ii To my family, Thanks for your love and encouragement. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor David Cwiertny, for his encouragement, patience, and careful guidance through my Ph.D. study. He shows me an example what a great scientist should look like and teach me how to think more logically and keep moving forward. I really appreciate he took me as his student and gave a chance to work with him. I would also like to thank Dr. Andres Martinez for all his guidance on my research project. He is always willing to share his experience and listen to my thoughts. He patiently taught the knowledge of sampling methods and made me feel comfortable in this project. Without his help, I cannot complete my research tasks smoothly.To my previous and current lab mates,