Students
Helen Harris is working on a dynamic model of the interaction of the HPA axis (cortisol) with catecholamines. She is a co-author on an accepted manuscript on this project, and another manuscript on a project analyzing medication reconciliation. Harris received her MS in spring 2023 and just defended her dissertation in Spring 2026 in VCU’s Systems Modeling and Analysis PhD program. Congradulations Dr. Harris!
Richard Foster received a VCU Undergraduate Research Summer Fellowship (UROP) for Summer 2020. He is a co-author on two peer-reviewed publications of models of breathing in preterm infants. Foster received his MS in spring 2023 and just defended his dissertation in Spring 2026 in VCU’s Systems Modeling and Analysis PhD program. Congratulations Dr. Foster!
Kylee Hartman-Caballero successfully defended her MS thesis titled “Penalized Interpolating B-splines and Their Applications” on April 25, 2024. She is enrolled in a PhD program at Old Dominion University. Congratulations Kylee!
Mariana Fernandes Gragnini received a VCU Undergraduate Research Summer Fellowship (UROP) for Summer 2021. She started to develop a model of cerebrovascular resistance as a function of partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Fernandes Gragnini graduated with a double-major in applied mathematics and biomedical engineering, and as of 2026 is a medical student at VCU School of Medicine.
Jeff Evans received a VCU Undergraduate Research Summer Fellowship (UROP) for Summer 2018. He investigated the impact of a set of different diaphragm pressure driving functions in a model of preterm infant breathing. Evans graduated from VCU with an MS in Mathematics in 2021.
Lauren Linkous worked under a VCU College of Humanities and Sciences Faculty Council Award in Summer 2016. She performed a stability analysis on a model of preterm infant breathing and is a co-author on a published manuscript. Linkous received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from VCU in 2024.