UChicagoGRAD's oral communication programming helps graduate students and postdocs build public speaking skills and increase the impact of their scholarship.
Research Speaks provides opportunities for UChicago graduate students and postdocs to share their findings with the university community and wider public. Participants refine their communication skills and gain experience in articulating complex problems and arguments through brief, accessible talks. By communicating their work beyond their intellectual communities, participants make a lasting impact on the world around us.
Research Speaks at the Field Museum
Join UChicagoGRAD for an afternoon of gallery talks and exploration at the first-ever Research Speaks event at the Field Museum of Chicago on Friday, April 5, 2024. Learn more.
Three Minute Thesis
UChicagoGRAD hosts the university’s sixth annual 3MT competition on Friday, May 17, 2024. Learn more.
Photo by Rob Hart
The University of Chicago’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition is on Friday, May 17, 2024 from 12:30–2:00 p.m. CT. A reception with light refreshments will follow.
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.
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”
