insights. This includes inventing the concept of a $V$-fern and suggesting the construction of the universal $V$-fern. His mentoring pushed me to think much more thoroughly and carefully about both mathematics and the way it is presented, all while keeping the big picture in sight. Indeed, his influence has affected my thinking in all domains. It is a gift to have been stretched so far beyond my former horizons.

I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Ching-Li Chai for accepting to be the co-examiner for my doctoral thesis and reading through my work.

I also extend my gratitude to my fellow PhD students Jennifer-Jayne Jakob, Simon H“aberli, Nicolas M”uller and Felix Hensel for interesting mathematical discussions along with a good deal of emotional support. Special thanks especially to Simon H"aberli for proofreading my introduction and providing several useful suggestions.

Finally, I’d like to thank my family and friends for inspiration, support, love and joy throughout the course of my PhD studies.

Introduction
============

Let ${{\mathbb{F}}}_q$ be a finite field with $q$ elements. This thesis was motivated by a question involving Drinfeld modules and their moduli spaces. For an overview of the theory, see Drinfeld [@Drin], Goss [@Go] and Deligne-Husemöller [@Del-Hu]. 