For most doctoral students, a dissertation is measured in chapters, citations and countless late nights—an 80,000-word testament to years of painstaking inquiry. It’s an academic marathon, not a sprint.
Unless you’re among the contestants at the annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition at George Washington University. Their seemingly impossible task was to sum up years of research in three pressure-packed minutes—while a large digital clock counted down in front of them.
The high-speed contest challenged students to swiftly summarize their research in language that was engaging and appropriate to a non-specialist audience—with cash prizes and a spot in a national competition at stake.
At this year’s eighth annual competition, the first place winner was Ashley Bastin, a Ph.D. candidate in biological sciences at the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences (CCAS). For her project, “Trained to Destroy: Uncovering the Causes of HIV-Associated Dementias,” Bastin received $1,000 in prize money and will have the opportunity to compete in the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools regional tournament this spring.
“Being able to present on this research at...Three Minute Thesis helps bring attention to a condition that is widely unknown, yet impacts so many people,” said Bastin, noting that as many as half of people living with HIV experience dementia, a serious condition that can result in memory loss. “My hope is that this work eventually translates into treatments and preventative measures that help to better the lives of those living with [the disorder] around the world.”
Elton VanNoy, a Ph.D. candidate in pharmacology and physiology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), won the second place $750 prize for her project, “Epigenetic Modulation During CAR T Cell Manufacturing: Advancing Immunotherapeutic Strategies for Pediatric Glioma.”
The $500 third place prize went to exercise physiology and applied nutrition Ph.D. candidate Nick Foreman for “Exercise Prevents the Negative Effects of High-Fat Foods.” A student at Milken Institute School of Public Health (GWSPH), Foreman’s project involved assigning participants different diets to test their effects on the body’s blood sugar control system.
During remarks at the competition, Suresh Subramaniam, vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral affairs, noted the wide variety of topics this year’s 3MT students took on—from spending habits during COVID to a century of African American migration. “I’ve probably learned more today than I have all year!” he said.
The contest, which was first launched in 2008 by the University of Queensland, is now held in nearly 600 academic institutions across more than 65 countries worldwide. The GW 3MT began as a CCAS competition in 2019. This year marked the first time that the contest featured a preliminary round of 30 students before narrowing the field to 15 finalists.
“Our competition is just getting better and better each year,” Subramaniam said.
Ready, set, research
The presentations were judged on criteria such as whether students clearly described their results and conclusions and whether they conveyed enthusiasm for the topic, captured the audience’s attention and exhibited sufficient stage presence.
Under contest rules, participants could display only a single static PowerPoint slide. They were prohibited from using sound, video or props. All presentations had to be in spoken word, with no raps, poems or songs allowed. Competitors who exceed the strict three-minute time limit could be automatically disqualified.
“The main goal of 3MT is to improve research communication—how to communicate research in a short time frame…to a general audience,” Subramaniam explained.
Bastin also won the People’s Choice award—a $500 prize voted on by the 3MT audience members. Translating her complicated research—she is investigating whether an HIV protein called Nef might be key to targeting dementia-related brain inflammation—into a three-minute presentation “was definitely a daunting task,” she said. “I practiced mostly to a non-science audience of my friends and family to make sure that the content was clear to those outside of my field.”
VanNoy began collecting data for her project on pediatric brain tumors during a lab rotation in 2023. Her work focuses on editing CAR T cells to recognize and eliminate pediatric glioma, one of the most devastating forms of childhood cancer with a survival rate of only 1%. “We may be able to make a product that lasts longer, fights harder and offers hope for children battling brain tumors,” she said.
Participants in Foreman’s project spent a full day eating three diet variations: a low-fat diet; a high-fat diet of pizza, ice cream and macaroni and cheese; and the same high-fat diet paired with 90 minutes of exercise. He found that blood sugar control systems got worse with the high-fat diet, but the harmful effects were largely mitigated by exercise. The high-fat diet also impeded the body’s ability to use sugar as fuel, but exercise was unable to improve those results.
“I’d love to tell you that exercise fixes everything and all you have to do is exercise and you can eat as much pizza and ice cream as you want,” he said. “But that’s not the case.”
Other finalists in the 3MT contest were: Christy Anthony (education), Abigail Haffey (cancer biology), Ashley Karraro (education policy), Minsoo Khang (counselor education), Xinxia Li (special education), Qingyu Liu (economics), Jahlani Odujole (artificial intelligence and machine learning), Hasara Rathnasekara (economics), Matthew Rohn (history), Leenu Sugathan (English), Sydney Woods (neuroscience) and Donghao Wu (economics).
This year’s panel of judges were Rick Berzon, professorial lecturer in global health at SMHS; Dongjun Chen, SMHS clinical associate professor of radiology; Amanda Compton, director of the Bar Success Office at GW Law; Kyle Crandall. professorial lecturer at the School of Engineering and Applied Science; Laura H. Gilchrest, professorial lecturer in international affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs; and Daniel Schwartz, CCAS professor of history.