Abstract

My first, and most earnest, acknowledgment must go to my advisor Dr. José G. Delgado-Frias for his continuous encouragement, advice, mentoring, inspiration, and research and financial support throughout my Ph.D. study. Dr. Delgado was always there to listen and give advice. I appreciate his patience and numerous help during the last few years. I would like to thank the rest members of the doctoral committee: Dr. Jabulani Nyathi, for his friendship, encouragement, and insightful suggestions, and Dr. Krishnamoorthy Sivakumar, who shared his research ideas and showed great support to my dissertation and defense. I am greatly indebted to my first advisor at Washington State University, Dr. Krishna Sivalingam. He helped me start my journey to become a Ph.D., gave me academic and financial support and advice, and encouraged me throughout my first year here. I would also like to thank Dr. Ben Belzer for sharing his academic experience and giving helpful advice. During the course of this work at Washington State University, I was partly supported by the EECS as Teaching Assistant. All opinions expressed in this work are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of EECS and WSU