for treating water with high salinity due to its robustness and can directly utilize renewable sources like solar energy to adhere to sustainability. This study developed and investigated a novel thermal desalination system which encompasses the primary objective of this work. The novel system combines dynamic flash evaporation, a pressure-driven phase change phenomenon to produce vapor from liquid, along with a vapor separation process initiated through tangential injection. The inlet feed water to be treated passes through injection tubes which are connected to injection passages installed tangentially onto a separator tube. Dynamic flashing is initiated by pressure drop due to friction and acceleration in the injection tubes creating a two-phase mixture. Subsequent tangential injection separates the two-phase mixture through centrifugal force. This approach offers a compact system with vapor production and separation processes occurring on the order of several milliseconds. Tap water and seawater were tested with the system. Performance parameters of thermal conversion efficiency to analyze vapor production efficacy and phase separation efficiency to evaluate the purity of the condensate were investigated. Single-stage system was able to achieve up to 98% for thermal and phase separation efficiencies. Further improvement in the purity of the condensate was achieved through a two-stage system, where the entrained droplets along with vapor captured from the first stage undergoes a second round of separation in a stage connected in series. This resulted in condensate with over 99.9% purity. With seawater of 2.5% salt concentration by mass, the condensate obtained achieved salt concentrations lower than 0.02% by mass comparable to that of potable water. With the goal of optimizing the system for varying operating conditions, the dynamic flashing in one of the injection tubes was studied. A visualization study was performed in the injection tubes. Pressure and temperature measurements along the tube were analyzed for different inlet flowrates and liquid temperatures. The pressure and temperature values showed increasing gradients along the tube indicating an increase in vapor production for increasing flowrates and liquid temperatures. The flow regime development due to the vapor production was tracked through high-speed imagery. Visual observations informed complex flow regimes for flashing flow with numerous bubble nucleations and growth throughout the tube. Bulk nucleation showed dominance over wall nucleation. Distinctive flow regimes were observed for tap water and saltwater. Volumetric void fraction measurements were performed using the capacitance impedance technique. Measurements showed an increasing void fraction along the tube supporting visual identification of the flow regimes. Variation of local superheat along the tube showed dependence on the flow regime. The results provide experimental data to aid modeling efforts on flashing flows.

Topological Spintronics Based on Magnetic Skyrmions and Magnetic Topological Insulators

• Tai, Lixuan
• Advisor(s): Wang, Kang L

Spintronics harnesses spin degrees of freedom for information storage and processing, offering notable advantages of non-volatility, low power consumption, and fast speed. Topology, as invariant geometric and physical properties under continuous deformation, endows spintronics with higher efficiency and robustness against external perturbations. Protected by real-space topology, magnetic skyrmions are swirling topological spin structures with particle-like properties and potential candidates for high-density, non-volatile storages. As an electrical readout of magnetic skyrmions, the topological Hall effect (THE) is a non-monotonic feature in the Hall signal. However, in the presence of an anomalous Hall effect (AHE), the THE can be easily confused with the non-monotonic co-existence of two AHEs, or artifact of “THE”. Here, we develop systematic methodologies for distinguishing between the two. Genuine THE occurs in the transition region of the AHE, while artifact of “THE” may occur well beyond the saturation of the “AHE component”. Minor loops of genuine THE with AHE are always within the full loop, while minor loops of artifact of “THE” may reveal a single loop that cannot fit into the “AHE component”. The temperature or gate dependence of artifact of “THE” may also be accompanied by a polarity change of the “AHE component”. Our methods may help future researchers ascertain genuine THE for applications of magnetic skyrmions. Protected by k-space topology, magnetic topological insulators (MTI) can apply highly efficient spin-orbit torque (SOT) and manipulate the magnetization with their unique topological surface states. Here, we demonstrate efficient SOT switching of a hard MTI, V-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 (VBST) with a large coercive field that can prevent the influence of an external magnetic field. A giant switched anomalous Hall resistance of 9.2 kΩ is realized, among the largest of all SOT systems. The SOT switching current density can be reduced to 2.8×105 A/cm2. Moreover, as the Fermi level is moved away from the Dirac point by both gate and composition tuning, VBST exhibits a transition from edge-state-mediated to surface-state-mediated transport, thus enhancing the SOT effective field to 1.56±0.12 T/(106 A/cm2) and the interfacial charge-to-spin conversion efficiency to 3.9±0.3 nm-1. The findings establish VBST as an extraordinary candidate for energy-efficient magnetic memory devices.

Undergraduate Study

African American Studies Major

The African-American Studies major offers a streamlined opportunity to study the origins, experiences, and conditions of people of African descent. Majors will take core courses in African-American Studies that address the challenges African-Americans face in the U.S. and worldwide. To graduate with a demonstrable skill set, majors also take six courses in their area of disciplinary concentration (such as English, History, Political Science, etc.).

Admissions to the Major

To be admitted to the major, students must have completed AfAmer 1, be in good standing, and formally register with the department. Students are encouraged to declare their major as early as possible and discuss their proposed course plan with the department’s undergraduate advisor.

***Students must have a grade point average of 2.0 or higher in African American Studies courses to receive credit for completing the program.***

African American Studies Major Requirements (Fall 2022)

The B.A. brochure for the 2022-23 academic year can be found here .

African American Studies Majors (For students that enrolled in the major before Fall 2022)

The B.A. brochure can be found  here .

B.A. Major in African American Studies Track Checklists:

• Humanities Track Checklist
• Social Sciences Track Checklist

Extra options for African-American course credit:

For Af-Amer electives, Af Am majors and minors can receive course credit from the following choices. Prior permission is needed for these contract courses from the African-American office.

• Independent Studies course with an individual professor (Af-Amer 197 or Af-Amer 199).
• Internship with an individual professor (Af-Amer 195). (Corporation, non-profit, or educational institution).
• Study Abroad (Check with Education Abroad Office re courses offered for UCLA credit).
• CAAP quarter in Washington D.C. (Political Science, Public Policy, Humanities, or Social Science internships and/or research).
• Honors courses or Honors thesis. Qualified students may apply to the African-American Studies and Honors offices.
• Financial Aid: At least one quarter before, see Financial Aid Office to enquire if you qualify for financial aid in these areas.

How to Register for Courses?

• Register for courses online via MyUCLA ( www.my.ucla.edu )
• Courses that don’t begin with the title “AF-AMER” may have enrollment restrictions.
• Contact the African-American Studies office for assistance in reaching the individual professor teaching the course in order to enroll in the course.  Professor may have to issue a Permission to Enroll (PTE) number that you will use along with the course ID number.
• Enrollment in courses that require special permission will need a Permission To Enroll (PTE number) in order to be included in a class may require that you wait until the first day of class before the professor gives you the PTE number.
• We recommend that you enroll in three (3) courses per quarter to ensure that you receive at least a 3.0 (“B”) grade minimum in each class.

How can academic advisors support me?

Virtual Academic Counseling

Undergraduate Students: Advising sessions will be held by Student Affairs Officer, Eboni Shaw by appointment through Calendly .

Help & Support- Ask a Question to our Student Affairs Officer

The  MyUCLA Message Center  allows students to submit academic questions to the Student Affairs Officer electronically. Please sign in to the Message Center by using your UCLA Logon. Please note that using the Message Center is highly encouraged instead of email.

African American Studies Minor

Undergraduate students may take the African American Studies Minor.

Below is the checklist for the African American Studies Minor:

African American Studies Minor Checklist

Mailing Address

2134 Rolfe Hall P.O. Box 957109, Los Angeles, CA, 90095

The academic counseling drop-in hours are Tuesday’s from 1pm-2pm via  Zoom .

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• LA Social Science
• UCLA Bunche Center

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Anjeliq: Navigating Native Identity in Higher Education

As a member of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, I, Anjeliq Pinn, grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, which also happens to be my tribal land. Despite being raised on my ancestral territory, I felt disconnected from my Indigenous roots due to growing up in an urban area. Throughout my childhood, I was a straight-A student who prioritized education over cultural knowledge and customs, strongly believing that the latter held no purpose in bringing me money or power – the two things I thought society valued most at the time. 

However, my perspective shifted when I got accepted into UCLA and attended the American Indian Freshman Admit Weekend. Meeting so many amazing Indigenous students empowered me, and through my Indigenous friends, I learned the importance and power of having cultural knowledge and how it creates a sense of community and belonging. I began to realize the significance of connecting with my Indigenous roots and understanding the traditions that have been passed down through generations. This realization led me to actively seek opportunities to learn more about my culture and history, ultimately fostering a deeper sense of identity and belonging within me. I brought this newfound understanding back to my family, teaching them that there is so much more to life than just money and power.  

Being a part of the American Indian Student Association (AISA) has taught me what it means to be an Indigenous leader and an Indigenous student in higher education. I have been able to connect with like-minded individuals who share similar experiences and values, and this sense of community has been invaluable to my personal growth and development as an Indigenous person navigating higher education. I learned that my cultural knowledge and beliefs can intertwine with my education, and they don’t have to be two separate parts of my life.  

Coming to UCLA has inspired me to take time and value my culture just as much as I value my education. I have also learned how to Indigenize my educational experience through exploring things like Indigenous research methods or how certain classes make me feel as an Indigenous student. I am grateful that AISA provides a space for me to embrace my culture and identity in my academic journey. This experience has allowed me to feel more connected to my identity and empowered in my academic pursuits. UCLA’s Native Bruin community has provided me with a supportive environment where I can fully embrace both my cultural heritage and educational goals without compromising either aspect of my identity. 

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2024 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

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June 13 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

The 2024 UCLA Doctoral Hooding Ceremony will commence on Thursday, June 13, at 3pm Pacific Time inside the Royce Hall Auditorium. Graduates and invited guests are only allowed to attend in-person. 

For all others guests, please watch it LIVE or after the fact on THE DIVISION OF GRADUATE EDUCATION YOUTUBE CHANNEL! <—link here.

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Steffi colao ('19) publishes senior honors thesis in the ucla law review journal.

Read the full article in the UCLA Law Review Journal.

https://www.uclalawreview.org/loathsome-and-dangerous-time-to-remove-syphilis-and-gonorrhea-as-grounds-for-inadmissibility/

Nancy Alicia Martínez appointed as Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature

Nancy Alicia Martínez has been appointed Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at UCLA.

In September 2024, Martínez will receive her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University after successfully defending her dissertation, Breaking the Book: Maya and German Literary Experiments Since 1945. Her project examines the history of the book as an object and concept, using it to rework how to expand and alter current literary and historical frameworks for understanding inscription practices.

Martínez specializes in the transhistorical dialogue between Central American and European written and print cultures. Working with English, Spanish, German, and K’iche materials, her research engages with media theory, Indigenous studies, decolonial theory, sound studies, and book history.

“While much of my work looks at 20th-century creative production, working with the long history of material cultures that helped form more recent inscription practices critically informs how I dialogue Indigenous and Latinx cultures with those of the Global North,” said Martínez. Because inscriptions and modes of interpretation vary by region and culture, her work focuses specifically on Maya traditions of ts’íib and Germanophone-Central European print and writing cultures.

According to Martínez, she is particularly excited to teach students about the creative cultures and traditions of Abiayala, positioning them more regionally as a hemispheric study of the Americas and in a global context.

“Although I’ll be focusing on teaching specifically about the Hispanophone, Germanophone, and K’iche’-speaking worlds, I’m looking forward to supporting undergraduate and graduate students on more broadly decolonial and Indigenous studies research,” said Martínez.

As a dedicated advocate for archival work and the stories it unveils, Martínez is eager and deeply committed to collaborating with colleagues and students on research involving different record-keeping practices worldwide. She is particularly excited to bring her work on Maya culture inscriptions to conversations at the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies (CMRS-CEGS) and the “Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses” project.

Martínez values the dynamic history and presence of the diverse scholars and students at UCLA who actively respond to the concerns of the world around them. As an early-career scholar, she is not only keen but also deeply appreciative of the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues who push the boundaries of their work. She sees outreach as an exciting prospect and is eager to be a part of the dynamic history of care and foster a sense of mutual respect and appreciation in her audience.

Please join us in congratulating Assistant Professor Martínez on her appointment and welcoming her to UCLA.

Recent News

• Nancy Alicia Martínez appointed as Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature June 12, 2024
• Allison Kanner-Botan appointed as Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature  June 11, 2024
• Introducing Basil Arnould Price, John W. Baldwin Post-Doctoral Fellow at the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies June 4, 2024
• Roberta Morosini appointed as Professor of European languages and transcultural studies May 30, 2024
• Welcoming Daniel P. Gámez, “Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses” University of California Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar May 29, 2024