On Your Mark, Get Set: Students Sprint through Speed-Thesis


March 21, 2023

The 3MT winners

A Ph.D. thesis is the culmination of years of intense research and hundreds or carefully written pages. The projects can be so vast that an 80,000-word Ph.D. dissertation would take about nine hours to present orally.

So why not try to do it in three minutes?

That seemingly impossible task taken up by 12 George Washington University Ph.D. students participating in the fifth annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on Feb. 22. The fast-paced contest challenges students to swiftly summarize their research in language that is engaging and appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

The winner this year was Ryan Welch, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical and aerospace engineering, whose project was titled "Linking the Process, Structure and Performance of 3D Printed Thermoelectric Materials." He received $1,000 in prize money and will have the opportunity to compete in the Northeastern Association of Graduate School's regional tournament in April.

The other 3MT winners and their thesis topics were:

  • Second place and a $750 prize: Jacob Medina (Cancer Biology), "Photothermal Therapy of SM1 Melanoma Utilizing Anti-CD137 Coated Prussian Blue Nanoparticles."
  • Third place and a $500 prize: Nate Harris (Economics), "Do Building Height Restrictions Increase or Decrease Welfare in a City?"
  • People's Choice and a $500 prize: Anastasia Sarmakeeva (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), "Landslide Simulations to Save Lives."

Read the full article on GW Today.