Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) make VCU student research and creativity available online as full-text documents and multimedia presentations for use by the university community and others involved in research.
See the VCU Libraries Dissertations Research Guide for information on submitting your ETD, accessing older dissertations from VCU, and finding dissertations from other universities.
The majority of VCU theses and dissertations may be found in Special Collections and Archives at James Branch Cabell Library or the Health Sciences Library. Use VCU Libraries Search to locate individual theses and dissertations.
Part of University Archives: This series has been selected for inclusion in the VCU University Archives for its enduring administrative, fiscal, legal, or historical value.Theses/Dissertations from 2025
Afterlife Recovered, Caroline M. Richards
Physiological Responses and Plant Trait Interactions with Coastal Dune and Swale Development, Emily C. Riffe
A Qualitative Exploration of the Employment Experiences and Coping Strategies Among Transgender Women in Medellín, Colombia., Paola Marcela Roldan
How to Remain a Stranger / Encountering, in a Basement, Hannah Rotwein
Men's Perceptions of Autonomous Reproductive Choices, Julie Russo
Plasmon-assisted On-chip Integration of Quantum Emitter for Scalable Quantum Networking, Samprity Saha
Growth to beginning of gill formation., Annie Sarachan
Strata: Layered support through community, resources, & design, Jenna M. Sawyer
THE ROLE OF MTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF XENOPUS Laevis AND ITS INTERSECTION WITH DYRK1A, Devyani Shah
Food Waste Renaissance: From the Table, for the Table, Yasamin Shaikhi
Lonely People Anonymous, Christopher Shaw
Inherited Wounds: Navigating Intergenerational Trauma through Cooperative Play, Ayza Sheikh
Blossoming in the Margins: An autoethnographic and narrative exploration of fat Black women’s storied lives through Sista Circles, Broquelynn D. Shepard
Persistence of southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis) in an ever-changing environment, Shruti Shrivastava
Dynamic Expression of Transposable Elements Contributes to Molecular and Behavioral Adaptations to Cocaine, Gabriella M. Silva
The Impact of Regular E-Cigarette Usage on Cardiovascular Health in Young Adults, Tijana Simovic
Facile Synthesis of Gold, Copper, and Silicon Nanostructures by Laser Ablation in Liquid, Nicholas Simpson
The Bitch and the Boogeyman: Violence Against Women and Gendered Morality in American Slasher Films, Davis A. Smith
Technointerventionism: External Sources of Influence Shaping Parental Attitudes and Practices in Early Childhood Media Use, Joshua J. Smith
Development of a Mediation Model of Pain Cognition in Adult Patients with Sickle Cell Disease, Daniel M. Sop
Orb Weaver, Quinn Standley
Treatment Resistant Obesity Among Midlife Women Receiving Care from a Specialized Weight Management Clinic, Emily C. Stevens
Stained Glass, Depicting Absence, Julia St. John
Development of Next Generation Inhibitors to Disrupt C-terminal Binding Protein's Oncogenic Effects, Nicholette Angela St Martin
‘Train Up a Child in the Way He Should Go’: Investigating the Roles of Religiosity and Spirituality in Racial Socialization for Black Families, Alexis D. Stokes
The Regulation of Ceramide Generation and Its Downstream Metabolites as Targets for Cancer Therapy, Alexandra J. Straus
From Ink to Code, From Binary to Boundless Reality—Until All Returns to Emptiness, Weitong Sun
DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL CHIMERIC EPITOPE-BASED DIAGNOSTIC ANTIGENS FOR EHRLICHIOSIS AND ANAPLASMOSIS, Alyssa Swiss
Modeling Synergistic Effects of Integrin and TGF-β Signaling in Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition, Prerak Thakkar
Queer-keying: Performing Video Processes as [Trans]gressive Resistance, Wren Tiffany
Through Their Eyes: Black Girls Reimagining the Future of School Mental Health Post-COVID-19 through Youth Participatory Action Research, Christina Tillery
GBA Deficiency Promotes α-Synuclein Accumulation in Cellular Models of Parkinson’s Disease, Megan E. Toms
Doves and symbiotic bacteria: whole-genome assembly and phylogenomic inference, Mariam Topchyan
CDH3 MEDIATES COLLECTIVE CELL MIGRATION MECHANISMS IN EPITHELIAL MORPHOGENESIS, Sydnie Tran
Transcriptional Control of Brain Transposable Elements Contributes to Social Behaviors and Major Depression, Natalie L. Truby
An Exploration of the Relationship Between School Counselor Access and Latine Students’ College-Going Behaviors, Kristen Tuxbury
Development and Application of Xerogel Insulated Glazing for Enhanced Building Insulation, Dylan S. Van Laeken
CANNABIS USE AMONG CANCER SURVIVORS AND THE IMPACT ON CANCER-RELATED PAIN, Tiffanie A. Vargas
Targeting the Achilles’ Heel of Lung Cancer Induced by Oncogenic P53, Brandon G. Velasco
Rare Variant Analysis of Electronic Health Record-Defined Major Depressive Disorder in the All of Us Research Program, Stephen Emil Vieno
Beyond Homogeneity: Exploring Causal Heterogeneity in Psychopathology, Philip B. Vinh
0-D MODELLING AND COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS TO OPTIMIZE HIGH-PRANDTL NUMBER FLUID HEAT TRANSFER IMPACTS, James Vulcanoff
Smear Layer Removal by Irrigation Adjuncts: a Scanning Electron Microscopy Study, Triet D. Vuong
From trans health to vaccines: A theoretically driven model exploring factors related to susceptibility to medical misinformation, Catherine Wall
Imagine Being Free: Decolonizing Actor Training In University and Conservatory Programs, Hope r. Ward
Exploring the Role of Transcription Factor Nrf1 in Autophagy and Inhibiting the Nrf1 Bounce-Back Response, Madison A. Ward
Integrative Multi-Omics Dissection of Pathogenic Mechanisms in Chronic Liver Diseases, Grayson Way
Visible Modulation of Epsilon Near Zero Materials, Jonathan M. Weber
Exploring the Neural Consequences of Stress and Inflammation in a Monogamous Rodent: a Path to Understanding Loss, Amy Wegener
Vascular and Autonomic Function in Young Adults with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): The Effects of Oxidative Stress, Jennifer B. Weggen
Bird's Eye, Allison N. Weissman
“You’re Only as Good as your Resources”: Exploring Virginia Police Chiefs’ and Sheriffs’ Decisions as Public Administrators to Engage in Community Collaborations with Domestic and Sexual Violence Agencies, Christine E. Wengloski
Hyperreality Ain’t Really Real: Postmodernity, Social Media, & Blackness, Micah White
Value-Based Care: The Sentiment of Orthodontists Toward Adopting a Value-Based Care Model, Stephen M. White
Liner Notes on Black Trans Girlhood: Afrofuturist Affect & Black Popular Music as a Praxis of Self-Fashioning, shawn j. williams
Theatre as Sanctuary: Queer Identity, Religious Trauma, and the Path to Healing, Casey Worley
Supporting and Promoting the Well-Being of Sexual Assault Survivors, Lindai Xie
Kernel-based Partial Sufficient Variable Screening and Dimension Reduction with Categorical Controls, Wei Yang
Establishing PROTACs as a Novel Approach to Targeting Cancer Stem Cells in Colorectal Cancer and Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Shadid Uz Zaman
Immune populations leading to IgE production in helminth infection, Matthew P. Zellner
Theses/Dissertations from 2024
A SPECTRE OF SONIC TECHNICITY, Zachary L. Acosta-Lewis
Notes Toward a Personal Afrofuturism, Jalen T. Adams
Politics of Being a Lover: in art, (space) and kink, Rabeeha Adnan
PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS OF NEUTROPHIL ELASTASE-INDUCED MACROPHAGE EXTRACELLULAR TRAPS AND THEIR ROLE IN LUNG INFLAMMATION, Nadia Tasnim Ahmed
The Incoherence of Orientalists, Sarah Zaid Alafifi
Clinical Outcomes of Primary Anterior Esthetic Crowns in Pediatric Dentistry, Jenan Alahmad
Developing Antiviral Drugs for COVID-19 and Hepatitis C: Targeting Key Viral Proteases, Mohammed A. AlAwadh
A Critical Perspective on Supporting Parents in Facilitating Informal STEAM Learning on Children's Early Literacy Development, Suzanne G. Alexandre
Utilizing Hemoglobin Binding Kinetics and X-ray Crystallography in Sickle Cell Disease Drug Development, Ahmed Alghamdi
DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF BENZAMIDE-SUBSTITUTED AROMATIC ALDEHYDES AS POTENTIAL THERAPEUTICS FOR SICKLE CELL DISEASE, Lamya ALghanim
REPURPOSING DRUGS FOR HYPERCOAGULABLE CONDITIONS: A PRECISION MEDICINE APPROACH TO ADVANCE THERAPEUTIC DISCOVERY, Ali Alghubayshi
Dune Dynamics- A Nature-Based Preschool, Aseel Alhaidari
Developing Machine Learning and Time-Series Analysis Methods with Applications in Diverse Fields, Muhammed Aljifri
Developing Novel Antiviral Agents: Targeting the N-Terminal Domain of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein with Small Molecule Inhibitors, Mona A. AlKhairi
Unfolding Remembrance: Folding Islamic Principles into Pondering Machines, Hind Al Saad Al-Kuwari
Who is Responsible for Corporate Social Responsibility? Investigating Employees’ Roles as Agents of CSR, Leah Alley
Zaytouna: Rooted Histories in Uprooted Memories, Naima M. Almajdobah
SYMMETRY ANALYSIS OF THE CANONICAL CONNECTION ON LIE GROUPS:CO-DIMENSION TWO ABELIAN NILRADICAL WITH ABELIAN AND NON ABELIAN COMPLEMENT, nouf alrubea almutiben
Cardiometabolic Genomics and Pharmacogenomics in Filipino Americans: A Cross-Sectional Study, Khalifa Y. Alrajeh
Learning curve: Designing an Inclusive Early Childhood Learning Center, Sarah Alrumayh
Optimizing Lipid Nanoparticles for mRNA Delivery to Tumor-associated Macrophages for Breast Cancer Immunotherapy, Yasir A. Alshehry
Exploring Factors Influencing the Adoption of AI Tools in Auditing: A Mixed-Methods Study, Fahad Alsudairi
Effect of Annealing on Photoluminescence from Defects in GaN, Oleksandr Andrieiev
RNA SEQ & MICROBIOME PROFILING FOLLOWING DISRUPTION OF GASTROINTESTINAL EPITHELIAL BARRIER, Mahshid Arastonejad
T CELL POLARIZATION REGULATES THE INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE AND TISSUE REGENERATION AT THE PERI-IMPLANT INTERFACE, Derek Avery
Stealthy Control Logic Attacks and Defense in Industrial Control Systems, Adeen Ayub
The Role of Notch1 Signaling in Regulating Neurogenesis in the Olfactory Bulb Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Sarah A. Baig
Preexisting Conditionings: Painting, Gaming and Narrative Play, Pia Bakala
“Black Wom(b)anhood”: An Explorative Analysis of Black Women's Narratives of Healthcare Encounters During and After Pregnancy, Janae A. Baker
INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF NOCICEPTIN IN PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, Joseph Baker