The ETD 2025 Symposium – USETDA 2025 Conference program includes 2 workshops, 2 panel discussions, and 16 parallel presentation sessions, including user group meetings and flash talks.
- Presentations List (authors / titles / abstracts)
- Conference Program (pdf)
- Click on individual session description links below to view the session abstract
| ETD 2025 – USETDA 2025 Program Schedule | ||
| Thursday 9/25/25 | ||
| Main Room | Breakout Room | |
| 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM | Workshop 1: ETDs for Beginners (Presented by John Hagen, USETDA, Ed Fox, NDLTD et al). Moderator: John Hagen. Keywords: electronic theses and dissertations, ETDs, workshop, program implementation. | |
| 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM | Break (Lunch) | |
| 2:00 – 3:30 PM | Plenary 1: (NDLTD Sponsor Welcome Message and Panel Discussion). Oh, the Places You’ll Go with Your Scholarly Works! Panelists: Lily Compton and Kristin Terrill (Center for Communication Excellence, Graduate College Iowa State University) and Megan O’Donnell (University Library, Iowa State University). Moderator: Kim Fleshman. Keywords: research ethics, publishing basics, copyright, license, authorship, digital accessibility, literature review. | |
| 3:30 – 3:40 PM | Break | |
| 3:40 – 4:30 PM | Session 1: Win-Win Apprenticeships : Team Cataloging ETDs at Two OhioLINK Libraries. Presented by Michael Monaco (University of Akron) and Sevim McCutcheon (Kent State University). Moderator: G.W. Swicord Keywords: metadata, cataloging, streamlining ETD processing, efficiencies, discoverability, best practices, training. | Session 2: Enhancing Layout Understanding via Human-in-the-Loop: A User Study on PDF-to-HTML Conversion for Long Documents. Presented by Chenyu Mao (Virginia Tech) and Edward Fox (Virginia Tech). Moderator: Teri Green. Keywords: ETD, deep learning, object detection, document layout analysis. |
| 4:30 – 4:40 PM | Break | |
| 4:40 – 5:30 PM | Session 3: Nobody Likes an Artichoke: Including Helpful Accessibility Techniques in ETD Instructions and Templates. Presented by John Fudrow (University of Pittsburgh). Moderator: Kristin Terrill. Keywords: ETD, accessibility, theses, dissertations, formatting, scholarly publishing, instruction, tutorials. | Session 4: Migrating Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) from a Locally Created Database to a Commercial Platform. Presented by Elizabeth McDonald (University of Memphis). Moderator: Ruth Lu. Keywords: Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Migration, Metadata. |
| 5:30 – 5:40 PM | Break | |
| 5:40 – 6:30 PM | Session 5: Vireo 4 and More: Maturing an Open Source ETD Management System and Its Community. Presented by Christopher Starcher (Texas Tech University), Frank Smutniak (Texas Digital Library) and Courtney Mumma (Texas Digital Library). Moderator: Lily Compton. Keywords: workflows, sustainability, accessibility, institutional repositories, open source, open access. | Session 6: Enhancing ETD Topic Modeling: A Framework Integrating LLMs for Improved Digital Library Discovery. Presented by Pradyumna Upendra Dasu (Virginia Tech), Satvik Chekuri (Virginia Tech), William Ingram (Virginia Tech University Libraries) and Edward Fox (Virginia Tech). Moderator: John Hagen. Keywords: Topic Modeling, Natural Language Processing, Large Language Models, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Digital Libraries, Information Storage and Retrieval. |
| 6:30 – 7:00 PM | Opening Reception: Welcome, Announcements (Virtual) | |
| Friday 9/26/2025 | ||
| Main Room | Breakout Room | |
| 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM | Workshop 2: AI-Facilitated Literature Review Workshop: A Hands-on Demonstration of Elicit. Presented by Kristin Terrill, Lily Compton and Maryam Saneie, (Iowa State University Graduate College). Moderator: Ramesh C Gaur. Keywords: Generative AI, Elicit, Literature Review, 3E Framework. | |
| 1:30 – 2:00 PM | Break (Lunch) | |
| 2:00 – 3:30 PM | Plenary 2 (ProQuest Sponsor Welcome Message and Panel Discussion). Open Science Across Borders: India vs. US Institutional Approaches. Panelists: Nabi Hasan (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi), Ginny Pannabecker, (Virginia Tech University Libraries). Moderator: Nabi Hasan. Keywords: Open Science, Research Accessibility, Collaborative Platforms, National Policies, Global Research Ecosystem, India-USA Open Science Landscape. | |
| 3:30 – 3:40 PM | Break | |
| 3:40 PM – 4:30 PM | Session 7: Digital Accessibility for LaTeX Theses and Dissertations. Presented by Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University) and Lily Compton (Center for Communication Excellence, Graduate College Iowa State University). Moderator: Teri Green Keywords: digital accessibility, LaTeX, Overleaf, Adobe Acrobat. | Session 8: Variation in the Dissertation Writing in the Applied Science Fields (A Work in Progress). Presented by Febriana Lestari (Iowa State University). Moderator: John Fudrow. Keywords: dissertation writing, macrostructure, linguistic variation. |
| 4:30 – 4:40 PM | Break | |
| 4:40 – 5:30 PM | Session 9: Developing Policy-Adjacent Language on Artificial Intelligence Use in Graduate Research. Presented by Ruth Lu and Greg Newton (Ohio University Graduate College). Moderator: Teri Green. Keywords: AI use in graduate research, Research writing practices, Policy vs. guideline from the Graduate College/Graduate School, Academic integrity, Ethical AI Use. | Session 10: Understanding Copyright Ownership for GenAI-generated Text in ETDs: Legal Framework and Challenges in Bangladesh. Presented by Dr. Md. Zillur Rahman (Librarian, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology). Moderator: Valerie Emerson Keywords: Copyright Ownership, Copyright Law, GenAI, ETDs, Bangladesh. |
| 5:30 – 5:40 PM | Break | |
| 5:40 – 6:30 PM | Session 11: ETD Administrator User Group Meeting. Presented by Austin McLean, Mark Dill and Lane Bowman (ProQuest, part of Clarivate). Moderator: Lazarus Matizirofa. Keywords: ETD, Institutional Repository, Workflow tools, Copyright, Graduate School, Library. | Session 12: ETD Formatting User’s Group Meeting. Presented by Sally Evans (George Mason University Libraries). Moderator: Teri Green. Keywords: Formatting, format review, users’ group. |
| 6:30 – 6:40 PM | Break | |
| 6:40 – 7:30 PM | Session 13: Community Engagement Group Meeting. Presented by Kristin Terrill (Iowa State University), Ruth Lu (Ohio University). Moderator: Teri Green. Keywords: ETD, engagement, community flash talks. | Session 14: AI-Driven Research Transformation in Bangladesh: A Study on the Integration of Machine Learning and Data Analytics in Scientific Discoveries. Presented by Dr. Md. Zillur Rahman (Librarian, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology). Moderator: John Hagen. Keywords: Research Transformation, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Scientific Discoveries, Bangladesh. |
| 7:30 – 7:40 PM | Break | |
| 7:40 – 8:30 PM | Session 15: National ETD Repositories in G20 Countries in Relation to NDLTD’s Global ETD Metadata Repository. Presented by Sukanta Kumar Patra (Vidyasagar College for Women). Moderator: Ana Pavani. Keywords: ETD Metadata, NDLTD, FAIR, G20 Countries, SDG. | Session 16: Sharing Collaborative Approaches and Community Insights on ETD Management in Canada. Presented by Julia Gilmore, Scholars Portal. Moderator: John Hagen. Keywords: expert group, harvesting, workflows, community collaboration, survey findings, Canada, DSpace. |
| 8:30 – 9:00 PM | Closing Session – ETD Leadership Awards Ceremony & Future Directions. Moderator: Ramesh C Gaur. | |