UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Four graduate students have received awards in the 2025-26 Penn State Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, hosted by the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School.
The four students competed against six other students in the final round of 3MT on Saturday, March 28, at 3 p.m. at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.
Originally developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, 3MT allows graduate students only three minutes and one static presentation slide to effectively summarize their research and its impact. All presentations must be geared toward a broad, non-specialist audience.
“Graduate students are at the heart of the innovative research happening across the University, and 3MT is a wonderful opportunity to get a glimpse of that,” said Levon T. Esters, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Fox Graduate School. “All 10 finalists did an incredible job on Saturday. Their pursuit of academic excellence inspires me and shows the caliber of student projects at Penn State.”
A panel of pre-selected judges from across the University determined the first- and second-place winners, with prizes worth $1,000 and $500, respectively. In addition, audience members at the event voted for their favorite presentation for a $500 People’s Choice Award, which was sponsored by the Graduate and Professional Student Association.
Because of a tie in judge scoring, two students earned second place. The recipients and their presentation titles were:
- First place: Julia Ho, doctoral student in architectural engineering, “Developing accurate, efficient models to design optimal heating and cooling systems."
- Second place: Sayan Deep De, doctoral student in kinesiology, “Diagnosing Parkinson’s Early: A Simple Finger-Force Biomarker to Detect Disease Before Symptoms Appear," and Shakshi Sekar, doctoral student in energy and mineral engineering, “Upcycling Plastic Waste into Critical Mineral Graphite.”
- People's Choice: Zilfa Irakoze, doctoral candidate in food science with a dual title in international agriculture and development, “The Mold Protecting Our Food.”