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There are lots of people I would like to thank for this dissertation to be
possible. Firstly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my advisor, Dr. Robert M. Weikle II . The work presented in this dissertation would not have been possible without his kind support, probing questions, valuable guidance and remarkable patience. His constant encouragements kept me working and never thinking of giving up. A few lines are too short to make a complete account of my deep appreciation. Bobby exemplifies a passionate scholar and advisor. From him, I have learned how to write, how to think, and how to live. I treasure this learning experience always. I gratefully acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Arthur Lichtenberger, Dr. Scott Barker, Dr. Tatiana Globus, Dr. Bascom Deaver and Dr.Travis N. Blalock. They have generously given their time and expertise to improve my work.I thank them for their kind interest, inspiring critiques and selfless support. I am indebted to the wonderful couples in microwave lab, Zhiyang Liu and Dan Hui. Zhiyang never hesitated to share his knowledge with me and provide patient guidance on my research. Whenever needed, I always can get best answers from him. The most happiest thing in the microwave lab is discussing the latest entertainment news and exchanging fashion opinions with Dan. Her happiness is infectious! Many thanks to the past and present members in the FIR lab for their help in one way or another. Dr. Acar Isin, an enthusiastic, sagacious, honest-minded person with broad interests who provides consistent help on measurement setups. Also, I appreciate his well-prepared hot water as well as his warm greetings every morning during my stay in the FIR lab. Much respect to Lei Liu, Haiyong Xu, Qun Xiao and Nagini Paravastu. Their rigorous and critic research attitudes set good examples for me. Their helpful discussion has really made a difference. Also, thank Jonathan Schultz, Becca Percy and Angelique Sklavounos for taking care of my English, in addition to the help in my research. I am indebted to Hui Shen, Guoguang Wu, Lihan Chen, and Songbin Gong. They are always among the first in my mind whenever I run into problems. They are not only good partners on research, but also close friends in life. Life is colorful because of them! I would like to say a big 'thank-you'to all the people in Dr. Globus's group. Tatyana Khromova takes the FTIR measurements for me, and patiently answers many questions. Timour V. Kotchiev help me to take the waveguide measurement with network analyzer. Ramakrishnan Parthasarathy, Xiaowei Li, Zhen xie give me a lot of insightful discussions in writing this dissertation. Thanks also go to all the people in UVA cleaning room for their help on fabrication, in a long but far from complete list: Qin Shen-Schultz , Jie Wang, Charlie Smith, Jian Zhang, Theodore Reck, Jianzhong Zhu, Meng Zhu , Yiwei Dan, Tom Cecil and Edward Douglas. I cannot end without thanking my husband and my family members in China,my parents, my brothers and my sisters-in-law, on whose constant support and love I relied throughout all these years. Their unwavering faith in my abilities always encourages me. It is to them that I dedicate this work. |
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Dec. 2007 in Geensboro, NC |
