The final round of the 3-Minute Thesis competition was held on April 12, 2024, in Yale’s OC Marsh Auditorium. The 3-Minute Thesis competition challenges Yale PhD students to describe their thesis research in a clear and compelling way to a broad audience - in 3 minutes! Winners from the preliminary divisional rounds held in February competed for recognition and cash prizes. Their presentations revealed the diverse range and profound impact of graduate student research at Yale. A panel of judges drawn from Yale alumni decided the first, second, and third prizes, while the audience-both virtual and in person--voted on two "people’s choice" awards. Presenters were cheered on by an audience of graduate students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and GSAS alumni.
ALL PRESENTERS in order of presentation:
1. Theodoros Trochatos (Electrical Engineering), “Fortifying Quantum Clouds: Securing Information in the Quantum Era”
2. Alev Baysoy (Biomedical Engineering), “Spatial CRISPR Screening”
3. Yanyu Zhao (Chemistry), “Secret Talent of the Gut Microbiome: Metabolism of Small Molecule G Protein-coupled Receptor Drugs”
4. Jenna Andrews (Microbiology), “Strike an Adipose: Illuminating Fat as a Reservoir for Q Fever”
5. Arya Ökten (Immunobiology), “Making a Norovirus Vaccine: All Good Things Take Time”
6. Meera Choi (Sociology), “The Rise of Heterosexual Refusal? Gender Politics and Family Change in South Korea”
7. Lihao Yan (Physics), “Understanding the Language of the Neurons”
8. Leonardo de Siqueira Lima (Economics), “The Cost of Dropping out of High School: Why Every Diploma Counts”