Three Minute Thesis Competition

The Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT) is an exciting, fast-paced event showcasing the research of graduate students across campus. Each scholar is given three minutes to present their research displayed to the audience and judging panel in a single presentation slide. The competition boasts cash prizes for winners in each category.

You'll be amazed at what these scholars can fit into a three-minute presentation. You don't want to miss this competition!

Our graduate students have had an impressive showing at the regional 3MT competition at the Western Association of Graduate Schools annual conference. In 2023, Jennifer Heppner won third place and in 2024, Kendra Isable won second place. 

The 2024 competition will be hosted in the Spring semester with two preliminary rounds in early March and the finals in April.

Learn more about our competition

 

2022-2023 Finalists and winners

3MT winners posing as a group with large checksKeely Rodgriguez, Kendra Isable, Candi Block, Isabel Penaloza, Fatema Azmee, Yu Rong and Justice Best are pictured above.

Doctoral category

Winners:


FIRST PLACE: Cody Cris
  • Graduate program: Cell and Molecular Biology
  • Title:  Lighting the way: Tools to prepare for future pandemics
  • Faculty advisor: Subhash Verma
SECOND PLACE: Anithakrithi Balaji
  • Graduate program: Biomedical Engineering
  • Title: Electrifying the fight-or-flight response: Nanosecond electric pulses for neuromodulation
  • Faculty advisor: Jihwan Yoon
THIRD PLACE: Noah Nieman
  • Graduate program: Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Title: Accelerating bridge construction connections behavior during near fault motions
  • Faculty advisor: Floriana Petrone

2024 Finalists:


Francisco Calderon Abullarade
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. History
  • Title: Creating the Enemy: The origins of the inter-american cold war in the 1940s
  • Faculty advisor: Renata Keller
Anithakrithi Balaji
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering
  • Title: Electrifying the fight-or-flight response: Nanosecond electric pulses for neuromodulation 
  • Faculty advisor: Jihwan Yoon
Monika Bharti
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Education - Literacy Studies
  • Title: Pre-service teachers experiences teaching K-8 Multilingual Students' (MLS) writing
  • Faculty advisor: Rachel Salas and Fares Karam
Cossette Canovas
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Clinical Psychology
  • Title: Identifying predictors of racial trauma to inform treatment development 
  • Faculty advisor: Lorraine Benuto
Cody Cris
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Cell and Molecular Biology
  • Title: Lighting the way: Tools to prepare for future pandemics 
  • Faculty advisor: Subhash Verma
Kaashifah 
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Education - Equity, Diversity and Language
  • Title: Bridging  the gaps: Evaluating the intervention programs to overcome academic disparities 
  • Faculty advisor: Donald Easton-Brooks
Noah Nieman
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Title: Accelerating bridge construction connections behavior during near fault motions 
  • Faculty advisor: Floriana Petrone
Sanjeevan Pradhan
  • Graduate program: Ph.D. Political Science
  • Title: Tough sell: Rising powers, domestic legitimation and costly international initiatives 
  • Faculty advisor: Xiaoyu Pu

Patricia Berninsone People's Choice Award


Abdulwarith Kassim
  • Graduate program: Chemistry
  • Title: Chemically recyclable dithioacetal polymers
  • Faculty advisor: Ying Yang

Master's category

Winners:


FIRST PLACE: Abdulwarith Kassim
  • Graduate program: Chemistry
  • Title: Chemically recyclable dithioacetal polymers
  • Faculty advisor: Ying Yang
SECOND PLACE (TIE): 
  • Name: Elizabeth Everest
  • Graduate program: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology
  • Title: Sustaining the beating heart of Cambodia: Fisheries management in southeast Asia's largest lake
  • Faculty advisors: Zeb Hogan, Sudeep Chandra, Ken Nussear

  • Name: Cathy Silliman
  • Graduate program: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology
  • Title: Winterfat restoration in a changing climate
  • Faculty advisor: Elizabeth Leger 

2024 Finalists:


Samantha DeTiberiis
  • Graduate program: M.A. Criminal Justice 
  • Title: What do our phones teach us about incarceration? A social media content analysis 
  • Faculty advisor: Jennifer Lanterman
Elizabeth Everest 
  • Graduate program: M.S. Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology 
  • Title: Sustaining the beating heart of Cambodia: Fisheries management in southeast Asia's largest lake 
  • Faculty advisor: Zeb Hogan, Sudeep Chandra, Ken Nussear
Carolynn Fedarko 
  • Graduate program: M.A. Criminal Justice 
  • Title: Zeroing in on gun violence
  • Faculty advisor: Weston Morrow
Shipra Goswami
  • Graduate program: M.S. Biochemistry
  • Title: May the pericytes be with you: Transport engineers you never knew existed!
  • Faculty advisor: Albert Gonzales
Abdulwarith Kassim
  • Graduate program: M.S. Chemistry 
  • Title: Chemically recyclable dithioacetal polymers
  • Faculty advisor: Ying Yang
Anthony Michell
  • Graduate program: M.A. History
  • Title: Pushed to the limit: How the 1998 China floods revolutionized the relationship between China and the natural world
  • Faculty advisor: Hugh Shapiro
Elizabeth Morgan
  • Graduate program: M.S. Teaching History (M.A.T.H.)
  • Title: Dust in the wind dude: The Owens Valley everywhere except, in the Owens Valley
  • Faculty advisor: Edward Schoolman
Cathy Silliman
  • Graduate program: M.S. Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology
  • Title: Winterfat restoration in a changing climate
  • Faculty advisor: Elizabeth Leger