The University of Chicago’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition took place on Friday, May 17, 2024.
In a 3MT competition, PhD student participants prepare a three-minute presentation about their research using only one static slide. By synthesizing their work into three-minute presentations, participants learn to showcase their work to a broader audience and improve their public speaking skills. A judging panel will award $1,000 to the first-place winner, $500 to the runner-up, and $200 for the third-place winner. The audience will choose one presenter for a $150 audience award. Any PhD student currently working on a research-based project may participate. The focus of their presentation should be their original research, pitched in an engaging way to a general audience that underlines the significance and impact of their work.
PREVIOUS 3MT COMPETITION WINNERS
2024
Winner: Laura Hunter, PhD program in Integrative Biology: “Pinkies Up! Human Evolution and the Big Impact of the Littlest Finger”
First Runner-Up: Gabriel Torreta, PhD program in History of Christianity: “’Beautiful as the Moon’: Discourses of Beauty in the Carolingian Era”
Second Runner-Up: Mia Paletta, PhD program in Computational Neuroscience: “Inside the Mind of Dreaming Birds”
Audience Award (tied): David Delbar, PhD program in Classics and Comparative Literature: “Was There Gay Sex in Homer’s Iliad?”
Audience Award (tied): Ava Polzin, PhD program in Astronomy and Astrophysics: “The Smallest Pieces of the Puzzle: Using Dwarf Galaxies to Understand the Universe”
2023
Winner: Adarsh Suresh, PhD program in Molecular Engineering: “Lighter and Stronger?”
First Runner-Up: Nick Bayhi, PhD program in Biophysical Sciences: “Engineering the Insulin Degrading EnzymeEngineering the Insulin Degrading Enzymeto Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease”
Second Runner-Up: Jelena Momirov, PhD program in Chemistry: “Development of Targeted Therapies for Development of Targeted Therapies for Cancer Treatment”
Audience Award: Adina Feinstein, PhD program in Astronomy and Astrophysics: “Uncovering How Planets Formed”
2022
Winner: Ella Karev, PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations: “Slavery in Egypt”
First Runner-Up: Benjamin Wang, PhD in Neurobiology: “Mouse Models for Epilepsy Research”
Second Runner-Up: Elizabeth Kelley, PhD in Chemistry: “Prying Open the Black Box of Graduate STEM Education”
2021
Winner: Shi En Kim, PhD Program in Molecular Engineering: “Keeping It Cool: Solving Overheating in Electronics with a Bizarre Nanomaterial”
PhD Category, First Runner-Up: Sangmin Simon Oh, PhD Program in Financial Economics: “Social Inflation”
Master’s Category, First Runner-Up: Spring Park, Master’s Program, Committee on International Relations: “Enemy or Not, That Is the Question”
2020
Winner: Siva Bhavani, M.D., Master of Science in Public Health Sciences for Clinical Professionals, “COVID-19 Prognostication Using Body Temperature Trajectory”
PhD Category, First Runner-Up: Lun Li, PhD program in Economics, “Firm Heterogeneity and Advertising”
PhD Category, Second Runner-Up: Chang Cui, PhD program in Cancer Biology, “Unmute the messenger—targeting macrophages to boost their anti-tumor immunity”
Master’s Category, First Runner-Up: Erin Shirtz, Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences, “Gender, Work-Life Balance, and Career Advancement in Management Consulting”
Master’s Category, Second Runner-Up: Abi Leveille, Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences, “Let’s Roll: An Ethnography of Performed Dungeons and Dragons”
PhD Category, Audience Award: Chang Cui, PhD program in Cancer Biology, “Unmute the messenger—targeting macrophages to boost their anti-tumor immunity”
Master’s Category, Audience Award: Siva Bhavani, MD, Master of Science in Public Health Sciences for Clinical Professionals, “COVID-19 Prognostication Using Body Temperature Trajectory”
2019
Winner: Andrés Moya-Rodríguez, PhD program in Biophysical Sciences, “Why Does it Clot? Recreating Patients’ Veins in the Lab”
PhD Category, First Runner-Up: Eszter Ronai, PhD program in Linguistics, “Exploring the Complexity of Languages”
PhD Category, Second Runner-Up: Ittai Eres, PhD program in Human Genetics, “What actually separates me from a chimpanzee?”
Master’s Category, First Runner-Up: Adina D. Feinstein, Master of Science Program in the Physical Sciences, “eleanor: A software package to find new planets across the sky with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)”
Master’s Category, Second Runner-Up: Shelby James, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, “The Road to Nowhere: Cormac McCarthy’s Alternative to the Progress Narrative”
Audience Award: Katie Rhodes, PhD program in Human Genetics, “Sommelier of Cell Types”
2018
Overall Winner: Victor Gay, PhD program in Economics: “The Legacy of the Missing Men: Female Labor and World War I in France Over a Century”
PhD Category, First Runner-Up: Saurja DasGupta, PhD program in Chemistry: “In the beginning was’… RNA”
Second Runner-Up: Karlyn J. Gorski, PhD program in Sociology: “My Voice Matters”
Master’s Category, First Runner-Up: Elise Putnam, MFA program, Department of Visual Arts: “Our Great White: Intersections of Race and Gender in Visual Art”
Second Runner-Up: Wee Yang Soh, Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences: “Memes as Digital Protest in Singapore”