Five Indian-American students at the University of Nevada – Reno (UNR) cleared the preliminary hurdles to move to the final round of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. 

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an annual competition sponsored by the UNR Graduate School. 3MT challenges UNR’s doctoral and graduate students to present a compelling story on their dissertation or thesis and its significance in just three minutes to the general members of the public.

Earlier this month, 42 graduate students presented their concise summary of their research thesis topic to the attendees for a chance to advance to the final round of the competition.

Participants at 3MT aim for approximately 200 –250 written words in a three-minute thesis summary that a student can explain in a simple format to a non-specialist audience. The competition participants focus on communication skills while presenting their research on topics related to their Doctoral or Masters’ program at UNR. Students are allowed to show their thesis topic in one single slide.

The 2024 3MT final round of competition will take place on Thursday, April 11, at the UNR campus, with five Indian-American students on the stage competing for a coveted honor and cash prizes.

Indian-American 2024 Finalists below include four students pursuing a Ph.D., while one is working on a Master’s program. 

Doctoral category

Anithakrithi Balaji

• Graduate program: Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering
• Title: Electrifying the fight-or-flight response: Nanosecond electric pulses for neuromodulation 

Monika Bharti

• Graduate program: Ph.D. Education – Literacy Studies
• Title: Pre-service teachers experiences teaching K-8 Multilingual Students’ (MLS) writing

Kaashifah 

• Graduate program: Ph.D. Education – Equity, Diversity and Language
• Title: Bridging the gaps: Evaluating the intervention programs to overcome academic disparities 

Sanjeevan Pradhan

• Graduate program: Ph.D. Political Science
• Title: Tough sell: Rising powers, domestic legitimation and costly international initiatives 

Master’s category

Shipra Goswami

• Graduate program: M.S. Biochemistry
• Title: May the pericytes be with you: Transport engineers you never knew existed!