News and Information
GVSU Nominates Two Master's Theses for Award Competition
November 24, 2014
The Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) opened its annual Distinguished Thesis Competition, allowing schools to nominate up to two master's theses in this year's discipline categories: Physical Sciences/Engineering and Social Sciences. The theses representing GVSU are selected by a committee of faculty members from multiple disciplines and approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies.
In the Physical Sciences/Engineering category, Byron DeVries' thesis Mapping of UML Diagrams to Extended Petri Nets for Formal Verification was selected to represent GVSU. Byron successfully completed his thesis and graduated with a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems at the conclusion of the Spring/Summer 2013 semester.
Byron’s faculty advisor, Dr. Paul Jorgenson, stated that “mathematicians generally prefer constructive proofs over existence proofs; they are usually more difficult, and at the same time, are more intellectually satisfying.” In his thesis, Byron gave a constructive proof that a construct he called “Swim Lane Petri Nets” are indeed logically equivalent to all three levels of UML Statecharts. His thesis is a tour de force of mathematics and computer science to an extremely sophisticated modeling technique. The overall impact of Byron’s thesis is that the expressive capability of (several classes of) UML Statecharts is now shown to be equivalent to a form that is much more easily used and understood.
Byron is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at Michigan State University.
In the Social Sciences category, Elle Gray Teshima's thesis The Impact of Race and Offender Status on Small Business Hiring Decisions has been selected to represent GVSU. Elle successfully defended her thesis on March 25, 2014 and graduated with a Master of Science in Criminal Justice at the conclusion of the Winter 2014 semester.
Elle's thesis committee chair, Dr. Patrick Gerkin, stated "Elle developed a solid research methodology and worked diligently to execute her strategy for the collection of original data. Her work makes a substantial contribution to the field of criminological research examining the impact of these factors on obtaining employment. Elle’s work explores institutional racism and offender reintegration, which are salient issues in contemporary American society. The final product is an incredibly well written thesis, which is a credit to Elle’s academic capabilities."
Elle is currently enrolled in the doctoral program in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Southern Illinois University.
The GVSU faculty who served on the MAGS selection committee were:
- Dr. Lindsay Corneal, School of Engineering
- Dr. Deborah Herrington, Department of Chemistry
- Dr. James McNair, Department of Biology
- Dr. Donald Mitchell, College of Education
- Dr. Jamie Owen-De Schryver, Department of Psychology
- Dr. Michelle Wooddell, School of Public, Nonprofit, and Health Administration
Graduate Dean Dr. Jeffrey Potteiger and Association Dean Dr. John Stevenson also served on the review committee and approved the final thesis selections.