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Three-Minute Thesis Grand Finale winners announced

Doctoral researcher Denis Ruto was awarded first place for his 3-minute thesis presentation on “Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities for Small Communities with Wastewater Lagoons.”

The Office of Graduate Education and Life announced the winners of the annual  Three-Minute Thesis Competition , which was held on April 3 during WVU Graduate Student Appreciation Week and Research Week.

Story by WVU Today Photos by WVU Today

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

For the first time in WVU 3MT competition history, two doctoral students tied for first place. Denis Ruto, from the Statler College , and Paige Zalman, PhD candidate from the College of Applied Human Services, received the same scores to win. Zalman also won the People’s Choice Award. 

Even though Ruto acknowledged that it was a great challenge to narrow down his dissertation and research to under three minutes, he impressed the judges on his presentation titled “Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities for Small Communities with Wastewater Lagoons.” 

Meanwhile, Zalman scored points with both the judges and audience members with her presentation on “Exploring Music Major Mental Health Using Photovoice and Narrative Inquiry.” She emphasized the importance of qualitative methodologies that can help people better understand the nature of problems people are researching today.

Second place was awarded to Kayla Steinberger, an immunology specialist in the School of Medicine, for her presentation on “Hypoxia Regulates Vessel-Modifying Macrophages and Vice Versa in Tumors.” She emphasized that, as a future scientist, it’s important to know how to best communicate her science to the public, so she takes every opportunity to get in front of people and “make stuff that's really hard, sound really easy.” 

Vaishakhi Suresh, an industrial and management systems engineering student in the Statler College, received third place for her research presentation on “Exploring the Challenges of Handling Mass Fatalities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” When asked why she entered the competition, Vaishakhi said, “It's a great opportunity to talk about her research to the rest of the WVU community.” She was also excited to meet other students in different fields and learn more about their research.

This year’s judges included Ming Lei, senior associate vice president in the Office of Research and Graduate Education and vice dean of research in the School of Medicine; Rachel Morris, biology doctoral student in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences; Mikylah Myers, associate dean of artistic and scholarly achievement in the College of Creative Arts; Patricia Slagel, assistant director of advising and student operations of graduate programs in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics; and Daniel Totzkay, assistant professor of communication studies in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. 

The internationally renowned 3MT competition, originally founded by the University of Queensland in Australia, challenges doctoral students to present their research topic and its significance in three minutes using a single PowerPoint slide. Competitors develop academic, presentation and research communication skills while gaining experience pitching their research succinctly to a non-specialist audience. 

Grand Finale prizes include: 

• First Place Prize: $1,000 

• Second Place Prize: $750 

• Third Place Prize: $500 

• People’s Choice Prize: $250 

Read more about all ten grand finale finalists and learn more about the WVU 3MT Competition.

Contact: Paige Nesbit Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources 304.293.4135, Paige Nesbit

For more information on news and events in the West Virginia University Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, contact our Marketing and Communications office:

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News 2024: Winners of 2024 Three Minute Thesis announced

The competition presented by the Office of Undergraduate Research showcased in exemplary student scholarship

After the judges tallied up their scores, the winners for the Office of Undergraduate Research’s Three Minute Thesis competition were announced on April 4, 2024.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition was developed by The University of Queensland, Australia, as an academic communication competition that challenges students at the undergraduate and graduate levels to effectively explain their research to a non-expert audience in just three minutes. Competitors are allowed a single, static PowerPoint slide as a visual aid; no other electronic media or props are permitted. Presentations exceeding three minutes are automatically disqualified.  

The undergraduate and graduate student contests examined issues like the biochemistry of cancer, using artificial intelligence to detect fish species, improving the strength of materials based on their chemical composition and how different natural substances affect the human body.

2024 3MT Winners

Undergraduate.

First Place Winner and winner of the People’s Choice Award: Andrew Medeiros (Bioengineering) for “Beyond Biomarkers: Exosomal Insights into Cancer Diagnosis”.

Second Place Winner: Joshua Bernadin (Chemistry) for “The Inhibition Effects of Blueberries on α-Glucosidase”.

Third Place Winner: Maggie McCafferty (Bioengineering) for “Impact of Vitamin C on Human Cortical Bone Mechanical Properties”.

First Place Winner: Nandini Lokesh Reddy (Computer Science) for “Chute-AI: Fish Length & Species Detection”.

Second Place Winner: Gabriella Thomas (Marine Biology) for “Testing Electronic Microprocessor-Based Bycatch Reduction Devices to Reduce Shark Catch”.

Third Place Winner: Jillian Wilson (Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology) for “Electroporation as a Tool for the Genetic Manipulation of Cellulophaga lytica (C. lytica)”.

People’s Choice Award Winner: Mehran Rakhshan (Engineering & Applied Science) for “3D Printed Metallic Structural Elements with Architected Micro-Structure”.

The organizing committee for Three Minute Thesis would like to thank all of the students who competed, as well as all the students, faculty and staff members who came to support and cheer on the contestants.

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Monday, April 08, 2024

Three-Minute Thesis Grand Finale winners announced

The Office of Graduate Education and Life announced the winners of the annual Three-Minute Thesis Competition , which was held on April 3 during WVU Graduate Student Appreciation Week and Research Week.

For the first time in WVU 3MT competition history, two doctoral students tied for first place. Denis Ruto, from the Statler College, and Paige Zalman, PhD candidate from the College of Applied Human Services, received the same scores to win. Zalman also won the People’s Choice Award. 

Even though Ruto acknowledged that it was a great challenge to narrow down his dissertation and research to under three minutes, he impressed the judges on his presentation titled “Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities for Small Communities with Wastewater Lagoons.” 

Meanwhile, Zalman scored points with both the judges and audience members with her presentation on “Exploring Music Major Mental Health Using Photovoice and Narrative Inquiry.” She emphasized the importance of qualitative methodologies that can help people better understand the nature of problems people are researching today.

Second place was awarded to Kayla Steinberger, an immunology specialist in the School of Medicine, for her presentation on “Hypoxia Regulates Vessel-Modifying Macrophages and Vice Versa in Tumors.” She emphasized that, as a future scientist, it’s important to know how to best communicate her science to the public, so she takes every opportunity to get in front of people and “make stuff that's really hard, sound really easy.” 

Vaishakhi Suresh, an industrial and management systems engineering student in the Statler College, received third place for her research presentation on “Exploring the Challenges of Handling Mass Fatalities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” When asked why she entered the competition, Vaishakhi said, “It's a great opportunity to talk about her research to the rest of the WVU community.” She was also excited to meet other students in different fields and learn more about their research.

This year’s judges included Ming Lei, senior associate vice president in the Office of Research and Graduate Education and vice dean of research in the School of Medicine; Rachel Morris, biology doctoral student in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences; Mikylah Myers, associate dean of artistic and scholarly achievement in the College of Creative Arts; Patricia Slagel, assistant director of advising and student operations of graduate programs in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics; and Daniel Totzkay, assistant professor of communication studies in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. 

The internationally renowned 3MT competition, originally founded by the University of Queensland in Australia, challenges doctoral students to present their research topic and its significance in three minutes using a single PowerPoint slide. Competitors develop academic, presentation and research communication skills while gaining experience pitching their research succinctly to a non-specialist audience. 

Grand Finale prizes include: 

• First Place Prize: $1,000 

• Second Place Prize: $750 

• Third Place Prize: $500 

• People’s Choice Prize: $250 

Read more about all ten grand finale finalists and learn more about the WVU 3MT Competition.

For more information, contact Betty Mei at  [email protected]. 

From left: Paul DiStefano, Dean Levon Esters, Auja Bywater and Aditya Sapra. Credit: The Graduate School. All Rights Reserved.

Chemical engineering graduate student wins first place at Three Minute Thesis contest

March 27, 2024

Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News .  

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Aditya Sapre, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering, won first place in the final round of Penn State’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held on March 23 at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center. He won a $1,000 cash prize and will advance to represent Penn State at the regional Three Minute Thesis competition at the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools.    

“It’s very, very exciting,” Sapre said. “I have been practicing this for a long time and it’s all with the support of my group members and my professor who helped me trim the pitch in a particular way to convey all the points of our research and stay in three minutes.”   

Two other Penn State graduate students were honored as award recipients in the final round of the contest.  

“We have some extremely talented students,” said Levon Esters, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School following the event's presentations. “It really makes me feel proud to be dean of the Graduate School at Penn State and know I’m going to come to work every day and be in the midst of talented students like yourselves. You all are going to do great things for years to come. A lot of the research we learned about today is going to change lives in so many impactful ways.”    

Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in food, science and technology, was awarded the $500 second-place prize. Paul DiStefano, a doctoral student in cognitive psychology, earned $500 and the People’s Choice Award, sponsored by the Graduate and Professional Student Association. Sapre and Bywater were selected by a panel of invited judges, and DiStefano’s award was chosen via in-person and online voting from the audience after the competition ended.    

The judges for the final round included Penn State alumnus Bimal Balakrishnan, professor and associate dean for research, College of Arts and Architecture, Mississippi State University; Kathy Drager, associate dean for research and graduate education, College of Health and Human Development, and professor of communication sciences and disorders; Esther Obonyo, associate professor of architectural engineering and director of Penn State’s Global Building Network; and Priyanka Paul, Penn State doctoral student in human development and family studies.    

The award recipients were three of 11 finalists that competed on March 23. That group came from a group of 60 students from 42 graduate programs who submitted videos as part of the first round of the competition earlier this year.   

Sapre’s presentation was titled “High Throughput and Cost-Effective Ways of Protein Identification,” and focused on one of the foremost challenges in drug discovery, pinpointing the specific target protein that can bind with the correct drug. Bywater’s presentation was titled “Improving Food Safety: Exploring Bacterial Diversity in Hydroponic Farming,” and shared her study that carried out a longitudinal assessment of microbial load of nutrient solution in different hydroponic farming systems. DiStefano’s presentation, titled “Is a Hotdog a Sandwich?: Measuring Overinclusive Thinking and Creativity,” provided an overview of a novel measure he developed that is designed to assess overinclusive thinking.    

The Three Minute Thesis is an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia. Through the competition, graduate and professional students honed their academic and research presentation skills and their ability to effectively explain their research to a general audience. Each competitor had three minutes to speak and could use only one presentation slide.    

The Graduate School hosted the first University-wide 3MT competition in 2024 and plans to host another competition in the 2024-25 academic year. More information will be available on the Graduate School’s website in the fall 2024 semester.    

The event was live streamed and recorded, and community can view the competition on the Graduate School’s YouTube channel.

The Graduate School: 2024 Three Minute Thesis Competition. Credit: The Graduate School at Penn State

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