ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my dissertation committee chairs, Dr. Radha Mahapatra and Dr. Sridhar Nerur for their consistent support and encouragement throughout my Ph.D. program. I am grateful for Dr. Mahapatra’s advice and guidance during key periods in my Ph.D. student life. Dr. Nerur helped me in many ways and I am forever indebted for them. He gave me the opportunity to work on his research projects. Dr. Nerur also sacrificed many of his weekends to conduct the seminar that was offered in conjunction with my dissertation research. I would also like to express my gratitude to other members of my committee for their support and assistance. Dr. Kenneth Price spent countless hours in guiding me through the nuances of conducting experiments and analysis of data thereof. Dr. James Teng exposed me to various theories and the importance of them. Dr. Craig Slinkman introduced me to the concept of extreme programming. Dr. Mark Eakin guided me in analyzing the data. I would also like to thank Anil Singh and Aakash Taneja for their friendship and they were always a source of support all through the years. Special thanks to Venugopal Balijepally for giving me an opportunity to see and learn the logistics of running an experimental study. Many of my friends in the Ph.D. program helped me at various points during my dissertation research. Ralph Yeh and Vishal Sachdev spent hours grading the solutions ii and I am grateful for that. Kishen Iyengar, Vikram Bhaduria, and Anil Gurung helped me in conducting some of the experimental sessions. Last, but not the least, I would like thank my family members for their support. My father was instrumental in motivating me to pursue higher studies and I am thankful for that. I also thank my mom and my wife Johnsy, for their patience and understanding during the time I pursued this research