Dissertation Defense Schedule
Academic Excellence
Sharing original dissertation research is a principle to which the University of Delaware is deeply committed. It is the single most important assignment our graduate students undertake and upon completion is met with great pride.
We invite you to celebrate this milestone by attending their dissertation defense. Please review the upcoming dissertation defense schedule below and join us!
PROGRAM | Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Exploring Early Stage Psychosis Through Multimodal Approaches – A Longitudinal Study
By: Kristina Holton Chair: Austin Brockmeier
ABSTRACT
Psychotic disorders are marked by positive and negative symptoms along with functional impairment. Besides clinically-measured features, neuroimaging (via MRI) provides measurements of the brain structure, electroencephalogram (EEG) can measure deficits in the Auditory Steady-State Response (ASSR), and fMRI or EEG can be used to measure the resting state network activity. These measurements from norms across the population (cross-sectionally) or longitudinal changes within an individual are key features that may lead to more targeted intervention (targeted clinical and cognitive remediation therapies) by tracking the individual’s progression trajectory. At early stage psychosis, which is within the first six years of illness, we posit that impairments and changes are already present, but difficult to isolate due to the heterogeneity of the disease and the population. We investigate the relationship among these measurements using statistical modeling and machine learning. We utilize the McLean Hospital First Episode of Psychosis longitudinal dataset, which includes schizophrenia spectrum disorder and affective psychosis patients from ages 17-30, along with matched healthy controls. These subjects undergo a battery of clinical assessments, structural MRI, EEG, and resting state fMRI at baseline and several follow-up timepoints. We analyze each of these modalities in isolation, and then perform multimodal integration, to find discriminating patterns between early stage psychosis and healthy controls, and what features are important to classification and functional outcome.
The Process
Step-by-Step
Visit our “Step-by-Step Graduation Guide” to take you through the graduation process.From formatting your Dissertation to Doctoral Hooding procedures.
Dissertation Manual
Wondering how to set up the format for your paper. Refer to the “UD Thesis/Dissertation Manual” for formatting requirements and more.
Defense Submission Form
This form must be completed two weeks in advance of a dissertation defense to meet the University of Delaware Graduate and Professional Education’s requirements.
