Big Ideas, Little Time: Three Minute Thesis Makes Research Vivid and Engaging
Twelve Stony Brook graduate students took part in Stony Brook University’s annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition on March 28. When the dust settled, Sai Abasolo, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering, was named the winner, having withstood competition that was at once enthusiastic, diverse and fierce.
3MT is an opportunity for Stony Brook graduate students to present their dissertation research findings to a general audience in three minutes with only one PowerPoint slide.
The goal of 3MT — an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia — is for students to engage all their communication skills to make their research vivid and engaging while emphasizing its key point without jargon. Audience members learn what students in master’s and doctoral programs are studying and gain insight into the future of research, design and innovation in a variety of disciplines.
Students also craft their talks as part of a cohort, undergoing coaching from research communication experts grounded in techniques from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science.
“This is one of my very favorite days of the year,” said Celia Marshik, dean of The Graduate School, in her opening remarks for Stony Brook’s tenth 3MT competition. “It’s always such a joy to hear about the amazing research that our graduate students and postdocs are doing on this campus. As an English professor, I want to especially say thank you to those who have worked so hard to put their work into common parlance for those of us who are not in the field.”
Marshik recalled previous presentations representing a wide range of cross-campus disciplines.
“Some of my favorite presentations have been by people in civil engineering and other disciplines that are quite far from my own training,” she said. “And that’s one of the things that I really love about this day is learning about and feeling like I genuinely understand the work it is that you all do.”
Abasolo’s winning presentation — “Growing Bones: Body Not Included” — described her research in tissue engineering, which she described as “an exciting and crucial field for the future of medicine.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by how the body heals and the potential of regenerative medicine to restore lost function,” she said. “During my PhD, I became particularly drawn to organoid development due to the possibilities of using organoids as diagnostic platforms and therapeutic constructs. Working on a bone organoid (artificial bone tissue) platform has been an incredible opportunity that aligns with my interests for regenerative medicine.”
In the future, Abasolo hopes to work as an industry scientist/engineer in regenerative medicine to help translate tissue engineering research into real-world therapies.
“I feel very proud to have won,” she said. “Having the opportunity to share my work and seeing the audience excited about it was an amazing experience. It was an honor to go through this journey with such talented students and hear about their incredible research.”
Abasolo was also named the People’s Choice winner as chosen by attendees. Maryam Azmi, a doctoral candidate in genetics, was named runner-up for her presentation titled “Shrinking Brain’s Superheroes.”
“3MT was an exhilarating experience and I’m overjoyed to have placed second in such a tough competition,” said Azmi. “I looked forward to participating in this even before I started grad school. The best part was seeing the audience engage with my talk — watching their reactions and having a couple of them come up afterwards with questions. It was an honor to share my work and spark curiosity in others.”
Antonio Novaes, a postdoctoral associate in the Agrawal Lab in the Renaissance School of Medicine’s Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, won the Postdoc Spotlight part of the event.
“When they announced my name as the winner, it felt surreal, like an Oscar moment,” said Novaes. “It was an incredibly rewarding experience. It reinforced my belief in my abilities and gave me a sense of confidence and a reminder that with effort and dedication, I’m capable of achieving more than I imagined. I’m deeply grateful. Above all, it was a privilege to share the stage and all the process with such incredible researchers.”
“It’s great to have the opportunities to tell an authentic and meaningful story about what it is you do,” said Carl Lejuez, Stony Brook’s executive vice president and provost. “All of us have to ask ourselves if we are taking advantage of those opportunities. I encourage you to not think of those as frustrating moments where someone is not hearing you, but as an opportunity to further develop your ability to talk at multiple levels about what you do and never miss an opportunity to be straightforward and get to the point in a way where you’re building connection as opposed to building separation. This event is a great example of an opportunity to do that.”
“Seeing the graduate students and postdocs transform their three-minute talks through the coaching process for 3MT and the Postdoc Spotlight is the highlight of my year,” said Molly Lotz, director of research training initiatives at the Graduate School. “All of the speakers did a phenomenal job of distilling their research findings and explaining their impact to a general audience, and the range of disciplines represented during the event made for a day full of learning about new discoveries happening across Stony Brook. And most of all, the support and encouragement the speakers give each other during the coaching and competition is truly a joy to behold.”
— Robert Emproto
