Ten finalists will present their research at Stanford’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition this spring and registration to attend is now open.

The event, which supports the development of graduate-led research and students’ capacity to explain their research to a lay audience, will be held on April 17 at Hauck Auditorium from 4 to 6 p.m. Stanford President Jonathan Levin will serve as emcee, and it will be Vice Provost for Graduate Education Ken Goodson’s first public event since his appointment earlier this month.

The finalists represent four of Stanford’s seven schools and were selected from a pool of applicants from across the university. They were selected based on self-submitted videos in which applicants presented their research verbally without the help of props, presentation slides, or supporting visuals.

Condoleezza Rice, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution; Martin Shell, Stanford vice president and chief external relations officer; Michele Rasmussen, vice provost for student affairs; David Studdert, vice provost and dean of research; and W.E. Moerner, the Harry S. Mosher Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and 2014 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, will serve as judges at the event. The event is open to the Stanford community, and audience members will have a chance to vote for the People’s Choice Award.

The first place winner will receive $5,000; second place will receive $3,000; third place will receive $1,000; and people’s choice will receive $500.

Meet the finalists

Kristen Abels
Chemical Engineering
Membranes for Critical Mineral Recovery: Filtering Out the Needle in a Haystack

Gabe Amador
Developmental Biology
Must Be This Tall to Ride: Plant Stem Cells Act According to Their Size

Catharine Bowman
Epidemiology and Population Health
Lymphedema: Cancer Care Complication or the Sinister Side of Survivorship?

Lydia Burleson
English
2 Sides of American Utopia

Sarah Jobalia
Computer Science
HairFlow

Jodie Lunger
Genetics
Engineering Our Own Cells to Fight Cancer

Tamri Matiashvili
Economics
Talent, Trust, and Health: The Effects of the First Female Physicians

Favour Nerrise
Electrical Engineering
Quick Reflexes & Lost Memories: Teaching AI to Spot Brain Disease

Mikaela Ribi
Chemistry and Pathology
Cancer’s Sweet Escape

Aly Singleton
Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)
Highways and Hidden Epidemics: The Unseen Cost of Development