Stevens Hosts First Three Minute Thesis Competition — Big Ideas for a Broad Audience
In an exciting blend of scientific storytelling and academic showmanship, Stevens Institute of Technology held its inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on April 3, 2025. The event brought together doctoral students from across disciplines, challenging them to distill years of research into a compelling, three-minute pitch that could resonate with a non-scientific audience.
The global 3MT competition, launched by the University of Queensland in 2008, is now embraced by more than 900 universities worldwide. The Stevens version — newly expanded to include all departments within the School of Engineering and Science — offered students a rare opportunity to step beyond their labs and into the spotlight.
“Scientists and engineers aren’t only going to be talking to other scientists and engineers throughout their careers,” said Jessica Rosa, Director of Graduate Studies in the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science, who helped lead the school-wide rollout of the event. “They need to be able to explain the real-world impact of their research — and why it matters — to everyone else.”
This year’s 3MT drew a standing-room crowd of nearly 70 attendees, including faculty, students, staff, and the competitors’ friends and family. To evaluate participants on comprehension, engagement, and communication, judges Brian Schiazza, associate director of digital marketing; Nathalie Waite Brown, M.S. ’17 business administration and management, assistant dean of students and director of graduate student life; Ed Synakowski, vice provost for research and innovation; and Bruce W. Stroever, M.S.’72 bioengineering, former president & CEO, MTF Biologics all volunteered.
Schiazza was part of the judging panel to assess how the presentations could be perceived by someone who specializes in communication, not science.
“I want to be wowed by their research within the first 30 to 60 seconds. Not only with what they are saying, but with the simplicity of their slide. Otherwise, how are you going to get people outside your circle to believe in or digest all your hard work and what it means?” said Schiazza.
First Place: Rana Ibrahim, tissue repair inspired by experience
Rana Ibrahim, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering, took top honors for her research on 3D-printing vascular scaffolds to accelerate healing after severe bone trauma.
Inspired by her husband’s military service and a fellow soldier’s long recovery from leg injuries, Ibrahim asked a simple but powerful question: Can we make healing faster and easier for people in pain?
About her first place win, Ibrahim said, “Winning the 3MT was incredibly meaningful to me. It validated not just the science, but also my ability to communicate complex research in a way that resonates with people. As I look ahead to a career in translational research, bridging the gap between science and society is more important than ever, and this experience reminded me why that matters."
Her work could one day transform battlefield medicine and civilian trauma care alike by enabling personalized bone grafts and improved vascular regeneration.
“Rana used a powerful personal story to frame highly technical research,” Rosa said. “It gave the audience a clear reason to care.”
Second Place: Meng Ji, decontaminating forever chemicals
Meng Ji, a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Engineering, earned second place with her dynamic explanation of how iron particles can help remove toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — also known as “forever chemicals” — from the water supply.
“I found that micro-scale zero-valent iron is 26 times more effective than activated carbon,” Ji explained. “But the challenge wasn’t in the lab — it was how to explain that in plain language. I used the metaphor of oil and water to help the audience understand hydrophobicity.”
Ji’s work has major implications for public health and water safety, offering a cost-effective alternative to current PFAS mitigation methods.
Third Place: Matangi P. R., hope for wound healing
Matangi P. R., a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering, took third place for her innovative development of a bandage designed to accelerate healing in diabetic wounds — a problem that affects millions globally. Her special wound dressing could drastically improve outcomes and recovery times for patients with chronic ulcers or delayed healing.
Honorable mentions and research
Presentations also touched on AI-driven cancer treatment, breast cancer drug resistance, and humanizing and adding emotion to language translation. One standout presented research on subcutaneous injections to replace hours-long hospital IV sessions for cancer patients. Another innovator explored how to use AI for speech-to-speech translation while maintaining vocal tone and inflection.
“These projects weren’t just technically brilliant — they were human,” said Rosa. “They showed how science can directly improve lives.”
How it started, where it’s headed
The competition’s expansion was co-organized by Dr. Joseph Helsing, lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Md Abu Sayeed, teaching assistant professor in the same department, who competed in 3MT in their own doctoral programs at the University of North Texas. After running the event internally in their department at Stevens for two years, they partnered with Rosa and others to launch it school-wide.
“Jessica made it everything I imagined — custom banners, printed programs, QR code voting. It was the real deal,” Helsing said.
He and Rosa trained students through practice sessions leading up to the competition and helped them work on their communication, slides, and presenting the work in a way that gets people to truly understand it and excited to get involved. He emphasized that Stevens is just getting started. The goal is to expand 3MT to all Ph.D. students at Stevens, including the School of Business. The team also successfully submitted a finalist — Rana Ibrahim — to the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools regional competition, a critical step toward national-level participation.
“This fall, we're going to take what we've learned from the last couple of competitions and then roll out a full university-wide competition, which is awesome. That's the thing I've been wanting since the beginning.”
Why 3MT matters
At its core, 3MT is a launchpad to put researchers and their groundbreaking innovations in front of people who don’t have the technical background, but who are essential to the scope, scale, and success of the technology. From businesspeople and investors to city leaders, politicians and other policymakers, distilling the complexities of science into a digestible language is essential.
“What’s the point of showing off your vocabulary if no one understands you?” Rosa asked. “The best question a student can ask is, Why should anyone care about my research?”
Helsing agreed. “Engineers and scientists have a hard time leaving the jargon behind. People will care about what you are doing if you explain to them what it is and why it's important, and so this competition is right at the heart of what I am very passionate about — just trying to get people to communicate effectively, so that's why I have a personal stake in this. This competition teaches you to connect — whether to funders, policymakers or your grandmother.”
And that’s the real win: transforming brilliant, complex ideas into stories that stick.
