Acknowledgements
First and foremost, words cannot express my gratitude for my advisor Dr. Walter
G. Chapman for his motivation, guidance and support even during the unfortunate
incident that occurred during my stay at Rice. His quest always challenged me to dig
deeper into my research projects.
I am grateful to Dr. Lisa Biswal and Dr. Ken Cox for their contributions through
many insightful and enjoyable discussions, and critiques on my presentations. I ac-
knowledge Dr. Enrique Barrera for agreeing to be on my thesis committee, and for
his critical evaluations and inputs on my thesis proposal and final dissertation.
I thank Aleksandra Dominik for helping me in every possible way to comprehend
SAFT concepts at the beginning of my research. It was a pleasure working with Adam
Bymaster and I thank him for all the beneficial discussions we had on mine and his
research projects. I also acknowledge my other fellow group members, especially Clint
Aichele and Francisco Vargas for their comments on my research projects during our
group presentations.
Last but not the least, I am indebted to my family for supporting and encouraging
me to keep focus on my goals even during the toughest time of my life. I would like
to dedicate this thesis to them.