The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements.All the things I learned in graduate school were the fruit of my relationship with my advisor Dr. Paul Eugenio. He is a wonderful teacher who puts his students' interest in front of his, thus making sure they get all the help they need. Paul, you have been very generous with your time and funding, giving me advice when I would ask for help and sending me to numerous conferences and workshops. Your company has extensively benefited me on an academic level and a personal level. I will be the researcher I strive to become one day because of your guidance and support. Thank you.To my parents, Amenah and Mohammad. The two most influential people in my life. They sacrificed a lot so my siblings and I would become the people we are right now. Through all the hardships that we went through as a family, they always provided a warm home for me to grow into the man I am right now. Dad, you invested a lot into my future and I can not thank you enough. You told me multiple times that the one thing no one can take away from us is knowledge, and today I wholeheartedly believe that I have made you proud. I wouldn't be the man I am right now without your constant support and love. Mom, your unconditional and limitless love for me is what keeps me going. Your pride in me will always be my greatest reward.To my sister Zahra, thank you for making the first few years in graduate school easier for me and for giving me advice on how to proceed. I owe my success to your constant encouragement and belief in me. I keep looking up to you and I strive to become the scientist and teacher that you are right now. You are not just my sister, but also my friend and teacher.To my siblings Zeinab, Hassan, fatima and Iman, thank you for the numerous joyful phone calls and skype sessions over the weekends. You made sure I did not feel the distance between us by always talking to me and letting me know that you are there for me.To my new family, the Wakils, Bassam, Gwyn and Brandon, thank you for taking me in as a member of your family. You have given me a home away from home, and have been in every step of my journey in graduate school. I am grateful to have met you and I strive to keep making you proud of me.Last but not least, a big thank you to my wonderful wife, Samantha, without whom I would not have gotten so far. Samantha, you are the reason I am here right now. I am so thankful that we have found each other. Your ambitious and hard working nature is inspirational and it is you who inspires every decision I make. I love you. v