Florida Atlantic's Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition
Florida Atlantic Graduate College hosted the University's 9th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) live, in-person at the Boca Raton Campus Student Union Spring 2025! The 3MT® competition challenges graduate students around the world to pitch their research in only 3 minutes to a live audience. Developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008, 3MT® competitions are now held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide. At Florida Atlantic's annual competition, over $15,000 in scholarship prizes were awarded to winners from both the Preliminary Rounds and the Championship. Distinguished Florida Atlantic community members served as judges and the public vote determined the People's Choice winners. Florida Atlantic’s 3MT® Championship Award is generously sponsored through the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Award Endowment Fund. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact 3MT@fau.edu.
2026 Florida Atlantic Graduate College 3MT
October 26th-28th
Scholarship Prizes
Preliminary Rounds
$1,000 First Place
$500 First Runner-Up
$500 People's Choice
$250 Second Runner-Up
Championship
$2,500 First Place*
$1,500 First Runner-Up
$1,500 People's Choice
$1,000 Second Runner-Up
*Florida Atlantic’s 3MT® Championship Award is generously sponsored through the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Award Endowment Fund.
Register to Attend (audience members, NOT competitors)
| Preliminary Round 1 | Mon., 10/26, 10:00-12:00pm | Register |
| Preliminary Round 2 | Mon., 10/26, 2:00-4:00pm | Register |
| Preliminary Round 3 | Tues., 10/27, 10:00-12:00pm | Register |
| Preliminary Round 4 | Tues., 10/27, 2:00-4:00pm | Register |
| Championship Round | Wed., 10/28, 6:00-9:00pm (registration is required) | Register |
What is the Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®)?
Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) celebrates the exciting research conducted by gradaute students around the world. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008, 3MT® competitions are now held in nearly 900 universities and institutions across 86 countries worldwide.
The goal of the 3MT® competition is for Florida Atlantic graduate students from all departments and colleges to cultivate the ability to explain their research, including both breadth and significance, in a language appropriate to an audience containing both specialists and non-specialists. Graduate students must present their research in 3 minutes and are allowed one PowerPoint slide, but no other resources or props.
The 3MT® competition provides Florida Atlantic graduate students with the opportunity to sharpen their professional development skills, reignite their passion for discovery, promote preeminent research, and foster community. Florida Atlantic 3MT® is a venue for graduate students from various disciplines to interact with one another and discuss their research and its implications. The competition provides an opportunity for undergraduates, alumni, industry partners, various on-campus departments/institutions and the community to gain exposure to high-level, cutting-edge research being performed at Florida Atlantic University.
Rules
- Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.
- Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
- Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
- A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations or movement) and is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
- No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
- No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
- The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.
Judging Criteria
- At every level of the competition, each competitor will be assessed on the judging criteria listed below. Each criterion is equally weighted and has an emphasis on audience.
-
Comprehension and Content
- Presentation provided clear motivation, background and significance to the research question
- Presentation clearly described the research strategy/design and the results/findings of the research
- Presentation clearly described the conclusions, outcomes and impact of the research
-
Engagement and Communication
- The oration was delivered clearly, and the language was appropriate for a non-specialist audience
- The PowerPoint slide was well-defined and enhanced the presentation
- The presenter conveyed enthusiasm for their research and captured and maintained the audience’s attention
Scoring
- Scoring is the same for Preliminary Rounds and the Championship. The First Place, Runner-Up, Second Runner-Up, and People's Choice winners from each Heat win scholarship prizes and advance to the Championship.
First Place, Runner-up, Second Runner-up Awards
- A panel of esteemed judges (faculty, administrators, and Florida Atlantic community members) determine the First Place, Runner-up, and Second Runner-up winners.
- The number of judges on each judging panel may vary, however, it is the Graduate College's priority to ensure fair competition by carefully selecting each judging panel.
- Judges give competitors scores for two categories (detailed above). Scores are tallied for each competitor.
- Competitors with the top three scores are named First Place, Runner-up, and Second Runner-up.
People's Choice Awards
- Audience members determine People's Choice winners.
- The competitor with the most audience votes is the People's Choice winner.
- Please note: the People's Choice winner may also win First Place, Runner-Up, or Second-Runner-Up.
Florida Atlantic’s 3MT® Championship Award is generously sponsored through the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Award Endowment Fund.
Media
2025 Championship Winners
Omair Faqah, FAU 2025 3MT® Winner
Omair Faqah
"Shrinking the Lab: HIV Testing Anytime, Anywhere"
FAU 2025 3MT® Winner
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Advisor:
Waseem Asghar, Ph.D.
Jamie Knaub, FAU 2025 3MT® Runner-Up
Jamie Knaub
"Scanning the Seas: Micro-CT Analysis of Cetacean Vertebral Bone"
FAU 2025 3MT® Runner Up
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Advisor:
Marianne Porter, Ph.D.
Ray Pressman, FAU 2025 3MT® Second Runner-Up
Ray Pressman
"Begging the Question: Born Loud, Stay Loud?"
FAU 2025 3MT® Second Runner-Up
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Advisor:
Rindy Anderson, Ph.D.
Kayla Ahlness, FAU 2025 3MT® People's Choice
Kayla Ahlness
"When Two Become One: Investigating the Behavior of Hybrid African Monkeys"
FAU 2025 3MT® People's Choice
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Advisor:
Kate Detwiler, Ph.D.
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omair Faqah | Shrinking the Lab: HIV Testing Anytime, Anywhere | Waseem Asghar, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | FAU 2025 3MT® Winner | VIEW |
| Jamie Knaub | Scanning the Seas: Micro-CT Analysis of Cetacean Vertebral Bone | Marianne Porter, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | FAU 2025 3MT® Runner-Up | VIEW |
| Ray Pressman | Begging the Question: Born Loud, Stay Loud? | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | FAU 2025 3MT® Second Runner-Up | VIEW |
| Kayla Ahlness | When Two Become One: Investigating the Behavior of Hybrid African Monkeys | Kate Detwiler, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | FAU 2025 3MT® People's Choice | VIEW |
| August Stone | Reconstructing Perinatal Mortality in the Past: A Bioarchaeological Case Study from 17th Century Transylvania | Meredith Ellis, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters | Heat 2 Second Runner-Up | VIEW |
| Dennis Asante-Sackey | The Emerging Menaces in Landfills Management: Black Goo and PFAS | Yalan Liu, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 Second Runner-Up | VIEW |
| Jacob Kahn | Arachna Networks : Resilient Universal Mesh Networking | Georgios Sklivanitis, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 2 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| Jordan Thompson | The Semi-Rational Actor Paradigm: Cultural Worldviews Count, too, in Decisions About Natural Disasters | Geoffrey Wetherell, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 Second Runner-Up | VIEW |
| Laura Rojas | Developing Materials for Direct Carbon Dioxide Capture from Ambient Air | Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 Winner | VIEW |
| Olivia Faris | Bleached and Battling: The Coral Crisis Beneath the Surface | Joshua Voss, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Winner | VIEW |
| Riane Santa Cruz De Melo | Saving Grace: A Proposal for Parent Training for Families of Children with Autism Under the Age of 36 Months | Brianna Miller, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 3 Runner-Up and People's Choice | VIEW |
| Samantha White | The Co-Responder Model of Policing: A Scoping Review | Gabriel Cesar, Ph.D. | College of Social Work and Criminal Justice | Heat 2 Winner and People's Choice | VIEW |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAYLA AHLNESS | "Why You Buggin' Out: Does Seasonality Drive Insectivory in a Mixed-Species Group of African Monkeys?" | Dr. Kate Detwiler | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | FAU 2024 3MT® Winner | VIEW |
| GISELLE SHIM | "Evidence of Canals and Network Potential for Amyloid Beta Drainage out of the Brain" | Dr. Rui Tao | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | FAU 2024 3MT® Runner Up | VIEW |
| JORDAN THOMPSON | "Why Memes Are Serious Business: The Relationship Between Political Polarization and Meme Effectiveness" | Geoffrey Wetherell | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | FAU 2024 3MT® Second Runner-Up & People’s Choice Winner | VIEW |
| AARON ORIN | "Synesthesia: Does Seeing Music in Color Hold the Key to Artistic Genius?" | Stacie Rossow | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 Winner & People's Choice | VIEW |
| BRANDYN NUTTER | "Investigating the Adsoprtion Performance and Stability Attributes of Amine-Impregnated Silica Materials for Biogas Purification" | Dr. Masoud Jahandar Lashaki | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 1 Runner-Up & People's Choice Winner | VIEW |
| CORALINE KANDASSAMY | "Rap Antillais: Oraliture, Identity, and Resistance" | Andres Espinoza | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 5 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| DAVID KAUFMAN | "Is there a Correlation between Radiation Exposure from Mammography and Breast Cancer? A Retrospective Analysis of Currently Available Data" | Dr. Ron Carlton, PhD. | College of Business | Heat 4 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| ELOISE FINDLAY | "Beyond Survival: A Primer for how to Survive in Graduate School with Mentorship, Essential Resources, and Practical Techniques " | Angela Rhone | College of Education | Heat 4 Winner & People’s Choice | VIEW |
| FANGMING QU | "Vision System Using Machine Learning to Analyze Inside Autonomous Vehicles Cabin" | Mehrdad Nojoumian | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 1 Second Runner Up | VIEW |
| HAMID AKBARIAN | "Space is Your New Limit, Not the Sky" | Dr. Imad Mahgoub | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 4 Second Runner- Up | |
| HEATHER WOLVERTON | "Ba-Ba-Bachman’s: Documenting Song Development in the Bachman’s Sparrow " | Dr. Rindy Anderson | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 Second Runner- Up | VIEW |
| HENRY GERBER | "Healthcare Without Borders: The Potential of Telehealth in Rural Populations " | Daniel Wang | College of Business | Heat 1 Winner | VIEW |
| LEANDRO ARISTEGUIETA | "Forging the Alliance for Progress: Venezuela, the United States, and the Bounty of Oil (1957-1963)" | Dr. Eyal Weinberg | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 2 Second Runner-Up | VIEW |
| OLADIRAN OLADOKUN | "Multiphysics Simulation of a Dep-Based Microfluidic Design for Malaria Diagnosis" | Dr. Sarah Du | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 2 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| PEDRO DA COSTA | "Flavonoids from Fruits and Vegetables to Potential Cancer Treatment " | Yunqing Kang | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 2 Winner & People’s Choice | VIEW |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMMANUAL MCNEELY | "'What Does A Surgeon Look Like?': How Stereotypes May Negatively Impact Recruitment Into the Least Diverse Specialty in Medicine" | Jennifer Caceres, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Championship 2nd Runner-Up & Heat 4 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| DIANA FEDDERMAN | "A Critical Content Analysis of Fountas and Pinnell’s LLI System" | Michelle Vaughan, Ed.D. | College of Education | Heeat 3 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| ROBIN JIMENEZ-BEAN | "Perceptions of Posttraumatic Growth Among Adults with Lived Experience in Foster Care" | Morgan Cooley, Ph.D. | College of Social Work and Criminal Justice | Heat 3 2nd Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| MATTHEW PATTERSON | "A Picture of Resiliency: Students Attending College While Homeless" | Danielle Groton, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| MEGHAN HANLEY | "Feeling Flow and Expressing Emotions while Improvising: Music Therapy and Music Professor Perspectives" | Marc Decker, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 1 Winner | VIEW |
| MARJORIE PATTERSON | "The Influence of Nature, Poetry, and Contemporary Techniques in the Music of John Burge" | Marc Decker, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| MEGAN SPRING | "American Possession: Ghostlore in Toni Morrison's Beloved" | Regis Fox, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 2nd Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| INGRID SANTILLAN BARRAGAN | "Corrosion is in the air" | Francisco Presuel-Moreno, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Championship Winner and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowment Award (tie) & Heat 2 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| DOMINIC GOLD | "Homomorphic Encryption Will Save the World (And Your Privacy)" | Francis Motta, Ph.D | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 2 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| AMISH MISHRA | "So, you wanna build a protein?" | Francis Motta, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Runner-Up and People's Choice Award Winner & Heat 4 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| MORGAN SLEVIN | "What's up your gut? Solving mysteries of the avian gut microbiome" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| KAYLA O'BRIEN | "Microplastics in Mangrove and Beach Sediments on Southeast Florida Barrier Islands" | Tiffany Robert Briggs, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Runner-Up (tie) & People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| MARGARET RODRIGUE | "Ichthyoplankton Recruitment within Mangrove-dominated Mosquito Control Impoundments" | Dennis Hanisak, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| ABIGAIL BLACKBURN | "Bioluminescence of the Ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi" | Michael Twardowski, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| HAYLEY KNAPP | "From Poop to Parent: Examining Paternity in Dynamic Atlantic Spotted Dolphin Populations in the Bahamas" | John Baldwin, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Winner and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowment Award (tie) & Heat 2 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| DAWN RAJA SOMU | "With Every Fiber: Characterizing Biomineral Ultrastructure and Nanomechanical Properties of Shark Vertebrae" | Vivian Merk, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 5 Winner | VIEW |
| IVANA SERRA | "Turtle life in and with a boney shield—where biomechanics meets behavior" | Jeannette Wyneken, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 5 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| HANS GONZEMBACH | "Disentangling relationships between ornamentation and non-primary vocalizations in near-threatened songbird (Peucaea aestivalis)" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 5 Runner-Up |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMISH MISHRA | "Seeing Data: For now we see dimly, but soon we will see shape to shape" | Francis Motta, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Runner-Up & Heat 2 Winner | VIEW |
| AUBREY CLARK | "What do we "nose" about sharks: investigating olfactory morphology of elasmobranchs " | Marianne Porter, Ph.D. & Tricia Meredith, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BRIAN ESCOBAR | "Temporal Dynamics of Positive and Negative Facial Expression Processing" | Sang Wook Hong, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| EMILY ALBRECHT | "Examining the Effect of Race on Wrongful Conviction Compensation " | Lisa M. Dario, Ph.D., Jesse Saginor, Ph.D., & Lincoln Sloas, Ph.D. | College of Social Work and Criminal Justice | Heat 1 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| HALEY DAVIS | "Hyposalinity tolerance of three southeast Florida reef-building corals" | Joshua Voss, Ph. D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship 2nd Runner-Up & Heat 3 Winner | VIEW |
| HEATHER WOLVERTON | "Sophisticated Song: Exploring the Evolution and Ontogeny of Large Repertoires and Syntax Usage in the Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis)" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| INGRID SANTILLAN | "Effect of Corrosion in Florida Bridges " | Francisco Presuel-Moreno, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 2 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| JESSICA BRYNES | "Making It Work: Exploring The Balancing Act of Moms Who Earned a Doctoral Degree " | Jennifer Bloom, Ph.D. & Jarrett Warshaw, Ph.D. | College of Education | Championship People's Choice Award Winner & Heat 1 Winner | VIEW |
| KONSTANCJA SZYMANSKA | "Foreign Language Anxiety among International Students in the U.S. University: A Case Study" | Jennifer Bloom, Ph.D. & Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 1 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| MORGAN SLEVIN | "Treating treatment failure: How wild avian microbiomes mediate stress responses, with applications to wildlife rehabilitation" | Rindy C. Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Winner and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowment Award & Heat 3 2nd Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| PRAKASH ANKITHA ARVAN | "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Techniques for Building Stronger and Safer Deep Foundation Systems" | Madasamy Arockiasamy, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Championship 2nd Runner-Up & Heat 3 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| RAMYA AYYALASOMAYAJULA | "Tumor-associated O-glycans of MUC1 : targets for cancer vaccine design" | Mare Cudic, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 2 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| SHANNA LILLIS | "Shifting Assessment Metrics in Public Schools for Improved Equity and Civic Engagement" | Melanie Acosta, Ph.D | College of Education | Heat 1 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LINDSEY MARLIN | "Playing a PTSD Survivor Onstage: How the Audience Can Further Understand Both Themselves and the Character in a 2-Hour Stretch of Time" | Desmond Gallant, M.F.A. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Championship People's Choice Award Winner & Heat 1 Winner | VIEW |
| TEODORA KAMBUROV | "What's grit got to do with it?" | Sabrina Sembiante, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 1 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| MAIMUNA AKTER | "Death, Destruction, and Manipulation" | Douglas Cumming, Ph.D. | College of Business | Heat 1 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| CRISTINA PIMENTA | "Religion & Politics: Lessons from American History" | Aimee Arias, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 1 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| ISHWARYA SRIKANTH | "Better by the Batch: Enhancing Drone Scheduling" | Madasamy Arockiasamy, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Science | Heat 2 Winner | VIEW |
| ANDREW STEINBERG | "Better by the Batch: Enhancing Drone Scheduling" | Mihaela Cardei, Ph.D. & Ionut Cardei, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Science | Championship Winner and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowment Award | VIEW |
| SANDHYA SHARMA | "Pandemic screening with a low-cost COVID 19 diagnostic chip" | Waseem Asghar, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 2 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| RAHUL DEV RAJU | "Scour monitoring using green laser" | Madasamy Arockiasamy, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 2 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| KATE SHLEPR | "The problem is global. The solution is to quantify our optimism." | Dale E. Gawlik, Ph.D & Sarah L. Milton, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 Winner | VIEW |
| STEVEN LOMBARDO | "Resolving habitat gaps for bonefish conservation across Florida and The Bahamas" | Matthew J. Ajemian, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BRIANNA CAHILL | "A Comprehensive Diet Description for the Whitespotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari) in Florida Coastal Waters" | Matthew Ajemian, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 2nd Runner Up (tie) | VIEW |
| MORGAN SLEVIN | "Get off my lawn! Testing the impact of social stress on a territorial songbird’s health and gut microbiome" | Rindy C. Anderson, Ph.D | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 2nd Runner Up (tie) | VIEW |
| IVAN HEERDEGEN | "Just Keep Swimming" | Marianne E. Porter, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 3 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| CLAUDIUS OSEI | "Embodied Cognition: How cognitive behavior is not solely a construct of the brain but involves the entire body." | Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Runner-Up & Heat 4 Winner | VIEW |
| ALICE WEAD | "The Mathematics of Relatedness: Healthy Social Aging" | Christine Williams, DNSc, PMHCNS-BC | Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Heat 4 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| NIRTHIECA SUTHAKARAN | "The Effects of STXBP1 in Infant Epilepsy" | Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 2nd Runner Up (tie) | VIEW |
| AMISH MISHRA | "The Shape of Data: Inventing Efficient Methods for Topological Data Analysis" | Francis Motta, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 2nd Runner Up (tie) | VIEW |
| SANJU KHATRI | "Can we predict sinkholes? " | Xavier Comas, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 People's Choice Award Winner |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFROUZ ATAEI | "A Novel Microfluidic Sperm‐Sorting Device based on Rheotaxis Effect" | Andy W.C. Lau, Ph.D. & Waseem Asghar, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| ANDREW STEINBERG | "Game of Drones" | Mihaela Cardei, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| AUBREY ELSON | "Keep Your Enemies Close: The Universal Application of Learning to Play and Think Like a Villain" | Lynn McNutt, M.F.A. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Championship 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| CRISTINA PIMENTA | "Sincere, Scheming, or Sarcastic?﹣Machiavelli & The Prince" | Aimee Arias, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| DANIELLE INGLE | "What happens when vertebrae don't bear weight?" | Marianne E. Porter, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| ELENA MCLAUGHLIN | "A Neglected Skill: Investigating the Effects of "Handwriting without Tears" on Letter Formation by Young Children with Autism" | Peggy Goldstein, Ph.D. & Michael Brady, Ph.D. | College of Education | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| ISHWARYA SRIKANTH | "Deterioration Modeling for Preventive Maintenance of Aging Fixed Offshore Oil & Gas Platforms" | Madasamy Arockiasamy, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| IVANA SERRA | "Toasty Turtles: Too Hot to Think?" | Sarah Milton, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| KEVIN MOXLEY | "Making the Audience Feel: Using Neural Plasticity and Somatic Sensation to Inspire Sympathetic Vibration" | Kathryn L. Johnston, M.F.A. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| KIRA XANA‐KAI NASH | "Social Media: What Does the Future Hold and How are We Using It?" | Monica Escaleras, Ph.D. | College of Business | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| MD ALAMGIR KABIR | "Rapid Diagnosis of Zika Virus at Point of Care to Save Lives" | Waseem Asghar, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| MICHELLE EDWARDS | "Exposure to multiple algal toxins among juvenile bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon" | Matthew Ajemian, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Runner-Up | VIEW |
| MORGAN SLEVIN | "Smarts and symbiosis: how a bird's gut microbiome influences its cognitive performance" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Winner and recipient of the Dr. Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Endowment Award | VIEW |
| OLUMIDE ADENMOSUN | "Genotypic Sperm Sorting: A less invasive “ART” to prevent Genetic Disorders in Newborns." | James Kumi‐Diaka, Ph.D. & Waseem Asghar, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| PANAGIOTA GALANAKOU | "Monitoring prompt gamma emission for reducing range uncertainties of carbon ion radiation for cancer treatments" | Wazir Muhammad, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| SARAH RABINOWITZ | "Spleen Injuries: Outcome Analysis between Transfers and Non‐Transfers" | Alexander Fokin, M.D., Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| STEPHANIE INSALACO | "The Influence of the Kennedy Space Center on Land Use/Land Cover and Population Dynamics in Brevard County, Florida" | Zhixiao Xie, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| SUSHMITHA SATYANARAYANA GANDUR | "Gender Equality" | Ting Levy, Ph.D. | College of Business | Championship Finalist | VIEW |
| TARANEH ARDALAN | "Development of Guidelines for Implementation of Freight and Transit Signal Priorities to Enhance Road Traffic Sustainability" | Evangelos Kaisar, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Championship Finalist Championship 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| TIFFANY COX | "Band Directors Don't Wear Heels: The Lived Experiences of Female High School Band Directors in Florida" | Susannah Brown, Ph.D. | College of Education | Championship People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SARAH HOFFMANN | "Sharks in 3D: The Diversity of Form and Function Among Varied Environments" | Marianne Porter, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Winner and People's Choice Winner | VIEW |
| IAN COMBS | "Eulogy for the St. Lucie Reef" | Joshua Voss, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 7 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| KELLEY JACKSON | "How Much Protein is Required to Prevent Sarcopenia?" | Sareen Gropper, Ph.D. & David Newman, Ph.D. | Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Championship Winner & Heat 2 Winner | VIEW |
| FELICIA COOPER | "Risk Factors for Post-Tonsillectomy Complications in Children Under 3" | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Championship 2nd Runner-Up & Heat 2 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW | |
| CARALIN BRANSCUM | "Voluntary Victim Intoxication in Sexual Assault: A Summary of Legal Standings" | Seth Fallik, Ph.D. | College for Design and Social Inquiry | Heat 4 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| DAVID GIGUERE | "Early Exposure is Only a Start: Bilingual Outcomes at 6 Years and Young Adulthood in Second Generation Immigrants" | Erika Hoff, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 5 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BETH BRADY | "Using Manatee Vocalizations to Conserve Related Species" | Edmund Gerstein, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| SANDHYA SHARMA | "Point of Care Diagnostic - Zika Detection" | Waseem Asghar, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 Winner | VIEW |
| KATE BRINER | "Loanwords in Comanche: Implications for Language Revitalization" | Adam Bradford, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 6 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| RENÉ MILLER-XAVIER | "Biosynthesis of Marine Natural Products" | Nicholas Dickens, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 7 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| TRAVIS MOSCICKI | "Guidance, Navigation, and Control of Unmanned Marine Vehicles" | Karl von Ellenrieder, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| JOSEPH NIEDERHAUSER | "Of Fire and Sparrows" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| JOSHUA DISATHAM | "Hypoxia Regulation of Lens Structure and Function" | Marc Kantorow, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 5 Winner | VIEW |
| SCOTT KARASICK | "Gorgeous Gold Peacocks: The Construction of Masculine Femininity in American Professional Wrestling" | Mark Harvey, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 6 Winner | VIEW |
| INDHIRA PIQUION | "Tele-to-Me: Promoting Assessment and Management of Depression in Rural Communities through Telehealth" | Beth King, Ph.D. | Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Heat 2 Runner-Up & People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| ALEXIS STURM | "Six Degrees of SepaREEFtion: Using Molecular Tools to Assess Coral Genetic Connectivity in Cuba and the Tropical Western Atlantic" | Joshua Voss, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 7 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| ERIC NIEVES | "Underwater Multi-Vehicle Collaboration" | Pierre-Philippe Beaujean, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| WILSON MCLEAN | "The 'What is' and 'How to' of Creating Healthy Public Organizations: Development and Testing of the Public Organization Wellness Quotient (WQ)"" | Arthur Sementelli, Ph.D. | College for Design and Social Inquiry | Championship Runner-Up & Heat 4 Winner | VIEW |
| LUCAS WILSON | "Gay Reparative Therapy at Liberty University" | Alan L. Berger, Ph.D., Andrew Furman, Ph.D., & Eric Berlatsky, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 6 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| MOHAMMAD IRFAN UDDIN | "Undulating Fin Propulsion – The Future of Underwater Maneuvering" | Oscar Curet, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| DARIUS HABER | "Kosher Soul: The Emerging Conflict of Judaic Identity" | Stephen Charbonneau, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Championship People's Choice & Heat 6 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMILY STARK | "The Nose Knows: Applications in Machine Olfaction" | Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 7 Winner | VIEW |
| CRISTINA PIMENTA | "Democracy in China: Paradox or Possibility?" | Mehmet Gurses, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| JULIA ROBLYER | "Smell‐O‐Vision: Using Human Odorant Binding Protein to Measure Landfill Odors" | Daniel Meeroff, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 2 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BRIAN MCMAHON | "Early Warning Systems: Predicting Student Success" | Sabrina Sembiante, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 5 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| NATALIE BERMUDEZ | "Exploring Moral Comfort in Nurses" | Joy Longo, Ph.D. | Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Heat 6 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| MARISA MARTINEZ | "Forecasting the Future of Coastal Ecosystems: A Bird's Eye View" | Dale Gawlik, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| NICOLE REID | "Game Time" | Michelle Vaughan, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 5 Winner | VIEW |
| JOSEPH NIEDERHAUSER | "The Secret Lives of Sparrows" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| KIRSTIE TANDBERG | "Marine Natural Products as Cancer Therapies: Screening for Survivin Inhibitors" | Amy Wright, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 8 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| NANDINI SINGH | "Transformers of the Sugar Code" | Mare Cudic, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 1 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| BREANNA DEGROOT | "Movement and Habitat use of Spotted Eagle Rays Throughout Florida" | Matthew Ajemian, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 8 Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| MIKHAIL GUSEYNOV | "Correlation Between Positive Mentality and Academic Success" | Elizabeth Joy Gillespie, M.B.A. | College of Business | Heat 6 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| RACHEL BLADOW | "Sea Turtle Development in a Changing Climate: Goldilocks Temperatures are Hard to Find" | Sarah Milton, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 2 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| BRYAN CONKLIN | "Designing a Brain‐Computer‐Interface that Improves Memory" | Steven Bressler, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship 2nd Runner-Up and Heat 7 2nd Runner‐Up | VIEW |
| BOB HALSTEAD | "Connecting the Dots in the Circle of Life: A Fish Story" | Paul Wills, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 8 Runner-Up (tie) | VIEW |
| NICHOLAS DAVENPORT | "Mind Body 1: Training the Brain by Training the Body" | Michael Hall, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 5 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| RACHEL SALESS | "Singing Behavior in the Northern Cardinal" | Rindy Anderson, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 4 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| MALISSA SANON | "Who’s Your Cody?" | Jennifer Bloom, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 5 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| ERIC NIEVES | "Multiple‐Vehicle Based Underwater Sensing" | Pierre‐Philippe Beaujean, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 2 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| FELICIA COOPER | "Sudden Death Due to Pulmonary Embolism Arising from Occult Ovarian Cancer" | Minda Neimark, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Heat 7 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| GABRIELA TORTOLEDO | "Marianne from the Tropics: Finding the Feminist Between the Lines" | Desmond Gallant, M.F.A. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BORIS TEZAK | "Sea Turtle Sex Ratios in a Changing Climate" | Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Winner and People's Choice Award Winner & Heat 7 People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| MICHAEL MILLER | "Diffusion of Mission‐Related Investing by University and Foundation Endowments" | Clifford McCue, Ph.D. | College for Design and Social Inquiry | Heat 6 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| KEITH MURPHY | "Using Light to Control Meal Size" | Ken Dawson‐Scully & William Ja, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Runner-Up and Heat 1 2nd Runner‐Up | VIEW |
| DANIEL CREED | "You Are What You...Read" | Thomas Martin, Ph.D. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 3 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BRANDON MCHENRY | "Zombie Bacteria: Understanding the Viable but Nonculturable State of Vibrio vulnificus" | Peter McCarthy, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 8 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| STUDENT NAME | TITLE | FACULTY ADVISOR(S) | COLLEGE | ACCOLADE(S) | VIDEO LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALBERTO PADILLA | "Fatal Millenary Malady" | James Hartmann, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Heat 1 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| BETSY EVANS | "The Times They are A-Changin': Wood Stork Response to Human Development" | Dale Gawlik, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 6 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| VASSILIA BINENSZTOK | "Reflective Practice and Student Counselors' Case Conceptualization Skills" | Len Sperry, Ph.D. | College of Education | Heat 3 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| CATALINA ARANZAZU-SUESCUN | "Event-based Clustering for Composite Event Detection in Wireless Sensors Networks" | Mihaela Cardei, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 4 Winner | VIEW |
| DOUGLAS HOLMES | "Making Pathogen Detection Safe with Synthetic Biology" | Nwadiuto Esiobu, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 6 Winner | VIEW |
| RACHEL FINLEY | "The Lie that Tells the Truth" | Dawn Shamburger, M.F.A. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 5 Winner & People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| CARLIE PERRICONE | "Assessment of Fecal Pollution in Recreational Waters" | Peter McCarthy, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 8 Winner People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| ERIC NIEVES | "Magnetic Fields Created by Underwater Waves" | Pierre-Philippe Beaujean & Manhar Dhanak, Ph.D. | College of Engineering and Computer Science | Heat 3 Winner & People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| KEITH MURPHY | "Postprandial Sleep Mechanics in Drosophila" | Ken Dawson-Scully & William Ja, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship 2nd Runner-Up Heat 2 Winner and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| SHANNON OUELLETTE | "Finding Empathy Through the Secondary Consciousness of Acting" | Des Gallant, M.F.A. | Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Heat 5 2nd Runner-Up | VIEW |
| KYLE NEWTON | "Magnetoreception: How the Stingrays Know Where to Go" | Stephen Kajiura, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 6 2nd Runner-Up & People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| MICHAEL MILLER | "With and Open Mouth and Open Mind: Approaches to Group Problem Solving" | Authur Sementelli, Ph.D. | College for Design and Social Inquiry | Heat 2 Runner-Up | VIEW |
| MICKELENE HOGGARD | "Snail Spit to Medicine" | Mare Cudic, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Winner & Heat 7 Runner-Up and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| VICTORIA ERB | "Nest to Surf Mortality of Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) Sea Turtle Hatchlings on Florida’s East Coast" | Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Heat 7 Winner | VIEW |
| MIKHAIL GUSEYNOV | "Understanding Public Speaking" | Michelle Williams, M.Ed. | College of Business | Championship People's Choice Award Winner & Heat 4 Runner-Up and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| NIRTHIECA SUTHAKARAN | "The Roles of MsrA and MsrB in Anoxia Tolerance in Aging Drosophila melanogaster" | David Binninger, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Heat 1 Winer and People's Choice Award Winner | VIEW |
| STEPHANIE KELLY | "Of Flies and Men: Insights from an Age-Related Stress Tolerance Assay" | Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D. | Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Championship Runner-Up Heat 8 Runner-Up | VIEW |
Accommodations
If reasonable accommodation(s) for a disability is required, contact at 3mt@fau.edu. Please make your needs known at least five days prior to the event for effective accommodations.
The Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. More information on the 3MT® Program can be found on threeminutethesis.org.