David Dumas, Graduate Student in Chemistry selected as a Finalist for Stanford’s 2nd Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT)
David Dumas, a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry (Kanan Lab/Waymouth Lab), has been selected as one of ten finalists for Stanford’s Three Minute Thesis competition(3MT), where they will have three minutes to engage the audience - and a panel of judges - with their research projects at the April 16th event emceed by President Jonathan Levin.
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 16 at Hauck Auditorium from 4 to 6 p.m. Stanford President Jonathan Levin will serve as emcee.
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.
On competition day, the finalists will have 3 minutes to explain their work to a general audience, with no props save for a single static slide.
Panel of Judges
Stacey Bent, professor of chemical engineering and of energy science and engineering; Lloyd Minor, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs; Condoleezza Rice, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution; Blakey Vermeule, professor of English; and Howard Wolf, president of the Stanford Alumni Association, will serve as judges. Audience members will cast their votes 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
Ibukun Ajifolokun Materials Science and Engineering | No Antigen Left Behind
Anuj Amin Religious Studies | Divine Prisons and Sacred Bindings: Late Ancient Aramaic Incantation Bowls
Colette Benko Developmental Biology | Cellfies: Understanding How Cells Communicate with the Immune System
Orisa Coombs Mechanical Engineering | Money Down the Toilet: Recovering the Value of Urine as Fertilizer
David Dumas Chemistry | Plastics As They Should Be
Ziv Lautman Bioengineering | What Your Wearable Knows Before Your Doctor Does
AJ Phillips Electrical Engineering | Teaching Neural Interfaces to Speak the Brain’s Language
Kate Reinmuth Economics | The Making of a Promotion Gap: Incentives, Constraints, and Career Choices
Tom Rutter Economics | Mapping Social Networks at Scale
Cady van Assendelft Physics | Listening to the universe: searching for dark matter using quantum sensors
Adapted from an article originally published in the Stanford Report.