Chevelle Boomershine successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis on October 31, 2025 entitled "²⁰Ne(α,p)²³Na STUDIED TO CONSTRAIN TYPE IA NUCLEOSYNTHESIS USING THE RHINOCEROS GAS TARGET SYSTEM" advised by Prof. Dan Bardayan. Chevelle’s thesis reports on the first measurement of the ²⁰Ne(α,p)²³Na reaction cross section at energies relevant for constraining supernovae Ia nucleosynthesis. This particular reaction had been found to be one of the five most important reactions to understand, but the lack of experimental data thwarted efforts to accurately estimate its rate. The measurement used intense He beams from the NSL’s 5U accelerator to bombard Ne targets created with the Rhinoceros windowless gas-target system. The resulting reaction rate was found to be roughly 2.5 times larger than previous estimates. The defense represents the culmination of a very successful graduate school career for Chevelle during which time she authored more than 25 refereed publications.